Ceres Food Film Festival 2024

<p>The film BIG FISH - Rumba Rwandaise immerses into the world of M&egrave;re Josee, who invites the viewer to embark on a culinary journey through Congolese and Rwandan cuisine that goes beyond the sense of taste. Sharing food means sharing stories. A cinematic portrait of a passionate woman who sets the pace in her own dance of life, even if her freedom to move ends where the European border regime starts.</p>

<p>For 30 years, soft-spoken Chef Hill has run a highly regarded culinary training program out of the prison in Coldwater, Mich., offering inmates a renewed sense of purpose through the craft of fine dining &mdash; everything from lobster to French sauces to braised bison &mdash; while demonstrating the life-changing potential that trust and compassion can offer the incarcerated.</p>

<p>Domingo is an outgoing and free-spirited farmer who has a secret: a hidden tree from which he is developing a new variety of oranges. Will he be able to patent it before those that control the market? In this battle against Goliath, Domingo has plenty of ingenuity and good humour to succeed.</p>

<p>Examines the historical plight of Black farmers in the United States and the rising generation reclaiming their rightful ownership to land and reconnecting with their ancestral roots.<br /> <br /> As the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, Leah Penniman finds strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism &ndash; agricultural practices that can heal people and the planet. Influenced and inspired by Karen Washington, a pioneer in urban community gardens in New York City, and fellow farmer and organizer Blain Snipstal, Leah galvanizes around farming as the basis of revolutionary justice.<br /> <br /> In 1910, Black farmers owned 14 percent of all American farmland. Over the intervening decades, that number fell below two percent, the result of racism, discrimination, and dispossession. The film chronicles Penniman and two other Black farmers&rsquo; efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact, as each is a leader in sustainable agriculture and food justice movements.</p>

<p>With Bj&ouml;rk as narrator and in IMAX 3D, we are taken on a fascinating journey of discovery into the world of fungi, which may hold new solutions to our biggest problems.</p>

<p>Kazuo was born in 1968 on Sado. After 25 years in Tokyo, he decided to come back to the island and to open his own restaurant.</p>

<p>How to ensure food production for a growing population on a decreasing cropland. A radical idea using Greenlandic mud might help - and at the same time reduce climate change</p>

<p>In the Bolivian Altiplano, the inhabitants of the village of Tomave grow quinoa and raise llamas. They dress up, sing and laugh to call for rain, throwing firecrackers and confetti for Mother Earth. But some agronomists have arrived from the city and are prowling around the village, they&rsquo;re equipped with agricultural technology and determined to rationalise practices. This is the prelude to a strange masquerade.</p>

<p><em>Paved Paradise</em>&nbsp;is a playful, Dutch documentary about a serious problem: the loss of biodiversity due to human use of land. Biologist Hidde Boersma goes on a journey of discovery with filmmaker Karsten de Vreugd to unravel the current agricultural problems. His point: organic farming cannot be the solution for everything, because we lack land for that in the Netherlands. This results in a refreshing documentary in an optimistic tone, which leads to a surprising solution to this problem.</p> <p>How do we create room for nature while feeding a growing population? Adam Calo (Radboud University) studies how we can change our food system to make room for biodiversity. He discusses perspectives on the future of land use with filmmaker Karsten de Vreugd and science journalist&nbsp;Hidde Boersma.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Arnaud Marchand - Opening his restaurant abroad, he has used his talent to export French gastronomy across borders. The film follows this exceptional chef into the kitchen of his restaurant. Marked by his French savoir faire and stimulated by the new products around him, his cuisine is at the crossroads of flavor. Whether traditional or fusion, his creativity flourishes when encountering these new cultures, allowing French gastronomy to shine throughout the world.</p>

<p>Fish farming is pushing wild salmon to the brink of extinction. The federal government has promised to remove fish farms from British Columbia waters by 2025, but now industry is pushing back. Join Clayoquot Action&rsquo;s fish farm watchdog program as a team of underwater cinematographers investigates an &ldquo;experimental&rdquo; fish farm near Tofino. What they find shocks them, and spells potential disaster for wild salmon.</p>

