Culinary Zinema, the San Sebastian Film Festival section combining cinema and gastronomy, returns for its ninth edition. Last year in Culinary Zinema Alfred Oliveri presented his debut film: Tegui: Un asunto de familia / Tegui: A Family Affair.This year Culinary Zinema 2019 will open with his latest film La leyenda de Don Julio: corazón & hueso (The Legend of Don Julio: Meat & Bones), about three generations of a family who turn a local grill into a hugely popular steakhouse.

The first feature film by Michael Lei, Un sabor de cielo / A Taste of Sky, that premiered at the Tribeca Festival will close Culinary Zinema 2019. The film follows the destinies of two Bolivian students at the Gustu restaurant, a cookery school for young disadvantaged people founded by Claus Meyer, one of the creators of the restaurant named best in the world four times, Noma.

Seven of the nine feature films in the section will be accompanied by themed dinners, taking place from September 21-27 at the Basque Culinary Centre, at the Ni Neu restaurant and at Tabakalera’s new LABe space

The Culinary Zinema 2019 Films

LA LEYENDA DE DON JULIO: CORAZÓN & HUESO / THE LEGEND OF DON JULIO: MEAT & BONES

ALFRED OLIVERI (ARGENTINA)
OPENING NIGHT FILM

Pablo’s life spans three generations associated to meat. Like a premeditated destiny, we enter his story; a man who has had to work hard, from his childhood until his extraordinary present day, turning a simple neighborhood grill into the world’s best steakhouse. The epic everyday life of a local hero.

UN SABOR DE CIELO / A TASTE OF SKY

MICHAEL LEI (USA)
CLOSING NIGHT FILM

In the Bolivian capital of La Paz, a city sitting 13,000 feet above sea level, an ambitious and unlikely culinary project has connected three people from vastly different backgrounds and will forever change their lives. Kenzo, a hunter raised in the wild of the Bolivian Amazon, and Maria Claudia, a native of the Andean altiplano, are far from home. They have come to La Paz thanks to Gustu, a fine-dining restaurant and cooking school for the country’s underprivileged youth. Founded by acclaimed Danish restaurateur Claus Meyer, whose last project, Noma, was named Best Restaurant in the World four times, its aim is to guide these young Bolivians towards a better future as they attempt to establish their country as the world’s next great culinary destination.

BITTOR ARGINZONIZ. VIVIR EN EL SILENCIO / BITTOR ARGINZONIZ. LIVING IN SILENCE

IÑAKI ARTETA (SPAIN)

The personality of Bittor Arginzoniz and the place where he lives make his cuisine unique. The possibilities of cooking with charcoal have not been exhausted, and a return to its roots may be admirable if executed with respect and vocation. Self-taught, Bittor has made his restaurant Etxebarri the third best in the world, and minimalism his trademark. The nature that saw his birth is its landscape; the grill and the finest products, the materials he works with. And the silence. Silence in its walks, in nature, in the coals, in the choice of adequate product and the exact point of its preparation.

COCINAR BELLEZA

SERGIO PIERA (SPAIN)

Cocinar belleza gathers a group of authorized voices with different artistic profiles around a simple question: can a flavor be beautiful? With this concept, a debate is opened, moderated by the figures of the publicist Toni Segarra and the 3-star Michelin chef, Quique Dacosta, a world reference of cutting-edge gastronomy. One of the vocations of the art is to create beauty. Paradoxically, beauty as a concept has almost never been used in conjunction with taste. Dacosta approaches each one of these artists to jointly mull over the question of whether avant garde cuisine is an artistic discipline.

GAZTA

MIKEL URRETABIZKAIA (SPAIN)

A journey around the universe of Idiazabal cheese in the company of exceptional characters like Eli Arrillaga who, widowed at the age of 24 years, had to choose between following her husband’s trade of shepherding, or returning to her urban environment in Zarautz. Eli continued to work as a shepherd and is today one of the most important producers of this cheese. Exceptional characters like Juan Mari and Elena Arzak, Eneko Atxa, Joan Roca, Martín Berasategui, Pedro Subijana and Andoni Luis Aduriz, who have absolutely no doubts as to the importance of an artisan, high quality produce that fits perfectly into their demanding culinary procedure. On the Urbía, Aralar and Gorbea mountain ranges, in the highlands of Navarre, the shepherds lavish care on their herds, their prized latxa sheep, with a view to obtaining a product of fine quality, capable of winning the annual cheese competition in Ordizia.

LE CHOCOLAT DE H

TAKASHI WATANABE (JAPAN)
Cast: Hironobu Tsujiguchi

Tsujiguchi Hironobu is a famous Japanese pastry chef who has won five times at the Salon du Chocolate in Paris, but is still not satisfied with himself. The film follows his journey around Japan and Ecuador on the trail of certain ingredients to complete his new chocolate recipes.

SORA NO RESTAURANT / RESTAURANT FROM THE SKY

YOSHIHIRO FUKAGAWA (JAPAN)
Cast: Yo Oizumi, Manami Honjo, Masaki Okada

Wataru makes cheese and lives happily in Setana, Hokkaido, with his wife Kotoe and daughter Shiori. One day, his products and those of his friends attract the attention of a famous chef and they begin to plan a 1-day-only restaurant to spread their joy to others.

THE TASTE OF PHO

MARIKO BOBRIK (POLAND – GERMANY)
Cast: Lena Nguyen, Long Thang Long Do

A Warsaw-based Vietnamese cook struggles to fit into the European culture, which his ten year old daughter has already embraced as her own. A story about love, misunderstanding and food.

THE WANDERING CHEF

PARK HYE-RYOUNG (SOUTH KOREA)

Celebrity Jiho Im, better known as the Wandering Chef, travels from one end of the Korean peninsula to the other in search of the most unique ingredients known for their medicinal properties. All of his sources come from Mother Nature, who has been looking after him since he ran away from home at the age of thirteen. But the pain of having had no one to call Mother is something he has carried with him for years. Until one day, he meets Kim Soon-gyu, who lives in the last village at the top of Mount Jiri, and who serves him a homemade soup that conjures up memories of his childhood.  

ZER JAN HURA IZAN / YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Short film
IGOR ARABAOLAZA (SPAIN)

The documentary analyses the relationship between producers and chefs based on their own testimonies. It touches on subjects such as the importance of the produce in the kitchen, sustainability, the generational takeover and promotion of the rural world.

LA RECETA DE LA VIDA

Short film
MARTA LÓPEZ, EDUARDO PEIRÓ (SPAIN)
Cast: Amparo Vídal, Clara PeiróNespresso Talents 2019 

The recipe of a traditional Valencian dish, paella, is the perfect excuse for meeting Amparo, a 96-year-old woman who explains, between ingredients, the secret of her life: optimism, happiness and enthusiasm. With the pretext of making a paella, and accompanied by her 8-year-old great-grandson, Amparo looks back at memories of her childhood, of her life, while making sure that our gastronomy is passed on to the younger generations.

HUELE A TI / SMELLS LIKE YOU

Short film
MARC VADILLO, MARWAN SABRI (SPAIN)
Cast: Lidia Casanovas, Miguel Aragón, David Franco, Esther AguilarNespresso Talents 2019 

Most of the moments we spend with friends, with the family, a date… or, at the end of the day, with our loved-ones, are spent surrounded by food. Imagine meeting the love of your life thanks to food. What dish would make you fall in love?

NOUVELLE CUISINE

Short film
JOSÉ MANUEL PRADA (UK)
Nespresso Talents 2019 

A man prepares a recipe for a very special guest…