Celluloid offerings to get your teeth into
Review World on Your Plate festival
WHAT’S going to be on your plate this evening? Our relationship with food, and how it can be changed for the better, is the subject of The World on Your Plate film festival based at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh from May 30-June 2.
Besides offering an opportunity to re-educate your palate, the weekend is also a first chance to see some of the biggest documentary hits from this year’s Sundance before they go on UK-wide release.
THE MOO MAN (12A)
Dir: Andy Heathcote Runtime: 98 minutes
MEET Myrtle, Kate, Ida, Ruby and some of the other lucky cows living on the East Sussex farm of Hook & Son. Producing raw, organic milk, butter and cream from a herd of 72, Stephen Hook (a documentary star is born) and his father believe that small is better for dairy products and livestock alike. Andy Heathcote’s entrancing film follows the farm through the seasons, and a few heartbreaks too. For various reasons – chief among them the price supermarkets pay farmers for milk – family farms like this are under pressure as never before. June 1, 2pm. Discussion afterwards with Andy Heathcote, Stephen Hook and Gary Mitchell, chair of NFU Scotland’s milk committee. Also, Glasgow Film Theatre, June 17, 8.20pm.
CANNED DREAMS (15)
Dir: Katja Gauriloff Runtime: 75 minutes
MOVING from Brazil (tin) to a pig farm in Denmark (pork), a processing factory in Portugal (tomatoes) and many other countries besides, Katia Gauriloff’s documentary looks in depth at the processes and people behind a seemingly simple tin of canned ravioli destined for a supermarket shelf in Finland. The strength of Gauriloff’s film lies in its characters rather than anything new it has to say about global food production, but their stories – the single mum with 12 children, the pig farmer trying to do her best by the animals in her care – open up a world where the bottom line is profit rather than people. Word of warning: the slaughterhouse scenes are horrific enough to turn even the doughtiest meateater veggie.
May 31, 5.45pm
A RIVER CHANGES COURSE (15) Dir: Kalyanee Mann Runtime: 83 minutes
WINNER of the grand jury prize for world cinema at Sundance, Kalyanee Mann’s elegiac film follows the flowing fortunes of three youngsters in Cambodia as the country develops and the cities start to send out their siren calls.
It is a gentle, meandering piece, but stunningly shot by the cinematographer on the Oscarwinning Inside Job. Perhaps its biggest contribution to the development debate lies in its refusal to provide easy answers, as we see from one young woman who wishes a factory would be built nearby so the shops and roads will come, making her life easier. May 30, 6pm. Followed by discussion with Humza Yousaf, Minister for External Affairs and International Development, and Judith Robertson, Oxfam Scotland.
THE FRUIT HUNTERS (12A) Dir: Yung Chang Runtime: 95 minutes
DO not be deceived by the title: Yung Chang’s mouth-watering documentary is not about the folk who take a notion for the odd Granny Smith, but those who seek out and grow exotic fruits in the name of preserving biodiversity.
Some of the contributions tend towards the unintentionally funny (many, varied and eye popping are the attempts to make fruit seem sexy), and for stretches the piece seems like the stuff of dreams for dedicated foodies only.
Once past that, however, this is a captivating, sideways look at history that zips across the globe from the Hollywood hills to the jungles of Borneo. June 2, 5.45pm, followed by discussion
Alison Rowat’s Film A-Z: Page 20