<p>Quirky and contemplative, this delectable documentary takes us on a surprising global odyssey into the world of cheese, drawing unexpected parallels between the aging of cheese and the human experience of growing old.</p>

<p>Jaime and his friends embark on an adventure around the Iberian Peninsula to spread a new agricultural vision. Despite the great global challenges, nature will serve as their inspiration to reclaim the path towards regeneration.</p>

<p>The prestigious chefs behind the Michelin star restaurant in the Faroe Islands begin the mind-boggling challenge of opening an exclusive eatery in one of the world&#39;s most remote corners - the village of Ilimanaq in Greenland. This picturesque little settlement of just 50-some people is one of the oldest in Greenland, and the only way to get there is by boat through the Ilulissat Icefiord.</p>

<p>Can farmers regenerate nature? The Nature of Farming is a poetic collage of stories of regenerative farmers in Denmark and their nature-friendly approach to farming, restoring biodiversity above and below ground, drawing CO2 out of the atmosphere, building soil fertility, and balancing our water and carbon cycles. The film is full of visions and useful scientific information, but it is also beautiful and healing with its meditative pace and music and can be watched by everyone. What does life-affirming farming look, sound and feel like? Director Isabelle Denaro hopes to create a longing that, at best, will inspire people to push towards a new farming paradigm.</p>

<p>THE PICKERS is a journey to European fields where our fruit and vegetables are grown. Blueberries in Portugal, olives in Greece, strawberries in Spain &ndash; 1 million migrants are harvesting in Europe. They are the mobile working force, that fill our baskets in the supermarkets, travelling from one area to the next.</p>

<p>Amoris Pomum is narrated by prolific Argentine actor Ricardo Dar&iacute;n using the words of a poem written by the 1971 Nobel Prize for literature winner, Pablo Neruda.&quot;</p>

<p>For communities in Afghanistan, the climate crisis isn&rsquo;t a distant threat - it&rsquo;s already here. Afghanistan is a country which holds a rich tapestry of history and culture, woven with an agricultural heritage that has sustained its people for millennia. Today, around three quarters of the population still depend on the land for their food and income. But in recent years, the catastrophic impacts that climate change is having on food security, livelihoods, and safety in Afghanistan - from multi-year droughts that decimate yields, to flash floods which wash away homes, crops and livestock - has been exacerbating an already dire humanitarian emergency which unfurled following the Taliban takeover in 2021.</p>

<p>Coffee farms in Colombia exist in some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. However, agriculture is putting pressure on that biodiversity that is causing catastrophic declines in migratory bird species. Farmers are working alongside Smithsonian scientists to come up with solutions that will be better for birds AND coffee.</p>

<p>A German immigrant pickle-making family and their pursuit of the American Dream is challenged by the ever changing world affected by climate change, gentrification, and covid. The pursuit of happiness served sweet &amp; sour.</p>

<p>Destination Regeneration is a docuseries taking viewers on an unexpected journey of healing, hope and revival in the heartland &mdash; a journey told through the eyes of farm and ranch families who are transforming their farms, families and futures by regenerating our living and life-giving soil.</p>

<p>A team of teenage filmmakers tell the story of a unique collaboration which created the first sliding-scale farm stand in public housing, and a potential blueprint for food justice around the country.</p>

<p>One of the biggest triggers of global warming is something all of us do every day: eating. Growing and processing food uses enormous amounts of energy, water, and chemicals and has created an overwhelming burden on our planet&#39;s resources. Fortunately, intrepid scientists and innovators around the world are responding to the crisis and reimagining entirely new ways of producing food.<br /> <br /> Food From the Air tells the story of Lisa Dyson, the founder of Air Protein, a company driven by ambitions almost as vast as space itself. The 4th African American woman ever to earn a doctorate in physics, Lisa has taken on an extraordinary mission: to create food from pure elements of the air. Inspired by NASA research from the 1960s, Air Protein doesn&#39;t require any arable land, is carbon negative, and produces tasty, healthy food in just hours&mdash;it seems like magic. We watch her team of young scientists expanding the Air Protein menu, from meat to pasta, to bread and ice cream, showcasing the tremendous potential of human ingenuity. It is a story of tackling the impossible, of the power of scientific creativity&mdash;and ultimately, of hope.</p>

