CHOCOLATE MILK: THE DOCUMENTARY is an exploration of the racial divide in breastfeeding. Told through the narratives of three African American women: a new mother, a homebirth midwife and a WIC lactation educator, the film seeks to answer the longstanding question of why more African American women are not breastfeeding. By creating an engaging narrative centered around the challenges of birth and breastfeeding as a Black woman in the United States, Chocolate Milk will spark public discussion on how communities can better support black families. In August 2019, we surpassed our goal to hold 200 community screenings of a rough cut of the film across the U.S. during National Breastfeeding Month. To learn about the film’s social impact, please read our 2019 report.

>> For more about the film’s narrative, download our synopsis

Team

Advisors

Mark Jonathan Harris is an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and novelist. He currently serves as Distinguished Professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and holds the Mona and Bernard Kantor Endowed Chair in Production.

Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, author and nationally recognized media commentator. Her online commentaries have received over 10 million page views and her fifth book The Big Let Down—How Medicine, Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding was published in 2017.

Marta Effinger-Crichlow, Ph.D is the Chair of the African American Studies Department of the New York City College of Technology. She is also a dramaturg, playwright, and filmmaker, currently in post-production on her feature-length documentary Little Sallie Walker about childhood play and survival for black women and girls.

Jacqueline Wolf is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Medicine at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Women's Studies Program at Ohio University. She is the author of Don’t Kill Your Baby: Public Health and the Decline of Breastfeeding in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.

Funders

W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded graybayne film/media a generous grant to complete Chocolate Milk: The Documentary. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. Click here for the full press release.

Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) awarded graybayne film/media their first grant for Chocolate Milk: The Documentary. The Creative Economic Development Fund (CEDF) is a partnership between the Surdna Foundation and the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation, the CCI and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) to provide grants for independent creative businesses, self-employed artists or cultural producers, artist collectives, or nonprofit arts organizations that use commercial strategies in pursuit of a social or community impact objective. Click here for the full press release.