Fresno Filmworks

February 2008

The Price of Sugar
  • The Price of Sugar
  • Friday, February 8, 2008
  • 5:30pm and 8pm
  • The Tower Theatre
  • 815 E. Olive Avenue, Fresno [map]
  • $10.00 General Admission
  • $8.00 for Students and Seniors

Price of Sugar is designed to educate, outrage and finally spur viewers to action. That it does so with vibrant visual style and an engaging narrative makes it that rare consciousness-raising film that's not only good for you, but a joy to watch.

Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

It's been conceived and executed as an instrument of human rights and a tool of shame. But it's the political controversy that's at the heart of this movie – the contempt that one poor country feels toward its somewhat poorer neighbor.

Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

Profoundly disturbing.

Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com


Watch the Trailer

(cable or DSL connection recommended)

Synopsis

Just a few miles inland from the tourist-filled beaches of the Dominican Republic, hidden from view, thousands of dispossessed Haitians have toiled under armed-guard harvesting sugarcane, much of which ends up in U.S. kitchens. They work grueling hours and frequently lack decent housing, clean water, electricity, education or healthcare. "The Price of Sugar" follows Father Christopher Hartley, a charismatic Spanish priest, as he organizes some of this hemisphere's poorest people, challenging powerful interests profiting from their work. The Vicini family which owns some of the sugar plantations on which the film was shot has filed a lawsuit against the filmmakers in an attempt to block the film's release. This film raises key questions about where the products we consume originate and at what human cost they are produced.

Directed by Bill Haney
Narrated by Paul Newman
USA, 2007
90 minutes. NR