Chef's Table - Jeong Kwan
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Berlinale: (Berlin, Germany) “Passion
Food” is the motto of the eleventh
Culinary Cinema, which
will be held from February 12 to 17, 2017. This year eleven recent full-length
films focusing on the relationship between food, culture and politics will be
presented.
“Undoubtedly,
passion – and its mastery – is a driving force behind the work of cooks and
filmmakers, and simultaneously one of its themes,” Festival Director Dieter
Kosslick says in explaining the motto.
At
7.30 pm the main programme of
Culinary Cinema will
present four world and one international premieres. Following these screenings,
star chefs Eneko Atxa, Alexander Koppe, Tim Raue, Sebastian Frank and Christian
Lohse will take turns serving a menu inspired by the films in the Gropius Mirror
Restaurant.
The
Spanish documentary
Soul by José Antonio
Blanco and Ángel Parra will open the programme. The film’s protagonist Eneko
Atxa runs a restaurant complex near Bilbao in the Basque region. His exploration
of the soul of cooking has him travelling to famous colleagues in Catalonia and
Japan. Eneko Atxa (three Michelin stars, “Azurmendi”, Larrabetzu, province of
Bizkaia) will create the meal on this first evening.
Barkeepers
also have to master passions, as otherwise they might lose control of the
situation. In the documentary
Schumanns Bargespräche (Schumann’s Bar
Talks) director Marieke Schroeder accompanies legendary barkeeper
Charles Schumann to the world’s best bars. Alexander Koppe (one Michelin star,
“Skykitchen”, Berlin) will cook.
In
his episode of the Netflix series
Chef’s Table (dir: Abigail
Fuller), Tim Raue tells how he succeeded in turning the negative energies of his
youth into positive ones by cooking. In another episode, David Gelb, who created
Chef’s Table,
takes us to Korea, to the kitchen of a hermitage where Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan
prepares temple food. Tim Raue (two Michelin stars, “Tim Raue”, Berlin) will
take up his position at the stove of
Culinary Cinema for the
seventh time.
In
Mark Tchelistcheff’s film
André – The Voice of Wine
we learn that vines have to suffer to bear quality grapes. This knowledge from
viniculture is, in a figurative sense, also true of André Tchelistcheff, an
oenologist who emigrated from Russia. In the 1930s, after the end of
Prohibition, he helped re-establish winemaking in California. Sebastian Frank
(two Michelin stars, “Horváth”, Berlin) will serve the meal for this
film.
In
Monsieur
Mayonnaise,
Australian director Trevor Graham accompanies painter and filmmaker
Philippe Mora who is researching his family’s eventful past. His father, Georges
Mora alias Monsieur Mayonnaise fought in the Résistance. After the war he moved
to Australia and founded an artist colony. Christian Lohse (two Michelin stars,
“Fischers Fritz”, Berlin) will cook on this evening.
To
wrap up the main programme,
Culinary Cinema Goes Kiez
will present the Canadian production
Theater of Life by Peter
Svatek at EISZEIT Kino. It shows how highly celebrated chef Massimo Bottura sets
up a soup kitchen in Milan that cooks meals made from discarded food. Markthalle Neun and restaurant
“Restlos
Glücklich” will be responsible for this evening’s meal.
At
the late-night screenings (where no meals are served afterwards), the passion
for good food and ecological engagement will remain the leitmotif. Should we eat
animals or just pet them? This is the question explored by filmmakers John
Papola and Lisa Versaci in
At the Fork. And in
Christopher LaMarca’s
Boone, three young farmers
from Oregon have a dilemma: they may milk their goats but are not allowed to
sell the milk.
In
Atlantic, Risteard Ó
Domhnaill examines how it was possible that the fish population of the vast
North Atlantic was almost wiped out and the ecosystem destroyed. In addition
Wendell Berry, who has shaped ecological thinking in the USA for the past 50
years is portrayed by Laura Dunn in
Look & See: The Story of Wendell
Berry.
The
Canadian short film
Hand.Line.Cod. by Justin
Simms completes this year’s programme.
“In
its eleventh year,
Culinary
Cinema will once more be a melting pot for films and cooks who
explore the human body and soul through the topic of food. Is eating a passion,
a vital activity, or a profit-oriented commercial sector? This requires
clarification,” says Thomas Struck, curator of
Culinary
Cinema.
A
fiery passion also blazes during
Culinary Cinema’s
“TeaTime”:
The
cookbook “Studio Olafur Eliasson: The Kitchen” features the communal spirit of
cooking and creativity by one of today's most recognized artists („TeaTime“,
Feb. 14, 2017).
Kamal
Mouzawak, Slow Food activist from Lebanon, reflects on problems of migration,
and the relationship between a person’s homeland and food. (“TeaTime”, Feb. 15,
2017).
Nobody
visiting the Festival should have to forego eating well: in cooperation with
Markthalle Neun and Slow Food, delicious Berlinale Street Food will again be on
sale at food trucks at the corner of Joseph-von-Eichendorf-Gasse and Alte
Potsdamer Straße (Feb 8 - 19, 2017).
Tickets
for
Culinary
Cinema will go on sale starting at 10.00 am on February 6, 2017 at
central ticket counters in the Arkaden am Potsdamer Platz, at Kino
International, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Audi City Berlin, and online at
www.berlinale.de
.
The
films in the
Culinary Cinema programme 2017:
André
– The Voice of Wine
- USA
By
Mark Tchelistcheff
Documentary
World
premiere
Atlantic
–
Ireland / Canada
By
Risteard Ó Domhnaill
Documentary
German
premiere
At
The Fork
-
USA
By
John Papola
Documentary
International
premiere
Boone
-
USA
By
Christopher LaMarca
Documentary
German
premiere
Chef’s
Table - Jeong Kwan
-
USA
By
David Gelb
Documentary-Series
World
premiere
Chef’s
Table - Tim Raue
-
USA
By
Abigail Fuller
Documentary-Series
World
premiere
Hand.Line.Cod.
- Canada
By
Justin Simms
Documentary
Look
& See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry
-
USA
By
Laura Dunn
Documentary
European
premiere
Monsieur
Mayonnaise
-
Australia / Germany
By
Trevor Graham
Documentary
International
premiere
Schumanns
Bargespräche
(
Schumann’s
Bar Talks)
- Germany
By
Marieke Schroeder
Documentary
World
premiere
Soul
-
Spain
By
Ángel Parra / José Antonio Blanco
Documentary
World
premiere
Theater
of Life
-
Canada
By
Peter Svatek
Documentary
German
premiere