Cocoaïans

A sweeping historical panorama spanning the 20th and early 21st centuries, Cocoaïans tells the political history of chocolate. From the bean to the finished product, the cultivation and trade of cocoa reflect the relations of domination imposed by the West on African producing countries.
From the Gbaka forest in 1908, through to 2031, via present-day Treichville, the political narrative leaps from subjugation to liberation, from jubilation to compromise, from hope to disillusionment. Gauz’ tells the story of the Cocoaians’ – the inhabitants of the land of cocoa – quest for emancipation, as they seek to produce and sell their own chocolate, thereby placing cocoa within a civilisational discourse: a narrative of the conquest of freedom.