To celebrate International Woman’s Day on March 8, 2010, the Centro Costarricense de Producción Cinematográfica del Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud in San José, Costa Rica will present, The Coffee Dance, a documentary film about a group of women in La Carpio, Costa Rica struggling to not improve their lives, but the lives of others.

The Coffee Dance was inspired by the amazing ability of women laden with a difficult life who decide they can rise to the challenge of helping poorer women and children that work in the coffee fields. We follow the women for a year in Costa Rica to see who they achieve this goal while also following them inside their own lives to understand the struggles they face.
The Coffee Dance
In the midst of chaotic lives and poverty, a group of women from La
Carpio, Costa Rica rise to meet the challenge of helping others in
need. Looking to move their lives to a new level of empowerment,
the women decide to put on a play and give outreach to other women and children.
Breast cancer and other forms of cancer strike women
in poverty, often more cases appear to women picking coffee. An intense
and laborious job, most families are left without resources to prevent
and detect illness. The La Carpio women, even while facing their own
struggles to put food on the table and educate their own children, take
a grand initiative and set out to educate some of the poorest Costa
Ricans and immigrant workers doing the hard physical
labor in the fields.
We follow the women for a year as they move from
script to curtain call. The Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation of Costa Rica
coordinated the play’s production along with theater director Steven Hawkins.
We hear and see from the women, the directors,and others involved about
the profound difference that planting seedswith positive tools, hope, and
empowerment can change one community with the hopes of effecting others.
Follow these women into their lives and experience their feelings as they take on
the challenge of changing their own lives as well as the lives of others.

The Coffee Dance was a labor of love and provided more life lessons to me than I could have imagined. After several documentary radio projects and short video production work, a documentary film - one of my favorite genres - was a perfect extension to my work. It took a year to film and about nine months to edit.
I will be providing photos and information on how the event went. The Coffee Dance is then scheduled to hit a few theaters for screening and will be sent off to enter film competitions through out the world with an ultimate goal of distribution and availability for every one to see.
Maybe a moment’s reflection before we take that first sip of coffee of gratitude for the souls that suffer and toil to bring us this golden bean will help enlighten and bring a glimmer of hope and peace back to them.