Fair Trade Bloomington to sponsor film at IU Cinema

Fair Trade Bloomington will sponsor a showing of the documentary “Black Gold” at the IU Cinema Sunday night.

The film, directed by brothers Nick and Marc Francis, documents the struggles between international, big-name coffee chains and the struggling coffee farmers who work for them.
 
The film specifically focuses on Ethiopia, one of the world’s largest exporters of coffee, and Tadesse Meskela, who works to produce a high-quality product and keep his farmers out of bankrupcy.

Fair Trade Bloomington is showing the film in honor of Bloomington recently being named the 33rd Fair Trade Town in the United States.

According to a press release from Fair Trade Bloomington, fair trade is defined as “endorsing an economic system that provides opportunities for producers to lift themselves out of poverty.”

Fair Trade Bloomington, established in 2007, is a non-profit organization devoted to providing local residents and businesses the opportunity to contribute to the fair trade cause through educational programs and the promotion of products.

In conjunction with IU’s Themester 2013: Connectedness: Networks in a Complex World, a short discussion about the global impacts of fair trade and local resources will follow the film.

For more information on the event, visit the IU Cinema website. To learn more about fair trade organizations and vendors in Bloomington, visit fairtradebloomington.org.

— Carolyn Crowcroft