FARMERS – KENYA – EPISODE 1
Film Screening & Ticket Information
When & Where to See this Film!
Date, Time & Location:
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD • 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
The Local • 13-02 44th Ave. • LIC, NY 11101
SCREENING BLOCK:
Of Land and Water: Four Films to remind us that the earth is all we have.
Synopsis
In a community that favors tradition, Caroline is an avid coffee farmer who speaks-up openly about her struggles, even if they are considered taboo. Living in the village of Setek, in Kenya, one her deepest desires is to become a mother, and yet, she and her husband have been unable to have a child. Besides personal despair, this situation has also meant being ostracized by many around her.
Now, in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis, she has been able to access medical treatment for the first time when it comes to fertility. With high hopes for the future, Caroline also finds understanding amongst a group of local women who fight to earn their own income, and even transform their community when it comes to climate resilience.
Caroline is one of the three farmers featured in an unscripted documentary which follows Fairtrade farmers during the global pandemic in different corners of the world. Often forgotten, and yet crucial to our day-to-day, farmers had to carry on working during Covid-19, adjusting to a new reality while still facing other underlying societal challenges.
Credits
Nyokabi Kahura, Director, Writer
Tobias Thiele, Producer
Director Statement
In these times, marked by a global pandemic, climate change and rising borders, our views tend to get narrower. The uncertainty around us might drive us to focus our gaze on our immediate surroundings, friends, work, family. Losing sight of how we are all globally connected, and failing to ask ourselves, how are the people who harvest our everyday food coping?
Working for Fairtrade, an NGO that fights for a fairer deal for farmers in the Global South, I always seek for people who can open-up about the injustices of global supply chains, by simply sharing their personal story. Rather than explaining how Fairtrade works, or how unfair trading conditions could be tackled in technical terms, I wanted to go back to the core of what fairness is about: Empathy and understanding people’s lives.
With the docuseries FARMERS we invite you to get to know Caroline from Kenya, Ponisih from Indonesia and Roberto from Peru. They are farmers. And they fight every day for their fair share in this tough global market.
The film teams capturing these intimate portraits were composed of fantastic young local journalists, human rights activists and cinematographers with references such as VICE, National Geographic or The New York Times. To reflect what was happening on the ground in a way that was timely and authentic, we released every single episode immediately after shooting – even before the next episode was produced. So, actually we didn’t know how the series was going to end, we were a mirror of what was currently happening. We wanted the audience to feel this immediacy and be part of the journey.
These three farmers give us an idea of how universal our ideas of fairness of justice are. And how, no matter where we live, our hopes and dreams can be very similar.
Director Biography
Nyokabi Kahura is a freelance photographer from Kenya with over 10 years of working experience. She has done productions for several organizations spanning different countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Sudan, Madagascar, Kenya, Zambia, Cameroon, Mozambique among others. She has extensive experience in writing human interest/change stories.
