On Thurs, December 4th, we attended Women in Film‘s “Women’s Coffee Talk: Empowerment Through Food & Culture” at the ArcLight Hollywood. It was an advance screening of the new documentary A Small Section of the World (directed by Lesley Chilcott), and concluded with a stimulating Q&A moderated by Mary Melton, Editor in Chief of Los Angeles Magazine. The panel included director Chilcott, Cathy Shulman (Mandalay Pictures + Board President, Women In Film), Zoe Nathan (Baker and Co-Owner, Rustic Canyon, Huckleberry Café & Bakery, Sweet Rose Creamery, Milo and Olive), and Daniela Ganoza (Journalist & Correspondent, Univision).
The documentary takes place in a remote farming region of Costa Rica where after an economic crisis that takes the men of the village out in search of work, a group of women come together to build the first women’s run micro coffee mill in Costa Rica. The result was ASOMOBI, a self-sustaining program granting each female member the ability to make a sustainable living by creating coffee of the highest quality.
The film follows the impact of their story, the many lives touched as a result, and how one group of women come together to overcome adversity, affecting real change for their community. The tagline for the film, “Sometimes Big Things Come From Small Places,” is appropriate and catchy. But the reason to see the film is quite simply the bigger message it conveys — that a group of passionate, tenacious people (women or otherwise) with vision for bettering their life can do beyond-amazing, inconceivable things. At its core, it’s a story about women’s empowerment, risky business, and how a cup of coffee can transform lives. It also happens to be humbly told, beautifully shot, and well crafted.
We forget sometimes that among chaos, overwhelming responsibilities, and professional and personal obligations is that little voice inside that knows bigger things are out there if you can tap into your inner wisdom and strength of mind and character. A little luck and good fortune doesn’t hurt either. But, as the ladies in the film experienced – bad luck can strike too. Those who survive and thrive are the ones who persevere and never give up. Cliche, definitely. But largely true, too.
In watching the film, it didn’t seem it was ever the intention of these women to strike it big. They never imagined that a Hollywood documentary filmmaker would ever be so interested in their story as to create a documentary that has the power to move even the most discerning audiences. They never imagined that their coffee would ever end up in the hands of Italian coffee giant Illy, who funded the film but who Chilcott says wanted nothing of their brand to make it into the film. In fact, the story couldn’t be told without that element, as it was the major sign that these women had make it!
*** Starting TODAY, Tuesday, December 16th, A SMALL SECTION OF THE WORLD is available on the following video streaming services: Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, iTunes, Playstation, Time Warner Cable, VHX, Vudu, XBOX Video, and Xfinity. Look for it on Netflix January 15, 2015.
Inspired by the story, multi-Grammy winner and the best selling female rock performer of all time, Alanis Morissette contributed an original anthem to the film, co-written with Costa Rican artist and Grammy winner Carlos Tapado Vargas.
BENEFITTING WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD (from “A Small Section of the World”):
The International Trade Centre’s Women In Coffee reports a direct link between helping women raise themselves and their families out of poverty by working in coffee production around the globe.
The ASOMOBI women and their coffee cooperative featured in the film represents a new sustainable model that can be emulated around the globe to help improve the lives of women and the families in other coffee growing regions.
Education and access to resources that support these kinds of sustainable practices is the key to combating this issue.
In March 2014, the first Women in the World of Coffee Conference took place at Illy’s University of Coffee in Trieste, Italy. Influential women were invited from around the globe to come and share their unique stories and experiences to educate, inspire, and support other women in the coffee industry.
Proceeds from Alanis Morrisette’s song “The Morning” featured in A Small Section of World will go towards education and scholarships for Women In Coffee and will be matched by the Ernesto Illy Foundation.
Buying coffee as a holiday gift this year?
Coffee seems to be a popular holiday gift item and Starbucks does it well with all sorts of convenient gift packs. While we admit we haven’t yet tried TOMS coffee, we are snobs about our coffee beans and are pretty certain these are excellent quality, consistent with fair trade practices. Plus, helping to provide water to those in need is a great reason to give it a try.
Whether it’s TOMS or not, please just don’t buy Starbucks this year! We never liked their coffee anyway, but being affiliated with organizations that are trying to block honest labeling of GMO foods is just simply wrong in our books.
All photos courtesy A Small Section of the World.
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