Berlinale Culinary Cinema 2019: The Edible Programme

Food fans with a love of the big screen are in for a treat this month with the return of Culinary Cinema at Berlinale Film Festival, from 7 to 17 February 2019.

A line-up of international films and documentaries circumnavigating various food stories in film around the world, from Indonesia and Japan to Greece and Spain, appear in this year's line-up.

Following the screenings, top chefs Angela Hartnett, Sebastian Frank, Haya Molcho, Kiko Moya, and The Duc Ngo will take turns serving menus inspired by the films in the Gropius Mirror Restaurant.

This year there's also an emphasis on female chefs, with discussions, "How to Become a Female Chef" talk plus a viewing of the documentary "The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution focusing on seven female chefs, including France's Anne-Sophie Pic."

Take a look at the eclectic set of films and documentaries in the listing below:

Tickets go on sale on 4 February and can be purchased online at www.berlinale.de

Berlinale Culinary Cinema: Film and Talk Listings

Aruna & Lidahnya
Aruna & Her Palate
Directed by Edwin with Dian Sastrowardoyo, Oka Antara, Hannah Al Rashid, Nicholas Saputra
Indonesia
Aruna is investigating cases of bird flu in Indonesia. She is joined by two friends and the trio decides to use the trip to have a culinary adventure. A chance encounter with Aruna’s secret crush, Farish, gradually unveils some truths about the virus.

The Biggest Little Farm
Directed by Jon Chester
USA
The Biggest Little Farm is a tale of two dreamers in California and their utopia: to build a sustainable farm with the highest possible diversity of plants and animals in order to bring back harmony to both their lives and the land.

Chef’s Table – Asma Khan 
Directed by Zia Mandviwalla
USA
Asma Khan came to England in 1991. She studied law and had two children, but was terribly homesick. Her salvation was her mother’s recipes. She has since become an entrepreneur and is head chef at the Indian restaurant ‘Darjeeling Express’ in London.

Chef’s Table – Mashama Bailey
Abigail Fuller
USA
Mashama Bailey has returned to Savannah, Georgia to open a restaurant in a formerly segregated bus station. In forging a new relationship with her childhood home, she must confront the past of the South and find her voice in a new culinary landscape.

Complicity
Directed by Kei Chikaura | with Lu Yulai, Tatsuya Fuji, Sayo Akasaka, Kio Matsumoto
Japan
Chen Liang, a young Chinese man, is an illegal immigrant in Japan who is pretending to be someone else. He begins his new life working at a traditional soba restaurant, living in constant fear that his real identity might be exposed.

Ghost Fleet
Directed by Shannon Service, Jeffrey Waldron
USA
Ghost Fleet follows a small group of Thai activists who risk their lives to find justice and freedom for enslaved fishermen, revealing stories of survival and a criminal conspiracy at the heart of the global seafood industry.

The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution
Directed by Maya Gallus
Canada
It takes a brazen personality to excel in the competitive sport of professional cooking. A woman can only ascend the ranks if she can take the heat. Meet seven women chefs at the forefront of a revolution.

Michelin-starred chefs Anne-Sophie Pic of Maison Pic in Valence, France; UK star Angela Hartnett of Murano; and award-winning New York chef Anita Lo (who closes her iconic NYC restaurant Annisa after 17 years). 

Sembradoras de Vida
Mothers of the Land
Directed by Álvaro & Diego Sarmiento
Peru
In the Andean worldview, women and the earth are strongly interrelated. Both are capable of giving and nurturing life. Mothers of the Land accompanies five women in their daily struggle to maintain a traditional and organic way of working the land.

Tea Time: How to Become A Female Chef
Maria Canabal, Maya Gallus, Angela Hartnett
In the world of cooking, as in agriculture, culture and economics, there is an imbalance between men and women. Are there any ideas to redesign this relationship – as well as the relationship to children, nature and the planet as a whole?

Tea Time: Yotam Ottolenghi - A Simple Talk
Yotam Ottolenghi is a pioneer of Mediterranean cuisine and author of seven cookbooks. In his latest work, ‘SIMPLE’, he masters the task of cooking with a maximum of ten ingredients while remaining true to his creative style.

When Tomatoes met Wagner
Directed by Marianna Economou
Greece
Two cousins and five women in a Greek village cultivate organic tomatoes, with the aid of Wagner’s music. The ripe fruit is then pasteurised and exported throughout the world, as the group discovers when they find a shop in Brussels selling their products.

Le Herencia del Vento
Directed by Alejandra Retana, César Camacho, César Hernández
Mexico
Juan has laboured out in the field for as long as he can remember. In the past 40 years he has developed a strong connection to the land and is grateful for what he has learned; his experience encapsulates what agriculture has meant to Mexico over the years.

Delband
Directed by Yaser Talebi
Iran
Life as a herder is hard, but 80-year-old Iranian Firouzeh loves living amidst nature and her faithful cows. Beloved follows this strong-minded woman at work as she tells her story and continues to ignore all well-meaning advice urging her to retire.

Y en Cada lenteja un dios
A God in Each Lentil
Directed by Miguel Ángel Jiménez
Spain
A God in Each Lentil is a delightful portrait of the gastronomic universe of the Alicante hinterland as seen by double-Michelin-star chef Kiko Moya and his family, who are always passionate about their work and determined to offer people the best of themselves.

What: Culinary Cinema at The Berlin International Film Festival 

Where: Various Venues in Berlin

When: 7 to 17 February 2019

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