Director: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
80 minutes
Documentary
A galvanizing tribute to the undeniable muscle behind one singular communal voice, Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s Oscar-nominated documentary The Garden chronicles the trials and tribulations of a group of Los Angeles farmers and their struggling inner-city garden. Located in the heart of South Central, this urban haven of food and ideals sprung up in the aftermath of the chaotic 1992 Rodney King riots. Excavated by the community, the vacant plot of land presented an immediate opportunity to bring people together and heal still-tender wounds, turning out boundless fodder for the poverty-stricken locals and providing a constructive outlet for all the pent-up anger leftover from the riots.
“LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE”
1992
Director: Alfonso Arau
15
105 minutes
Language: Spanish with English Subtitles
Starring: Marco Leonardi, Lumi Cavazos and Regina Torné
This film is about how life used to be in Mexico. Tita and Pedro want to get married, but Tita has to take care of her ageing mother and is not allowed to marry. Pedro ends up marrying Tita’s sister, but lets Tita know he only married her sister to be closer to her. When Tita is forced to make the wedding cake, the guests at the wedding are overcome with sadness… Tita has discovered she can do strange things with her cooking.
“WILLIE WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY” 1971
Director: Mel Stuart
U
100 minutes
Starring: Gene Wilder
Based closely on the Roald Dahl book, this is a musical version of the story of Charlie Bucket, a little boy with no money and a good heart, who dreams wistfully of being able to buy the candy that other children enjoy. Charlie enters into a magical world when he wins one of five “Golden Tickets” to visit the mysterious chocolate factory owned by the eccentric Willy Wonka and run by his capable crew of Oompa-Loompas. Once behind the gates, a cast of characters join Charlie and Grandpa Joe on a journey to discover that a kind heart is a far finer possession than a sweet tooth.
“TOAST“
2010
Director: S.J. Clarkson
15 (unofficial)
96 minutes
Starring: Ken Stott, Helena Bonham Carter and Freddie Highmore
Nigel Slater is keen on cooking while his mother (Victoria Hamilton) is a poor cook with chronic asthma. As her illness worsens, so does Nigel’s relationship with his father (Ken Stott). After Nigel’s mother dies, his father begins to spend his evenings with newly divorced cleaner Mrs Potter (Helena Bonham Carter), whose signature lemon meringue pie is a hit with Mr Slater. The two embark on a relationship, and soon move to a remote part of the Herefordshire countryside with Nigel, who dislikes his father’s new partner.
Nigel finds solace in home economics classes at school, and uses his improved culinary skills to gain his father’s affections, thus becoming Mrs Potter’s rival. The excessive food causes Mr Slater to gain weight and become more temperamental. Nigel soon lands a job in the kitchen of his local pub to avoid Mrs Potter, and falls in love with the landlady’s son; the relationship is cut short when the latter leaves town. The film follows Nigel’s story as events unfold and he goes to London to follow his dream. Nigel has a short cameo role in the film towards the end.
“COOKING WITH STELLA” SCOTTISH PREMIERE
2009
Director: Dilip Mehta
104 minutes Language: Mainly English some Hindi and French – with English subtitles
Starring: Seema Biswas, Don McKellar and Lisa Ray
Set against the textured backdrop of Delhi, India, the movie opens with Michael (Don McKellar) and Maya (Lisa Ray) moving into their new home: a government compound in a nice part of the capital city.
The Canadian couple have a young daughter, and in the opening frames, we learn the central caregiver isn’t mom, but dad. Mom is a high-ranking diplomat who spends her days working. Dad, on the other hand, stays at home and tries to be as productive as possible.
Michael is your classic emancipated male and he’s not hung up on the gender power imbalance, but when he’s denied access to the kitchen, he gets a little frustrated. He wants to make a substantial contribution, but Stella (Seema Biswas) has her own agenda.
A longtime cook to the Canadian diplomatic corps, Stella has seen couples like Michael and Maya pass through Delhi for decades while she lingers behind in the same dead-end position, completing the same dead-end tasks.
Stella and Michael have a few bad moments at the beginning, but when Michael asks Stella to be his cooking guru, and educate him about the secrets of Indian cuisine, Stella gets the ego strokes she craves and warms up to the new boss. Yet, for all her apparent selflessness, Stella’s got her own groove – and her own contraband dealership.
“THE GOLD RUSH”
1925
U
95 minutes
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring :Charlie Chaplin
He may be called “The Lone Prospector” in The Gold Rush, but the character played by Charlie Chaplin is the same wistful, resourceful Little Tramp that had been entertaining the world and its brother since 1914. A most unlikely participant in the 1898 Yukon gold rush, Charlie finds himself sharing a remote cabin with two much larger and more menacing-looking prospectors: Big Jim McKay (Mack Swain) and Black Larsen (Tom Murray). Big Jim isn’t really a bad sort, but Larsen is a murderer and thief. When the food supply runs out, Larsen heads out in the snowy wastes to hunt, leaving Charlie to prepare a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for Big Jim, consisting of roasted shoe. The days pass: in a delirium, Big Jim imagines that Charlie is a huge chicken, and voraciously takes after him with an axe; Charlie saves himself by inadvertently shooting a bear, thereby providing enough food for ten men.
The Gold Rush was the longest and most elaborately produced of Chaplin’s silent comedies.
“EAT, DRINK, MAN, WOMAN”
1994
PG 124 minutes
Director: Ang Lee
Language: Mandarin, French – English subtitles
Starring: Sihung Lung, Yu-Wen Wang and Chien-lien Wu
Director Ang Lee’s follow-up to his surprise box-office hit The Wedding Banquet is another look at ethnic and sexual conflicts in a Chinese family, with meals as a centerpiece of the film. Master chef Chu (Sihung Lung) is a long-time widower who lovingly cooks large Sunday dinners for his three daughters, who view the meals as too traditional. Secretly, however, successful airline executive Jia-Chien (Chien-Lien Wu) loves traditional cooking and would like to be a chef like her father, if women were permitted to do so. Her older sister Jia-Jen (Kuei-Mei Yang) is unmarried and cynical about men, but she becomes attracted to a volleyball coach and eventually pursues him vigorously. The youngest daughter, Jia-Ning (Yu-Wen Wang), is a college student who becomes pregnant from her frequent sexual escapades. As the film progresses, the personal relationships between the daughters and their significant others change unexpectedly.
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SHORT FILMS AT THE DOCBOX:
Co-operative Fair Trade Short Films introduced by Scottish Fair Trade Director Martin Rhodes
Cairngorms Food on Film Short Films introduced by filmmaker Helen Graham
ScreenHi Scottish Food Shorts introduced by ScreenHi’s Amanda Millen
BoingieWorld Children’s Animations by award winning US filmmaker Jane Sablow
