BLOCK C: Taste The Diversity: Portuguese, Koto: The Last Service, COVID 19: The Future of Food, The Recipe For Balance (CANADA PREMIERE)

The Recipe For Balance

 CANADA PREMIERE

Óscar Bernàcer  Spain 2020  70:13 

Ricard Camarena bases his cooking in València’s orchard. His constant search of harmony between flavours has seduced critics and crossed borders. Alongside MariCarmen Bañuls, the brains running the restaurants, they make an unbreakable team that has overcome great adversity to reach success, endorsed by two Michelin Stars and therecent National Gastronomy Prize. The couple lives their most balanced moment. Balanced? The outbreak of COVID-19 makes them face an unprecedented challenge: re-open their restaurants with the uncertainty that the “new normality” imposes. Unaware ofthe pandemic, València’s orchard has continued its natural cycle of growth.

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

Screenwriter and director. I wrote my first story when I was six years old; "With a washing machine alespacio". I didn't get a publisher, but my aunts liked it a lot. Some time later I began to make shorts: "Laura's shoes", "Breakfast with a diadem", "Bikini" and "Apolo81" have been seen in hundreds of festivals and many televisions around the world. Between the four they add more than 160 awards, the candidacy for the Goya and the nomination for the Meliés d'Or. Soon I will release Stanbrook, my new short film. I have written feature films and directed the fiction series “La Forastera” and three seasons of the documentary series “Cuineres i cuiners” with Ricard Camarena, two Michelin star chef. The Recipe for Balance is the documentary that culminates three years of work with this internationally renowned Valencian chef.

Taste The Diversity: Portuguese

Olena Tumanska  Canada  25:42 

Portuguese cuisine is like a carnival: motley, sparkling, with bright piquant combinations, it is not able to leave anyone indifferent. It harmoniously coexists with very simple products and noble refined variations, alluring with fine facets of tastes. What is Portuguese cuisine famous for? What dishes are worth trying to get a better understanding of it? And what kind of music is the best to take a sip of Portuguese port? This is what will be discussed in our film.

Director Biography

Olena Tumanska began her directing career after graduating from the State Cultural University in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2007. She has directed a number of reality TV shows, documentaries, music videos, live concerts, as well as TV commercials. Since moving to Canada in 2017 she has taken on several key projects with the Ethnic Channels Group in Toronto, ON.

Specifications

• Project Type: Documentary
• Runtime: 25 minutes 42 seconds
• Production Budget: 30,000 USD
• Country of Origin: Canada
• Country of Filming: Canada
• Language: English
• Shooting Format: HD
• Film Color: Color
• First-time Filmmaker: No
• Student Project: No

COVID 19: The Future of Food

Jérémie Battaglia  Canada  2020  12:00 

How are you adapting to the pandemic? That’s the question Jérémie Battaglia and Vali Fugulin asked Canadian small and medium-sized business owners in April 2020 as part of the Pivot project led in partnership with the McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative. Out of these discussions, one major theme emerged — how COVID-19 has affected the eating habits of Canadians. Interest in local products and cooking exploded during the lockdown, but was it just a fad? Six months later, as the second wave was sweeping over the country, Jérémie wanted to continue the conversation with two of the business owners he met, restaurant owner Lil MacPherson and farmer Dave Kranenburg. Both have long advocated for the importance of making the agri-food industry more responsive and local. On a video-conference call, they reflect on the changes in behaviour we’re seeing and wonder if we might be witnessing a long-term paradigm shift in our relationship with food.

Koto: The Last Service

Joella Cabelu  2021 Canada  14:35 

After nearly 40 years in operation, the family-run Koto Japanese Restaurant is closing down in Campbell River, Canada. Over the course of its final service, the small Vancouver Island community bids farewell in this meditation on how to say goodbye with grace and the legacy of investing care in relationships through sushi.

Director Biography - Joella Cabalu

Joella Cabalu is a Filipino Canadian documentary filmmaker based in Vancouver. It Runs in the Family (2015) was her first mid-length documentary, receiving Audience Choice Awards at the Seattle Asian Film Festival and Vancouver Queer Film Festival and a special jury mention at CAAMFest for the Loni Ding Award for Social Justice Documentary. Since then, she has worked as a producer, supporting emerging women directors in creating critically acclaimed short documentaries, including On Falling (Tribeca 2020), Biker Bob’s Posthumous Adventure (Lunenburg 2019), Do I Have Boobs Now? (Slamdance 2017), and FIXED! (DOXA 2017). Currently, she is producing her first feature documentary Back Home with support from the Telefilm Talent to Watch fund. Koto: The Last Service marks her return to the director's seat, exploring stories about intimacies, identities, and relationships.

Director Statement

Koto Japanese Restaurant turned off their lights on May 25, 2019, after nearly 40 years of operation. Owned and run by the Maeda family, they introduced raw fish sushi, before it was a cool trend, to the Vancouver Island town of Campbell River, on the unceded territories of the Laich-Kwil-Tach Peoples - the We Wai Kai, Wei Wai K u m, and Kwiakah First Nations. They soon became known as one of the first authentic Japanese restaurants in the “Salmon Capital of the World”, and more importantly a hub in the community for Indigenous and non-Indigenous families to come together and engage in Japanese food and culture. The Maeda family – matriarch Kazue, the late Takeo (Tony), and their sons Taigi and Kenji were fixtures in the community as their generosity and friendship extended beyond serving fresh sushi. In a time when small town folks are painted as small-minded towards immigrants, the Koto restaurant and Campbell River counters that stereotype and serves up an example of community cohesion and intercultural exchange.

In discussing race with Asian-North American audiences, it has become clear that Canada does not yet have an established language to unpack anti-Asian racism. However, in recent years, there has been a surge of Canadian media that examines racism, including the hit podcast Colour Code (Globe & Mail, 2016) and the powerful documentary nipawistamasowin: We Will Stand Up (Tasha Hubbard, 2019). Koto is distinct in its aim to tackle this issue by showcasing positive community relationships in small towns and offering a soothing balm to anti-Asian racism.

Specifications

• Project Type: Documentary, Short
• Runtime: 14 minutes 33 seconds
• Completion Date: January 20, 2021
• Country of Origin: Canada
• Country of Filming: Canada
• Language: English, Japanese
• Film Color: Color