It takes the audience on a journey from the birthplace of coffee - Ethiopia - to the coffee shops of Seattle, via World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Cancun and the New York Coffee Exchange.
Through the story of Tadesse Meskela, manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union in Ethiopia, we see how unfair trade rules make it impossible for coffee growers to make a living out of their crops.
The film reveals the role of the WTO and powerful business interests in perpetuating these unfair rules, and has already prompted strong reactions. “Black Gold is galvanising audiences wherever it plays”, writes the Guardian.
While Starbucks sent an email to its employees describing Black Gold as 'inaccurate and incomplete', the directors receive hundreds of emails a day from people in the coffee industry who, appalled by images of women in factories handpicking coffee beans for wages of half a dollar a day, want to change the way they do business.
Black Gold is a wake up call for trade justice: "We've had shareholders and employees of those companies writing to us saying, 'we didn't know this'," said the directors.
Watch the film
Visit the Black Gold website to find out where the film is being shown.
Traidcraft's view
Traidcraft believes that Fairtrade is part of the solution: it guarantees a fair price to poor farmers, enabling them to have a decent life and - by paying a premium on top of the basic price - it offers the possibility to improve community facilities, health and education.
Black Gold also makes it obvious that it is not only the price that needs changing, but the way international trade is carried out. This is why Traidcraft campaigns, because only sustained pressure from the public will create the changes that are needed.
