After getting off to a great start in 2007, the Berlinale’s special programme Culinary Cinema saw its second year from February 11 to 15, 2008. This series of events connects movies on culinary topics with gastronomical delights inspired by the films. In rounds of talks, filmmakers, food lovers and food experts strive to expand their horizons. In the movie theater of the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Culinary Cinema screened a selection of recent feature, documentary and short films on food and ecological issues every evening at 7:30 and as of 10 p.m.

“Food products are also a means of survival and communication that combine the pleasures and joys of life with responsibility in a special way”, says Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.

 

Following the screenings at 7:30 p.m., dinners were served and discussions held in the “Gropius Mirror” - a tent lined with mirrors on the south side of the Martin-Gropius-Bau.

 

The event commenced on February 11 with a Buñuel classic, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and anglerfish prepared by star chef Bobby Bräuer (Restaurant Quadriga). This surreal satire on bourgeois eating habits also stimulated two of the most influential food experts of the world, Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, and Ferran Adrià, chef of the legendary El Bulli restaurant, to a dialogue on “The Future of Food”. Giovanni di Lorenzo (chief editor of Die Zeit) hosted the talk between the champion of good, clean and fair foods and the most celebrated advocate of molecular cuisine.

 

On the following evenings, other star cooks prepared Culinary Cinema dishes. Cornelia Poletto (Restaurant Poletto) allowed herself to be inspired by the documentary A Table in Heaven (directed by: Andew Rossi) about the New York restaurant Le Cirque: she made a classic “cacciucco” as homage to its owner Sirio Maccioni, who is from Tuscany. After Cooking in the Danger Zone (with Stefan Gates), Thomas Kellermann (Restaurant Vitrum) served a “gastronaut’s favorite”. Kolja Kleeberg (Restaurant Vau) roasted a “Good Luck Pig à la Brazil” in honor of the prize-winning Brazilian film Estômago: A Gastronomic Story (directed by: Marcos Jorge).

 

Alfred Biolek and Jörg Thadeusz established ties between culinary and cinematic worlds by hosting talks between filmmakers and food experts. In addition a Spanish fiesta and The Chicken, The Fish & The King Crab (directed by: José Luis López-Linares) concluded the Culinary Cinema series 2008 on February 15.

 

From February 11 to 14, at the late screenings as of 10 p.m., the following films were also shown: Eat and Run (directed by: Mamoro Oshij); El Bulli –Història D’Un Somni (directed by: David Pujol); the multiple award-winning movie Sharkwater: The Truth will Surface (directed by: Rob Stewart); as well as A Day In Eataly (directed by: students of the University of Gastronomic Science / UNISG). Slow Food head Carlo Petrini presented this university’s short film, which was made under the direction of the internationally renowned cameraman Michael Ballhaus, patron of the project designed to culminate in a multimedia food encyclopedia.

 

In the “Gropius Mirror” on February 15, organizer of the Culinary Cinema’s gastronomic events Martin Scharff cooked ratatouille with and for children from a Berlin-Kreuzberg youth project, “die gelbe Villa”. The event has been conceived to support initiatives for improving the nutrition of schoolchildren. And, of course, the event would not have been complete without a screening of the film Ratatouille.

 

Thomas Struck, head of Culinary Cinema, states: “Humans should remember where their cleverness came from – everything began with their palates. Homo sapiens doesn’t just refer to the wise but also to those that relish.”