<p>A documentary short subject that explores the beautiful and intense world of Philip Manganaro, renowned chef, forager, and owner of Park Place Caf&eacute; in Merchantville, NJ. For over a year, a team of award-winning creatives followed Phil to his &ldquo;wild farms&rdquo; including his secret Matsutake mushroom site. ​The film captures one man&rsquo;s evolving artistic mission to forage ephemeral ingredients that no restaurant can buy and his innovative cuisine based on the bounty of the natural world.</p>

<p>The film explores the intersection of people and seeds, from all the way up to the Arctic Circle at the Svalbard Global Gene Vault to the middle of a wheat field in rural Denmark.</p>

<p>A look at the role of fungi in cheese making as told by French cheese makers and expert fermentation specialists.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In 2020, the documentary&#39;s director had access to the belongings of her maternal grandmother, Zizi, who had just passed away at the age of 95. Among her belongings was a notebook of recipes. Luisa tried to find out if her paternal grandmother, Lourdes, also kept a recipe book and discovered that she did not. To decipher why, Luisa goes to Lourdes herself.&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">The film is then structured around these two parallel narrative lines, which alternate in the editing as the director searches for the written and unwritten words of her two grandmothers&#39; memories.</p>

<p>2024 James Beard award winning film, Great Wall, is a short documentary of a Chinese-American woman who comes from a line of restaurant owners 2 generations deep that immigrated to America from Eastern Asia in the early 1980s. Growing up scarred by the restaurant industry, the once successful chemical engineer couldn&#39;t help but discover her true calling, opening her very own dim sum restaurant. This documentary takes us on a journey of the conflict between family, self, and external expectations.</p>

<p>In &ldquo;Jelly &amp; Igloos&quot; we delve into the whimsical yet purposeful world of future food artist Mie Goffin. Through her introspective narration, we are invited into her creative process, shaped by childhood memories, a commitment to sustainability, and an unyielding desire for innovation.</p>

<p>In a small fishing village of Indonesia, Joko (47), a veteran fisherman, is struggling to catch fishes. The contamination for the industrial activities and the plastic pollution on the coastal area, have contributed to reduce the fish population and have made difficult the fishermen&rsquo;s job. Joko&rsquo;s son, Putra (17), is constantly connected to his phone. He has decided to study to become a mechanical engineer. With this decision, the family fishing tradition will definitively get lost.</p>

<p>The film offers a glimpse into the world of oyster farming as documentary filmmaker Jesse F. Pearlmutter captures the beauty of harvesting oysters at the Fishers Island Oyster Farm in the nutrient-rich waters of Block Island Sound, New York.</p>

<p>The film is an inspiring inner journey through the vivid memories of Michelin-starred chef Gil Fernandes. &quot;Mem&oacute;rias&quot; is not only the title of Gil&#39;s men&ugrave;, it&#39;s also a creative diary where he recalls the flavours and the moments of his life.</p>

<p>This short film celebrates resilience, identity, and the comforting power of food to reconnect us with our roots.</p>

<p>New Roots, Old Recipes&#39; celebrates the rich cultural cuisines and diverse flavours in Toronto only possible by immigrant chefs who now call this city their home. It focuses on the lives of four successful chefs: Nuit Regular, Maha Barsoom, Simone Lawrence and Gulshan Alibhai; who find connection to their home countries through cooking. These women share the importance of keeping these cherished recipes alive through many generations, while feeding those who also miss the sense of home. This short documentary demonstrates how food acts as a powerful catalyst for building connections and fostering a sense of community, no matter where one finds themselves.</p>

