Laura Coppens

AURA COPPENS, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, was awarded a Fejos Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ethnographic Film in October 2018 to aid filmmaking on ‘Taste of Hope.’ Taste of Hope is a feature-length observational film about a workers’ cooperative in the south of France. This fellowship was spent working on the editing and post-production of the film and on the analysis of workers’ self-management and the economy of hope. In 2010, Unilever announced the closing of the profitable Fralib tea processing and packaging plant in G’menos. After 1336 days of resistance, the workers celebrated their victory against the giant multinational and became owners of the factory. Now, with the take-over of the company and production under workers’ control, a new struggle has begun. Can this alternative project be viable within an oversaturated, highly competitive market? Where idealism clashes with harsh reality, the filmmakers observe the factory workers as they face inevitable challenges. Between general assemblies, cash-flow problems and negotiations with potential clients, deception, and conflict emerge. Ultimately, the documentary poses the question: How do we need to work today so we might live in a better world tomorrow? Based on over two years of fieldwork, the film makes a critical contribution to the field of the anthropology of morality as well as to key debates around the economy and hope.
You can view the film trailer at https://vimeo.com/361658439