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Cotton Road

Laura Kissel

Cotton Road
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About

What does a rural town in South Carolina have to do with China? 

Americans consume nearly twenty billion new items of clothing each year, and at least one billion of them are made in China. Cotton Road uncovers the transnational movement of cotton and tells the stories of workers lives in a conventional cotton supply chain. From rural farms in South Carolina to factory cities in China, we span the globe to encounter the industrial processes behind our rapacious consumption of cheap clothing and textile products. 

Are we connected to one another through the things we consume? Cotton Road explores a contemporary landscape of globalized labor through human stories and provides an opportunity to reflect on the ways our consumption impacts others and drives a global economy.

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Credits

Cotton Road 


Director, Producer, Cinematographer and Editor

Laura Kissel


Producer in China  

Li Zhen 李桢 


Composer 

Fang Man 


Additional Camera

Mark Gamble

Li Zhen


Technical Support

Mark Gamble

Jimmy Henderson 

Heidi Mehltretter

Wade Sellers


Production Assistants

Heather Bauer

Andrew Cline

Tracy Grant


Research Assistant

Tori Epspensen Sturges


Editing Assistant

Rebecca Brinson


Mandarin to English Translation

Li Zhen


With additional assistance from

Guo Jie

Michael Hill 

Marco Moskowitz 

Elizabeth Peng

Michelle Wang

Zhu Yun


Colorist and Sound Mix

Wade Sellers


Production support and logistics in the US and China


Georgia Ports Authority 

Mark Troughton

Danica Grone

David Porter


Charleston Branch Pilots Association 

Julia Winkler

John Cameron 


Port of Charleston

Erin Pabst


Eastern Trading Company

Jordan Lea


Clemson University Cooperative Extension 

Mike Jones


Supply Chain Management

Wynn Cowan 


State of South Carolina Department of Commerce
Gregory Guest

John Ling

Amy Thompson

Aaron Wood


Angela Chen

Chen Bin

Del Chen 

David Cossack

Edward Gwinn 

Crystal Hardesty 

Peng Hong

Butch McLaren

Paul Morton

Sha Mei

Carl Thelin

Janet Upton

Ray Wall 

J.R. Wang 

Robin Wang 

Xiaobo Lu

Cathie Xu 

Yang Ji 

K.J. Yang

Emma Zhang

Flora Zhang

Kenny Zheng

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