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CANE MALICE

Feature Documentary

Spain - Dominican Republic - 2021 - 76'

Director: Juan A. Zapata
Writer: Jan Matheu

Production: Mayo Films, SomBatabat, iFilm

Direction of Photography: Sofía Nicolini Llosa

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Documentary about a case of modern slavery in one of the largest sugar cane plantations in the world, located in the Dominican Republic and belonging to the Fanjul Family, one of the most powerful families in America.

Framed by a culture of coercion, plantation Haitian workers are forced to accept a life of misery living without electricity, drinkable water or sanitary servicesin exchange for a rudimentary shelter to call home.

When Maria's husband died, they told her that she had to leave the plantation unless she worked in the only available job: cutting and growing sugarcane. She decided to take the job offered by the Company in exchange for a small barrack where she lives with her five children. This is how she accepted a life of precariousness without electricity, drinkable water or sanitary services. The vast extension of sugarcane in the Dominican Republic offers this deal to thousands of Haitian workers, who are trapped in a system that denies all civic rights. The workers of the plantation are forced to accept a life of misery in exchange for a rudimentary shelter they can call home.

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