<p>Agriculture in Indonesia is getting worse, climate change and soil damage due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers are unstoppable, food security is a big issue for the country. Imam Subakat is a farmer who still practices ancient Javanese farming methods (local wisdom), Subakat&#39;s agricultural practices are very sustainable, for example not exploiting the soil, not using chemical fertilizers, and in harmony with nature. This has allowed him to survive amidst the decline of Indonesian agriculture. Through the songs taught by the ancestors, Subakat invites Indonesian farmers to return to the teachings of the ancestors and return to nature, so that Indonesian farmers can help overcome the problem of food crisis.</p>

<p>Filmmaker Hieu Gray embarks on a personal culinary exploration of her childhood hometown of Waycross, Georgia, as she navigates the intersection of Vietnamese and Southern cuisine, while shedding light on an untold chapter of Vietnamese American history in the South.</p>

<p>In Southern France, culinary enthusiasts gather at the famed retreat of internationally renowned chef and food educator Charles X Michel. &lsquo;Scenes In a Coq Au Vin&#39; unfolds against the backdrop of a timeless tradition&mdash;the sacrifice of a rooster in making an ancestral &#39;Coq Au Vin.</p>

<p>An intimate look at Indigenous culture and salmon fishing, with a focus on an Alaskan family that fights to defend their history, future, and lifestyle.&nbsp;<em>&ndash; Anita Raswant</em>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Narrated by Forest Whitaker, Seaweed Stories is a vibrant, global look at the wonders of seaweed, and some of the extraordinary stories and characters whose lives have been entangled by this often overlooked marine plant which may hold answers to some of humanity&rsquo;s biggest challenges. Seaweed Stories includes insights from a Silicon Valley startup creating plastic alternatives from algae, to the Indigenous Shinnecock Kelp Farmers using seaweed to prove their sovereign right to coastal land, to a scientist in South Korea supporting seaweeds&rsquo; sexual reproduction to create new species that can withstand the effects of a changing climate.</p>

<p>Taste of Home is the story of a group of immigrants to the UK retracing memories of their home nations through food. The film is a journey that will explore the reasons why they left one country for another and ask the question, where is home?</p>

<p>Luca Carli a 24 year old fine-dining shef opened his restaurant in the Netherlands only one year ago. Before that he worked for the number one restaurant in the world, Geranium, and many other michelin star chefs. But now its his turn to show the world his story. A story about creativity, family, and perseverance. In a 3.5 minute journey we get a glimpse of his wildly creative mind and inexhaustible energy.</p>

<p>The possibilities of urban farming explode when an innovative business develops a fascinating closed loop system using local restaurant food waste to grow organic vegetables.</p>

<p>A disconnected urbanite searches for a meaningful relationship with nature. Through the power of dirty hands and deep conversations, she discovers a community of regenerative Alberta foodies who are changing the system.</p>

<p>Hannah and Liam are the inspiring couple behind The Rubbish Trip, originally a nationwide tour offering free zero waste workshops around Aotearoa New Zealand. Now experts on the why&rsquo;s and how&rsquo;s of reducing waste, Hannah and Liam are our personal zero waste heroes &ndash; educators, advocates, and activists on a subject that is ultimately about so much more than waste. This short film offers inspiration and encouragement to all of us, no matter where we are on our waste minimisation journey.</p>

<p>An unassuming prize, buried in the soil, the truffle is the diamond in the dirt of the culinary world. For those versed in where to find them, and how to cultivate them, the path to a small fortune traces its way through local woodlands, only hidden by shadow and the carpet of fallen leaves.</p>

<p>In 2004, Abdi Abajabal came to the United States from Ethiopia. In 2012, he decided to start a health juice shop in Harlem with only five hundred dollars to his name. Ten years later, he is still going.</p>

<p>It was a late-career epiphany that led &ldquo;wacky genius&rdquo; Pat Brown to abandon his academic career and commit himself to fighting global warming and biodiversity collapse. He did it, against all odds, by developing a surprising product: the revolutionary and delicious plant-based Impossible Burger.</p>