E360 FILM CONTEST WINNER
In “Chocolates Melting Away” — the First-Place Winner of the 2026 Yale Environment 360 Film Contest — Breech Asher Harani explores how cacao growers in the Philippines are developing new techniques to protect their crops from increasingly harsh conditions.
In the Philippines, ideal growing conditions for cacao have fueled an industry with a market value of more than $400 million. In the Davao region, on the island of Mindanao, growers tend trees, harvest fruits, and produce premium chocolates for the domestic market. But climate change, which has brought drought, floods, more humidity, and extreme heat to the region, has presented growers with serious challenges.
Based in Davao, filmmaker Breech Asher Harani set out to document the concerns of cacao farmers at two artisanal operations and speak with agricultural researchers about the industry’s efforts to adapt to changing conditions. Farmers demonstrated how they use intercropping, produce fertilizers from agricultural waste to increase yields and quality, and employ innovative irrigation systems to minimize water loss.
“These farmers are very well versed when it comes to climate mitigation strategies and sustainable farming techniques,” Harani says, noting that he never sensed a feeling of hopelessness among growers. Not only do the cacao farmers seem “ready to face the battle,” Harani says, “they are also ready to show others what they are doing so their methods can be replicated.”
Harani hopes his film elevates the importance of farmers, “whose hard work sustains our everyday needs,” and that viewers will feel motivated to take action against climate change, “which is already reshaping what we eat.”
About the Filmmaker: Breech Asher Harani is a filmmaker and artist whose work spans narrative, documentary, experimental, and animated forms. In 2019, he was named a JCS International Young Creatives awardee at the International Emmy Awards, and was subsequently listed on Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 for the Arts. Harani is the first recipient of a Climate and Labor Film Grant, awarded jointly by the Pulitzer Center, the Financial Times, and One World Media.
About the Contest: Now in its 13th season, the Yale Environment 360 Film Contest honors the year’s best environmental documentary shorts from around the world. This year we received 596 submissions from more than 80 countries across six continents, with the winners selected by the editors of Yale Environment 360.