A Dinner for Foodies and Cinephiles Alike: List of 5 Films About Food and Community That Pair Well With MealsCountry: Aruba, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, USA|An international gourmet meal in five courses of cinema: diversity beer, weed soup, and protest tea, with plushies and spirits as guests—a tasting menu to nourish all senses
Film: And Then We Danced, dir. Levan Akin, 2019Country: Georgia, Sweden|This necessary, exquisite story of a gay romance in a Georgian folk dance ensemble was nominated by Sweden as its Oscars 2020 entry, and opened to homophobic protest in Tbilisi
Iceberg Nations, Stupid Borders, and Minimal Republics by Ruben Martín de Lucas and Fernando Martín BorlánCountry: Borderless Earth, Spain|An artist and a film director join forces to imitate the notion of creating sovereign states in a project that shows just how absurd private and national claims on the Earth's territories are
Film: Mogu and Perol, dir. Tsuneo Goda, 2018Country: Japan|A furry chef discovers that dinner doesn't taste as good when there's no one to share it with, in this adorable short with some of the best-looking stop-motion food from the creator of Domo-kun
A Dinner for Foodies and Cinephiles Alike: List of 5 Films About Food and Community That Pair Well With MealsCountry: Aruba, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, USA|An international gourmet meal in five courses of cinema: diversity beer, weed soup, and protest tea, with plushies and spirits as guests—a tasting menu to nourish all senses
Film: And Then We Danced, dir. Levan Akin, 2019Country: Georgia, Sweden|This necessary, exquisite story of a gay romance in a Georgian folk dance ensemble was nominated by Sweden as its Oscars 2020 entry, and opened to homophobic protest in Tbilisi
Iceberg Nations, Stupid Borders, and Minimal Republics by Ruben Martín de Lucas and Fernando Martín BorlánCountry: Borderless Earth, Spain|An artist and a film director join forces to imitate the notion of creating sovereign states in a project that shows just how absurd private and national claims on the Earth's territories are
Film: Mogu and Perol, dir. Tsuneo Goda, 2018Country: Japan|A furry chef discovers that dinner doesn't taste as good when there's no one to share it with, in this adorable short with some of the best-looking stop-motion food from the creator of Domo-kun
Film: Supper for the Dead Souls, dir. Ignazio Figus, 2017Country: Italy|On November 1, Sardinians cook a traditional meal for the spirits of their deceased: a rare opportunity to participate in the preparation made by the region's leading ethnographic filmmaker
Film: Judas Collar, dir. Alison James, 2018Country: Australia|Look at the consequences of human interference with the camel populations of Australia in this powerful women-made narrative short that is currently contending for the Oscars' shorts nomination
Film: The Wandering Chef, dir. Hye-Ryeong Park, 2018Country: South Korea|Chef Jiho Im doesn't discriminate against his ingredients, preparing elaborate dishes from scavenged, rare plants with healing power. But can the medicinal foods heal his soul?
Film: Taste of Hope, dir. Laura Coppens, 2019Country: France, Germany, Switzerland|Workers at a tea factory in the South of France fought their bosses in an almost 4-year strike and now run the place as a co-op: will they emerge victorious from the battles of competition?
Film: A Fresh Perspective, dir. Aaron Hosé, 2019Country: Aruba, USA|In the economy of craft beer making, which currently enjoys a multibillion boom worldwide, few spaces are occupied by minorities: a documentary short sheds light on how that's changing
Food: Plates at La Goulette, Williamsburg, BrooklynCountry: Tunisia|Colorful, delicious plates at a small restaurant with some of the best Middle Eastern comfort food in the five boroughs: merguez sausages and falafel that are worth slowing and sitting down for
Film: Sound of Masks, dir. Sara CF de Gouveia, 2018Country: Mozambique, Portugal, South Africa|The story of Mozambican independence and the country's postcolonial identity as reflected through the performances of Atanásio Nyusi, a traditional Mapiko dancer
Film: Hyenas, dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1992Country: Senegal|Restoration revives anti-neocolonialist film from the Senegalese master Mambéty: human nature is under scrutiny when a billionaire agrees to give money to her struggling hometown—on her terms
Art: Franck Lundangi, The Bird, 2013Country: Angola, France|Fantastic beasts, third eyes and unity with the cosmos in the works of a mystic painter who used to be a soccer player: the kind of spiritual imagery we need in the anthropocene
Music: Davlatmand Kholov and Abdoussatar Abdoullaev, Tadjikistan. Davlatmand, Art and Folk Music, 1992Country: Tajikistan|Music from the mountains of Pamir infused with Sufi mysticism as performed by its master: a testament to the power of Tajik-Persian culture that will entice lovers of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Film: Last Sunrise, dir. Wen Ren, 2019Country: China|When the sun goes out in the world reliant on solar power, an unlikely team of loner astronomer and bubbly student with hidden issues have to try to survive in this very human debut sci-fi feature
