Delicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee Bean 2010
Distributed by The Video Project, PO Box 411376, San Francisco, CA 94141-1376; 800-475-2638
Produced by Curt Fissel and Eleen Friedland
Directed by Curt Fissel and Eleen Friedland
DVD, color, 40 min.
Sr. High - General Adult
African Studies, Area Studies, Business, Postcolonialism, Religious Studies
Date Entered: 03/26/2012
Reviewed by Ryan Luce, D’Youville College, Buffalo, NYDelicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee Bean is an uplifting short documentary on the efforts of a collective of Ugandan coffee farmers to break free from past injustices based on religion and create a path for a prosperous coexistence between the major 3 religions in Uganda: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
The film is successful in laying out the historical context of Uganda by using firsthand accounts and archival footage. The film does not delve too deeply into the religious massacres of the prior two decades but leaves you with an understanding of how relations can be strained based on religious affiliation. The documentary also had a great way of showing the lives of the farmers and what they had to overcome to provide for their family. The production values are excellent in this documentary with clear camera work and narration by actor Ed O’Neil.
The documentary does suffer from a lack of background on how cooperatives work and where these models are used in Uganda . As the film progresses and the farmers travel to tell their story in America, the documentary feels a little bit like an infomercial for Ugandan coffee and not a documentary. Overall, this is a strong film presenting the underlying goals Ugandan farmers are trying to accomplish.
Awards:
- Best Short Doc, New Jersey Film Festival
- Redemptive Storyteller Award, Redemptive Film Festival
- Best Documentary, Bronzeville Film Festival
- Best Spiritual/Faith Documentary, Fort Myers Film Festival