As the present-day Surinamese landscape doesn’t contain enough original elements consistent with the film’s era, ‘The Price of Sugar’ was predominantly shot in South Africa, after which visual effects were added to more than 250 shots by Planet X in collaboration with the South African company Broadbean VFX.
The African landscapes were transformed into a ‘digital Paramaribo’ by adding digital elements like houses, mills, tropical vegetation and even historical ships, which were shot specifically for this film. In several shots, present-day landscape elements were removed to heighten the film’s realism.
‘The Price of Sugar’ was the opening film at the Dutch Film Festival (NFF) 2013.