A global conservation partnership between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic pairs a migratory bird species with sustainable shade grown cacao production in the Dominican Republic's mountainous rainforest of the Cordillera Septentrional.
American filmmaker Pete Warren tells the story of Zorzal Cacao. It began with a 1,019 acre bird sanctuary founded in 2012 as the first private reserve in the Dominican Republic. An innovative eco-investment model, Reserva Zorzal turned to organic and sustainable cacao production to fund a protected area designed to help preserve the wintering habitat of one of North America's rarest birds - the Bicknell's thrush. Today, Reserva Zorzal and the Bicknell's thrush are thriving; thanks in part to the success of Zorzal Cacao and the craft chocolate makers around the world who use Zorzal Cacao beans to produce award winning, organic chocolate.
In keeping with the spirit of this international collaboration, the filmmaker partnered with Dominican jazz artist Isaac Hernández to compose an original soundtrack. Using Dominican folkloric patterns as a backbone and weaving them seamlessly with with jazz, downtempo and classical elements, Hernández' musical wizardry shines through with a blazing soundtrack that punctuates the stunning cinematography and brings the story full circle.
_____________________________________________________________________________________Reserva Zorzal has been awarded the first Smithsonian Bird Friendly Cocoa certification. Chocolate and bird lovers can snag a taste of Bird Friendly certified Zorzal Cacao from the following Bird Friendly Certified chocolate makers by visiting :
Dandelion Chocolate & Raaka Chocolate
Other fine chocolate makers using Bird Friendly Certified Zorzal Cacao are:
French Broad // Parliament // Manoa // Fruition // Videri // Zotter // Keramis // Chequessett // and many more...
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Interested in visiting Reserva Zorzal? Visit zorzalcacao.com/zorzal-adventures/ to see what tours are currently available or contact charles@zorzalcacao.com to set up a private tour.
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Credits:
Director: Pete Warren
Director of Photography: Filipp Kotsishevskiy
Original Music: Isaac Hernández
Editor: Rob Lucente
Sound Design & Mix: Alex Uriati
Cast:
Hodali Almonte - Ornithologist, Curador de aves at Museo Nacional de Historia Natural
Chris Rimmer - Executive Director, Vermont Center for Ecostudies
Sésar Rodríguez - Director, Reserva Zorzal
Dr. Charles Kerchner - Founder, Zorzal Cacao
Rafael Concepción - Fermentation Technician, Zorzal Cacao
Ramón Belén - Director of Operations, Zorzal Cacao
Jesús Moreno - President, Reserva Zorzal
Jael Skeffington - CEO, French Broad Chocolates
Ryan Berk - Founder, Parliament Chocolate
Special thanks to Nicola Anderson, Kristen Reed, Heather Ryan, Ken Kingdon, Anya Carrasco, Néstor Guerrero and The Macaulay Library.
