by MATTHEW HAYS

Ina Fichman calls her latest documentary project, Romancing the Bean, "an epic story." The Gemini Award-winning producer had no idea that a documentary series about coffee, humankind's favourite caffeinated beverage, would encompass so many different elements. "It's a film that deals with social, political and economic aspects of coffee - and we ended up going everywhere to shoot: Brazil, Costa Rica, Italy, France, Britain."

Fichman, the producer behind documentaries as varied as Undying Love: True Stories of Courage and Faith (about couples who met each other in concentration camps during WWII) and Being Dorothy (about the women who play Wizard of Oz protagonist Dorothy at a theme park), was led to java after reading a book on the subject. She then approached filmmaker Irene Angelico to direct. "She had already directed The Cola Conquest, the documentary miniseries about Coca-Cola and Pepsi, so I thought she'd be the person to do it," recalls Fichman. "At first, she was like, ‘Another beverage?' But she warmed up to the idea pretty quickly." The three-part series will air on TVO this fall.

What was the most surprising thing that came out of their coffee research? "The thing that struck me was that the Fair Trade movement is actually having an effect on the coffee chains. Perhaps they're not being as fair as some activists might like them to be, but it is really in their own interests to be fair and reasonable with the coffee growers. If they fold, then the coffee sellers won't have anything to sell."

And when asked what draws her to certain projects, Fichman points to the name of her newly formed production company, Instinct Films. "I've made films about all sorts of things. Great ideas are what drive me. That and working with a great team."