Reviews

“Highly Recommended. Diligently documents the origin and success story of a self-managing cooperative factory, which can be used to encourage discussions in subjects related to labor movements, trade union struggles, and businesses. The film is appropriate for public and academic library collections.”
— Educational Media Reviews Online

“Unobtrusive and humane...Reminiscent of American documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman's studies of institutional cultures and workplaces. Proper to her training as a social anthropologist, director Laura Coppens is keenly sensitive to place and people. This skill for observation comes through in the film's treatment of the factory as a unique environment, as well as its attention to daily rhythms and the interpersonal dynamics of people.”
— Stephanie Lam, Film and Visual Studies, Harvard University

“The filmmaker works with the camera and with a thoughtful editing in order to understand how to weave together new possibilities of communal existence. The result is a superbly crafted observational exercise. A little manual of self-defense and resistance in the face of a neoliberalism that wishes for workers to keep their heads down. A taste of hope indeed.”
— Giona A. Nazzaro, Programmer and Film Critic

“The fact that the filmmaker is allowed to be present when delicate topics are discussed is a testament to the relationship of trust that she has built up during the two years of shooting. The example of ScopTI shows how existence in a market economy demands compromises - which is not new, but it is always important to discuss together...In this respect, Taste of Hope is quite well suited to contribute to a solidarity exchange in movements and networks of collective economies.”
— Elisabet Voss, Economist and Publicist

“Taste of Hope is an incredibly smart film, in that it doesn't only concentrate on the force of spirit that led the Scop-TI employees to become their own bosses: it also asks "what's next?" Coppens arrived to film the factory when the rush of the resistance had already worn off, and the more mundane, but crucial challenges started adding layers to the new labor system at lace. This way, Taste of Hope became a more complex, thought-provoking case study of workers reclaiming their agency, with emphasis on the essential practical side of things. Necessary viewing for those interested in how labor relationships will evolve in the future, with a delightful field trip to a tea-making factory as a bonus.”
— Katya Kazbek, Editor-In-Chief, Supamodu.com

“What precisely this management looks like and whether it is capable of translating the revolutionary spirit of machine kidnapping into a working production routine that secures everyone's livelihood is the basic question of Laura Coppens' film, which turns it into a kind of statement of accounts -- about income and spending, insights and exertions.”
— Sylvia Görke, Dok Leipzig

“An elegantly crafted observational film, Laura Coppens' attentive anthropolotical feature guides us through the factory floor into general assemblies and out into the supermarket, as the collective try to reconcile their utopian vision of communal existence with the ever present stress of the bottom line.”
— Open City London

“In a world in which corporate profits and exploitation of the weak domineers production, Taste of Hope highlights an alternative path of solidarity and cooperative working.”
— Kaleidoskop Film Festival

“The film is paced with stylish picture sequences where the camera admires mechanics, recalling Dziga Vertov's classic Eleventh Year. Machines have power and suction, but they are no substitute for people and cooperation. Taste of Hope is a peek into a potential business venture of the future. As its name implies, it brings hope to the people wandering amid strikes and pay cuts.”
— Olli Laine, DocPoint Helsinki Film Festival