Coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico greet the rainy months between May and September with a mix of hope and trepidation. Consistent rainfall is vital to their crops, but too much water makes their rural dirt roads impassable. The price of beans and corn goes up, just when income from the coffee harvest is depleted. These are “los meses flacos,” or the thin months, when families make ends meet by eating less, eating cheaper foods, or borrowing against their future. This is a short film that brings the day-to-day challenges of the thin months to life in the voices of coffee farmers themselves, and shares the successes of creative projects that have been established to eliminate this annual period of food insecurity.
More info: www.aftertheharvest.org
Produced by: Optic Nerve, The Coffee Trust
Year: 2011
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
