Food Club Film

Starring: Kirsten Olesen, Stina Ekblad, Kirsten Lehfeldt, Michele Venitucci, Troels Lyby, Rasmus Botoft, Mia Lyhne

Any film that has something about food in it usually gets my attention but you can't just a film by it's title sometimes.  The Danish film Food Club isn't really a story about food as it is a location mostly and the uncommon ground that ties friends and strangers together.

This film is reminiscent of the American film Ex-wives club only in the fact that the lead actresses are 3 women of a certain age who are friends.

These friends have a long history after becoming a trio when they were young and in school and before they ventured out into real life.   As life does, it got in the way of them all finding the time to connect over the many years of their busy lives.  In one day it all changed as Marie's illusion of her happy life changed.  They all found themselves solo at the same time again after the 44 year marriage of Marie falls apart because of her husbands new interest and it leaves Marie blindsided.  Her kids give the couple a gift of a Food Club trip to Puglia, Italy for Christmas,  and instead of not going or going solo, she rounds up her childhood longtime friends Berling and Vanja to join her and that's when the awakening begins.  The food club is set in a small town in Puglia, Italy where people from all over stay at a villa and learn how to cook traditional Italian food with local ingredients.  Who doesn't want to eat fresh Italian food in Italy?  Well it seems for some people that's just not enough to make them happy.

This film has sprinkles of Italian food and culture but is mainly about loss, loyalty, friendship, change, and having a look at yourself through the eyes of people who know you better than you know yourself.  

By the time you hit middle age you generally get put into a certain box and you stay there and accept it because it's easier than it is to break out of the box but when life gives you a reason to change you need to jump in with the people who were there through thick and thin.

This isn't a mind blowing experimental film but a portrait of a long life of friendship of women who followed the rules mostly.  It's nice to see 3 lead characters who are diverse in personality and don't fit into Hollywood stereotypes but have real lives that you may be able to identify with if you were of that vintage.  It's beautifully acted and the characters are complex.  

Give this Danish film a look and then get together with your friends and have a long chat.

Release Date: March 19, 2021 - Available on Amazon Prime and VOD 

Director: Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg
Writer: Anne-Marie Olesen
Producers: Nina Lyng, Eva Juel Hammerich
Executive Producers: Adriano Bassi, Lara Calligaro, Tine Klint, Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg, Nynne Selin Eidnes, Nina Lyng

Distribution Company: Samuel Goldwyn Films

Website: http://www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com/food-club/

 

Meat the Future- See it on Planet in Focus Festival

 MEAT THE FUTURE a film by Liz Marshall

Meat the Future - Where's the Beef?

With the recent news of the Cargill plant in Calgary having to close because of Coronavirus infected workers it shows how vulnerable our food industry is. It is predicted that by 2050 we will not have enough food to feed the world so we need to figure out a solution for people to survive in the future.

This film is very eye-opening and thought provoking. I found I had conflicted feelings of balancing the genetic creation of food and the current practice of food production. I understand that there are inhumane food production practices because of the demand for beef and chicken, but I am also afraid of some of these new techniques because it opens the door for people to market food that nobody knows what will be in it or how it will affect health. I see the plant based craze for Beyond the Meat that still has stabilization chemicals in it but avoids the beef processing system so it solves people's animal rights issues and hopefully people understand that it's not a 100% health food.

This film will leave you thinking well past viewing this documentary and will have you thinking about it everytime you head to your grocery store to do your weekly shopping.

Birth of an industry 

 

An official Planet in Focus 2020 selection

See Meat The Future at Planet in Focus on  on Wed, Oct 14, 2020 12:00pm EST

(Virtual) More details here.

TRAILER

Award-winning The Ghosts in Our Machine director Liz Marshall returns with a new eye opening documentary about the future of meat.

Meat the Future, a story of the future of feeding the planet with a new innovation of cell-based meat. 

The goal is to innovate and produce real meat without slaughtering animals and without environmental destruction.

Currently we can see the results of food production during a pandemic with Beef Producers in Calgary and in the U.S. having shut down because of staff illness.

Animal agriculture dominates nearly half of the world’s land surface, producing more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation. The prospect of meat consumption doubling by 2050 is not only sobering, it is a wake-up call for solutions. Compared to conventionally-produced beef, cell-based beef is estimated, at scale, to reduce land use by more than 95%, climate change emissions by 74% to 87%, and nutrient pollution by 94%.

While plant-based eating is on the rise, a mass conversion to vegetarianism is unlikely. So, the planet’s future may lie with cell-based meat, also known as “clean meat” and “cultivated meat”, a scientific process of growing animal cells to harvest real poultry, beef, pork, fish and seafood. 

Meat the Future follows the genesis phase of the clean meat movement in America, behind the scenes with its pioneers – they are activists, scientists, researchers, marketers and policy experts, all focused on the goal of an ethical, sustainable and profitable food future. 

Meat the Future is seen through the experience of Mayo Clinic-trained cardiologist Dr. Uma Valeti, the co-founder and CEO of start-up company Memphis Meats. Valeti and his team are at the forefront of an industry, they have attracted worldwide interest and investment from the likes of billionaire influencers Bill Gates and Richard Branson and from food giant corporations Tyson and Cargill, and others. 

The founders have to navigate the process of the complicated regulatory processes in Washington, D.C. There, ranchers, farmers, and conventional meat lobby groups fight to protect their recognized brand of meat and beef “harvested in the traditional manner,” while representatives from the cellular agricultural community work to define a clear regulatory framework, urging America to be first to market. 

You will salivate as you watch top-ranked chefs perform their magic on the meat-of-the-future. 

Produced in association with documentary Channel, the Canada Media Fund and
the Redford Center Grants with funding provided by the New York Community Trust.
Produced with the participation of the Rogers Cable Network Fund.

Writer-Director-Producer: Liz Marshall

Executive Producers: Janice Dawe, Chris Hegedus

Associate Producer: Jessica Jennings

Editors: Caroline Christie, Roland Schlimme

Cinematographer: John Price

Music Composer: Igor Correia