Fair trade film showings to accompany Fair Trade Holiday Market In Lawrence

Lawrence Fair Trade will be showing a series of films about Fair Trade during their annual Fair Trade Holiday Market this year.
Location: Main floor, ECM, 1204 Oread, Lawrence, KS
Dates: Tuesday, Dec. 1st & Wednesday, Dec. 2nd
Time: 5:15 p.m.

“From Bean to Bar,” “Beads for Life,” and “Fair Trade: The Story,” will be presented Tuesday, followed by “Calcutta Hilton” on Wenesday.

Fair Trade is an alternative to conventional trade. It uses high standards to ensure that products are produced in safe, healthy environments, that workers are compensated fairly, and that their communities and livelihoods are more stable. The Fair Trade Holiday Market will offer a colorful array of these products from many different countries and our own community. Lawrence Fair Trade is presenting the following films during the sale to offer shoppers and other interested community members an opportunity to learn more about what Fair Trade means for many different people who are involved in it.

“From Bean to Bar” tells the story of how Divine chocolate came to be the first farmer owned brand of chocolate in the world. Follow the cocoa as it transforms from beans into bars of delicious chocolate, and get to know the people behind the magic that make it all happen.

“Beads for Life” is a short introduction to the Beads for Life cooperative. Women from the Slums of Kampala Uganda work their way out of extreme poverty by rolling paper into beads that have been successfully marketed in the U.S. Before this cooperative was formed, virtually the only form of employment was crushing stones in a quarry for less than a dollar a day. Now these women who once lived in devastation are able to buy homes, support their families and even take in orphans. Watch the women celebrate and sing of the monumental empowerment that transpires in Uganda from a small purchase in the U.S.

In “Fair Trade: The Story,” Transfair USA collects the views of producers and retailers of Fair Trade. Through their interviews, we hear how Fair Trade has affected the lives of farmers around the world, and how it has nurtured a deeper understanding of consumer power for Fair Trade retailers in the U.S.

In “Calcutta Hilton,” we are taken to Sonagacchi, the largest, most infamous sex district in Calcutta. It was in the midst of this despair that “Calcutta Hilton” presenter Evie Ashton discovered an inspiring group doing their best to make a difference. The Hiltons founded a manufacturing business located on the fringes of Calcutta's largest red-light district. It gives the women of the area something they have long been denied - the option of leaving the sex trade.
*Calcutta Hilton features mature themes, and is recommended for adults only.