HOW HAVE AUDIENCES REACTED TO THE FILM?
We’ve been overwhelmed by the response internationally. Audiences have reacted in so many different ways. As soon as we premiered the film at the Sundance Film Festival we could sense the film was going to cause a reaction. The first person who asked a question at our Q&A wrote a cheque for $10,000 to complete a school featured in one of the scenes in the film. We heard that someone else divested $10,000 from one coffee company in protest of feeling that they had been misled. People want to leave the cinema and do something, and we see that happening all the time now – whether that is being a more conscious consumer by asking companies about their trade or pricing policies; or by signing up to organisations that campaign for equitable trade. For others it has changed their perception of their consumer lifestyle and how it relates to the world in which we live in. It’s also changed people’s perception about Ethiopia and Africa in general. In BLACK GOLD, you see an Ethiopia that is rich
