The very first screening Sonya and I both agreed on once the documentary was finished had to be in La Pareja. The cacao farmers would be the very first to see it. On 16th May 2024 we turned that crazy idea into reality.

We had the film translated into Spanish, organised a battery powered projector, a boombox, ropes as well as a silver screen. With our mobile theatre gear we travelled from London to Perú on a mission.

Once we arrived in La Pareja we figured out the where and when of our mini-premiere. No need to send out invites months in advance to save the date or RSVP. In Perú or at least in La Pareja you organise it on the day. People are super relaxed here.

With the great help of Joe Huachez we spread the news the evening before or in the morning of the big day. Word of mouth did the job.

Our only challenge was finding a place outdoors that was dark enough at 5pm. The bane of cacao farmers are mosquitos, which love to come out at night. Our trouble was that the projector wouldn’t be strong enough in daylight.

Nevertheless with great optimism we set out on finding the perfect “venue”.

With a pick-up truck we packed a bag of La Delizia chocolate bonbons and started collecting the attendees. The high point was a total of 11 people on the truck plus a dog.

Venue numero uno, a beautiful bamboo forest, however not dark enough. It turned out to be a great pitstop for having a round of fresh bananas off the tree.

No one was too bothered and happily hopped back onto the truck to continue to a cacao farm just a bit further down the road.

Either it was the amount of people on the truck or the added weight of ingested bananas however, after covering most of the way our truck suddenly broke down. Several attempts to kickstart it didn’t work.

From here we walked the last stretch, which also involved wading through ankle high water.

The chakra (cacao farm) we showed the film on belonged to the Toledo family. They are good friends of the Huachez family and were more than happy to host the screening on their farm. The harvest was still in full swing. After the film everyone helped with the harvest as you can see in the top video story.

For the Spanish version of the documentary click here.

I gave a short speech in my best translated Spanish, Joe handed out the bonbons and the next 10 minutes were dedicated to an extraordinary bean that everyone around us has dedicated their life to. We were over the moon to have pulled it off.

It wouldn’t have worked without Joe’s help, nor the crazy idea from Sonya that set everything in motion.

Personally I am very happy that the cacao farmers got to enjoy the film in a cinema like setting making it extra special for them. It is thanks to their hard work year round that we can enjoy this amazing chocolate. Don Ramon, who appears at the end of the film was there as well. It was just special.

If you would like to see the film and happen to be in Portland (Oregon) on the 29th September 2024. Piura Blanco Cacao will be screened at the Oregon Documentary Film Festival. You can get tickets here.