Film: Funan, dir. Denis Do, 2018Country: Belgium, Cambodia, France, Luxembourg|Cambodian genocide as experienced by the members of one family in an animation based on the director's mother's memories of the Khmer Rouge—with voice acting from Louis Garrell and Bérénice Bejo
10 Artists From Brunei: A Rare Glimpse Into the Art Scene of the Small, Rich and Conservative NationCountry: Brunei|A selection of works that showcase the contemporary culture of the South Asian nation where lack of coverage and omnipresent portraits of the Sultan remain the biggest obstacles to visual expression
Iceberg Nations, Stupid Borders, and Minimal Republics by Ruben Martín de Lucas and Fernando Martín BorlánCountry: Borderless Earth, Spain|An artist and a film director join forces to imitate the notion of creating sovereign states in a project that shows just how absurd private and national claims on the Earth's territories are
Film: Supper for the Dead Souls, dir. Ignazio Figus, 2017Country: Italy|On November 1, Sardinians cook a traditional meal for the spirits of their deceased: a rare opportunity to participate in the preparation made by the region's leading ethnographic filmmaker
Film: Taste of Hope, dir. Laura Coppens, 2019Country: France, Germany, Switzerland|Workers at a tea factory in the South of France fought their bosses in an almost 4-year strike and now run the place as a co-op: will they emerge victorious from the battles of competition?
Film: Human Shelter, dir. Boris Benjamin Bertram, 2018Country: Denmark, Iceland, Iraq, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden, Uganda, USA|An intimate documentary of global proportions invites into people's homes across the planet and examines how we redefine the concept of home in the age of migration, conflicts and climate change
Film: Edge of the Knife, dir. Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown, 2018Country: Canada, Haida Gwaii|Filmed with a predominantly indigenous cast and crew and fully in the endangered Haida language, this ethnographic horror is a force to be reckoned with and a magnificent trailblazing effort
Music: Mighty Sparrow, Soca Anthology: Doctor Bird, 2011Country: Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago|The most honored king of calypso whose sharp tongue had turned to a variety of topics, like sex, race, slavery and politics, which he then fearlessly explored—a musical treasure still performing at 84
Film: No One Will Ever Know, dir. Jesús Torres Torres, 2018Country: Mexico|A mother and her son escape their mundane reality through vivid daydreaming in 1970s rural Mexico: a lyrical glympse into the era when the country was full of hope
Film: Sprinter, dir. Storm Saulter, 2018Country: Jamaica, USA|A Pinkett-Smith produced coming of age story about a track and field athlete: a visually appealing indie with blockbuster appeal that seamlessly sheds light on Jamaica's many contemporary problems
Art: John Pule, Hafata, 2016Country: New Zealand, Niue|Leading Pacific Islander artist captures the ambiguity and the splendor of his tiny, magnificent homeland in transformative, deeply spiritual paintings
Film: Eating Up Easter, dir. Sergio Mata’u Rapu, 2018Country: Chile, Rapa Nui, USA|Tiny nation in the middle of Pacific Ocean struggles with globalization and plastic pollution, in an illuminating documentary that is both a call to action and a fascinating piece of ethnography
Film: Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen, dir. Hepi Mita, 2018Country: Māori, New Zealand|A loving son's documentary about the legacy and life of his mother Merata Mita, who became a powerhouse of Maori filmmaking and an inspiration to indigenous creators across the world
Music: Narasirato, Inoni Ana Totoraha, 2015Country: Solomon Islands|A perfect soundtrack for preventing climate change from a 17 piece panpipe orchestra who live and work near the rainforest: traditional yet modern Solomon Islands music that lights up rock festivals
Film: Queen of Lapa, dir. Theodore Collatos and Carolina Monnerat, 2019Country: Brazil|Veteran transgender sex-worker Luana Muniz helps younger women like her find self-determination: a brilliant portrait of a community matriarch and Rio's vibrant neighborhood of Lapa
Brazilian Modern, The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx at New York Botanical Garden, 2019Country: Brazil|The work of a visionary modernist landscape designer and pioneer of rainforest preservation recreated in New York City by his student: plantlife that's as politically relevant as it is beautiful
Film: Initials S.G., dir. Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia, 2019Country: Argentina, Lebanon, USA|A very dark comedy about an Argintinean Serge Gainsbourg wannabe from a filmmaker couple
Book: Armonia Somers, The Naked Woman, 1950Country: Ecuador|Rediscovered feminist magical realism gem from 1950s Ecuador
