By Jesse Russell

A new film making the festival circuit is a wakeup call for coffee drinkers. Titled "Black Gold," the film focuses on the exploitation surrounding the world's second most valuable trading commodity after oil. It tracks the journey of Tadesse Meskela as he seeks to save more than 75,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy in his home country of Ethiopia. Meskela is the founder of the Oromia Co-operative Union, which seeks to bypass the international trading system and find buyers willing to pay a higher price for quality coffee. Meskela explains:

[Meskela]: The main reason is to bypass the people who are benefiting for the sake of coffee. To bring back the profits to the grower - to improve their earning of the money they get from sales of coffee.

The film was made by Marc and Nick Francis and is set for limited release later this fall. More information is available on the film's website www.blackgoldmovie.com.