'The Sugar Babies' at SBU

St. Bonaventure University alumna Claudia Chiesi, Ph.D., will return to her alma mater this month to show her film “The Sugar Babies” and discuss the plight of the children of agricultural workers in the sugar industry of the Dominican Republic. “The Sugar Babies” examines the moral price of sugar — present and past — from the perspective of the conditions surrounding the children of sugar cane cutters of Haitian ancestry in the Dominican Republic, and the continuing denial of their basic human rights.

The film screening, which is being sponsored by the Franciscan Center for Social Concern and the Center for Nonviolence, will be held at 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 26, in Dresser Auditorium of the John J. Murphy Professional Building on the university campus.

“We are sponsoring the showing of this documentary film to raise awareness of human trafficking and how it impacts individuals and the family system,” said Sr. Suzanne Kush, C.S.S.F., director of the Franciscan Center for Social Concern. “This particular film focuses on Haitian children who are exploited and enslaved. Most of us need a ‘sugar fix.’ However, it comes at a price. This price is human lives of the most vulnerable. As a Franciscan university we need to be aware of our suffering sisters and brothers throughout the world and in some way try to make a difference.”

Chiesi, a 1969 graduate, served as executive producer of the film, which focuses on the history of slavery in the sugar industry, as well as the current conditions surrounding human trafficking and child labor in Hispaniola. Chiesi will also discuss the film and its human rights issues during various classroom visits on campus the following day.

Prior to joining Siren Studios in 2005 as a producer, Chiesi spent most of her career in higher education, most recently as the president of Harford (Md.) Community College.

“The field of human rights is as significant to me now as when I first visited the Franciscan missions in Jamaica when I was 16, and later, in 1988 and 1989. While I was working at a college in south Florida, I visited the local sugar plantations and saw the impoverished living conditions of its workers,” Chiesi said.

Chiesi credits her 16 years of Franciscan education as being the foundation for her new career. She graduated from St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School and Archbishop Carroll High School in Buffalo. Following her undergraduate work at St. Bonaventure, Chiesi earned her master’s and doctorate at the University at Buffalo.

Haitian author Edwidge Danticat narrates “The Sugar Babies,” which was shot in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The film includes interviews with the Haitian ambassador to the U.S.; the U.S. State Department’s Office of Human Trafficking; Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world; and anthropologist Dr. Sidney Mintz. The film also features human rights activists, missionary priests and the child workers and their families.

Produced in 2007, “The Sugar Babies” will soon be available on DVD. The film received the Juried Best Documentary award at the 2008 Delray Beach Film Festival as well as “Official Selection” honors at the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival, Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, United Nations Through Women’s Eyes Film Festival and the Montreal International Film Festival (2007).

The film screening is free and open to the public. Viewer discretion is advised: Some footage may be too graphic for young viewers.

To view clips from the film or learn more about the trafficking of Haitians into the Dominican Republic, go to www.sugarbabiesfilm.com.