Documentary Looks At Labour Rights Case Against Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Case is an eye-opening documentary that looks at the labour dispute between unionists in Colombia and The Coca-Cola Company, which is accused of “alleged kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders trying to improve working conditions in Colombia, Guatemala and Turkey.” Using interviews with the lawyers involved in the case against Coke, workers in the bottling plants, and Ray Rogers, the man behind the Stop Killer-Coke! Campaign, the film exposes the lack of human rights large corporations such as Coca-Cola function on, and get away with, in these smaller countries.

CityNews.ca spoke with The Coca-Cola Case co-director Carmen Garcia about the challenges of covering a topic like this and what she hopes to achieve with the documentary.

How did you come to cover this topic?

This is not the first film we shot in Colombia. The co-director, Germán Gutiérrez, comes from there and we’ve done a couple of films down there. The last one was called Who Shot My Brother? and it ended up being about the violence in Colombia in general. During that filming Germán met Dan Kovalik, one of the lawyers [presented] in The Coca-Cola Case. Dan has spent many years involved in cases against companies and he’s very much [focused] in the interest of unionists in Colombia. Dan informed Germán about the killings of unionists so Germán decided to make a film about that situation.

Why focus on The Coca-Cola Company when other companies are involved as well?

We chose to focus on Coca-Cola because it was a well known company and would attract attention to the subject because of the name. It’s not the only company involved directly in the bad treatment of unionists down there but it’s [probably] the most famous one.

Was getting funding for a film this political difficult?

We got the help of producer Yves Bisaillon at the National Film Board of Canada. He had co-produced our two previous films and was very interested in the subject so the NFB was onboard from the beginning. Without them we could not have done this film. Each time we had to go to Colombia or to the U.S. they paid for the equipment rental and all that. Usually, the way we produce a film, is through a broadcaster but this time we couldn’t get that.

Did you find getting clearances to film in the bottling plants hard to get?

The only one we could film was because the workers let us in…we didn’t have official permission to do that. Towards the end of the filming we got permission from the Coco-Cola plant in Bogata but the film was almost finished when we got that. During all the months and years we were filming we couldn’t [officially] get into one plant.

What about using the Coca-Cola logo?

A couple of years ago it would have been really hard to film this type of [documentary] because the lawyers were concerned about using logos. Lately it’s become less difficult because of fair use…we can use some advertising and logos for a company as long as we have a comment on the part we’re showing.

No one from Coca-Cola ever speaks to you on camera, was that a disappointment?

Since the beginning of filming we wanted to talk to them directly…we would have liked to speak to both parties. When we filmed in colleges we would have liked to film the Ray Rogers [Stop Killer-Coke] campaign and also the answer from Coke but we were never allowed to do that. Dan or Terry Collingsworth [the other lawyer involved] went to court and we talked to them in front of the court building and would have liked to talk to Coke but they never agreed. At one point the Coke lawyer said, ‘Yes. We agree. Let’s talk.’ But each time we sent an email the answer was always that it was never possible. We didn’t want to have formal interviews with the Coke people… we wanted to shoot them the way we shot the other people; on the spot where something was happening.

Are you concerned that Coca-Cola will try to sue you over the release of the film?

We’ve been taking a lot of precautions during the editing. We had a lot of stuff we knew we couldn’t use. We had the NFB lawyers look at the film and our lawyer who was preparing the filing for the insurance company…even the insurance company’s lawyer had a look at the film. When we got the Errors and Omissions insurance we felt safe.

Have you run into any problems with theatres or broadcasters refusing to show ‘The Coca-Cola Case’?

There was one broadcaster who was very direct and when he talked to us about not buying the film he said they had some contracts with Coca-Cola and there was no way they could air it. Maybe some other people thought the same or maybe it just wasn’t good enough or entertaining enough for them.

What do you hope to achieve with the documentary?

We want to make people aware of what is happening in places like Colombia where workers are not protected. The examples we give in the film are a bit extreme because they happen in places like Colombia and Turkey, where the justice system is corrupt. It couldn’t happen here in Canada for instance. But unions are not very popular lately. In Quebec we had Wal-Mart employees who wanted a union and the answer for Wal-Mart was to shut the store down. The problem of the rights of workers is a global problem. Companies wanted to make more money and give less money and rights to the workers.

The Coca-Cola Case plays at the Royal Cinema (608 College St. West) from March 26 to April 1. Gutiérrez and Garcia will attend the screenings on March 26 at 7 p.m. and March 27 at 3 p.m. for introductions and audience Q&As, and on March 28 at 7 p.m. for an introduction only. More info on the film can be found on the NFB website. If you’re interested in finding out more about the Stop Killer-Coke! Campaign visit killercoke.org.

brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com

Top image: A scene from The Coca-Cola Case. Courtesy Angus Films and National Film Board of Canada.