Festivals Merge to Create Food on Film

Posted by Berwick Food Festival on Aug 30, 11 06:29 PM in Bloggers

In a unique collaboration, this year's Berwick Food Festival will combine both food and film. Bringing together the Berwick Food Festival on 10th & 11th September and the Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival on 23-25 September, there will be two Food on Film screenings at The Maltings Theatre and Cinema and a mini Slow Food cinema on the festival site itself.

The screenings at the Maltings Theatre in Berwick-upon-Tweed will include Babette's Feast which will be shown on Thursday 8th September at 8.00pm and a special showing of the popular children's film Ratatouille at 10.30am on Sunday 11th September. And for those who keep their ticket stubs from either film, there will also be free entrance in to the food festival.

The film events have been organised by Slow Food member Joe Lang, who explains the background to the two events: "It's great that we have been able to bring these two art forms and events together for the first time. You can't taste food on film, and you can't smell it - but as the huge success of food programmes on TV proves, we also eat with our eyes. Both the films are a visual treat - one for adults, and one for the whole family."

The showing of Babette's Feast is a rare opportunity to see this Oscar winning masterpiece directed by Gabriel Axel and starring Stéphane Audran. Set in a remote Jutland village, the gently comic tale shows the transformative power of food when Babette, a political refugee from Paris, opens hearts and minds and heals old divisions with a village feast that generates an atmosphere of sheer joy. Described by one critic as "a bizarre, magical concoction, seasoned to literally mouth watering effect," the film triggered a craze in America for restaurant re-creations of Babette's banquet.

The showing of Ratatouille is part of The Maltings' ongoing Sunday morning film programme for families. The tale is set in the sewers beneath Auguste Gusteau's elegant but fading Paris restaurant, where misfit rat Remy dreams of becoming a great chef. No one wants a rat in their kitchen, so he teams up with hopeless kitchen assistant Linguini. Together, they develop some fabulous dishes as they set out to restore Gusteau's reputation and legacy. This great family film won a Best Animation Oscar and four other nominations. The fantastic depiction of food results from the film-makers, Pixar, consulting gourmet chefs, attending cookery schools and employing a professional chef as part of the production team. They developed new techniques to bring the ingredients and dishes to life and the dish the rats cook for the film's climax was specially created by one of America's most famous gourmet chef-proprietors.

In addition to these screenings, a series of short food related films will be shown at the Berwick Food Festival. Mainly covering the more serious issues around food, they will focus on Fair Trade, projects to alleviate global poverty and world farming practices.

Lisa Wilson of Berwick Slow Food concludes, "This is a great example of different events and organisations working together to provide a great event for Berwick. I would like to thank Joe Lang and the teams at The Maltings Theatre and the Film Festival for their hard work in making these exciting events happen. We are looking forward to welcoming as many people as possible to the screenings and to the Berwick Food Festival this September."

Following the festival, there will be a further opportunity to enjoy food and film when the Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival is inviting people to enjoy a showing of the first ever screen adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland from 1903 which was restored last year by the British Film Institute. In their very own version of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party film goers will also get to enjoy cream tea at Café Curio in Bridge Street.

Babette's Feast will be shown at 8.00pm on Thursday 8th September, tickets £5. Ratatouille will be shown at 10.30am on Sunday 11th September, tickets from £2.50 (under-3s free). To book please contact The Maltings Theatre on Tel. 01289 330999 or visit www.maltingsberwick.co.uk

For further information on the food festival please visit www.berwickfoodfestival.com

We'd like to hear from you.
Send your stories, pics and videos to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk