Guide: A Culinary Documentary(2020)

The Automat(en)

The 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, the inspiration for Starbucks, where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. From the perspective of former customers, we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America.

Super Size Me(en)

Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a diet based only on McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days without exercising to try to prove why so many Americans are fat or obese. He submits himself to a complete check-up by three doctors, comparing his weight along the way, resulting in a scary conclusion.

The Big Fat Fix(en)

The Big Fat Fix (www.thebigfatfix.com) investigates and uncovers the forgotten secrets of health and longevity from the tiny Italian village of Pioppi, where the people forget to die. Featuring Dr Aseem Malhotra and Donal O'Neill. From the creators of Cereal Killers (2013) and Run on Fat (2015).

Sous le bio, la malbouffe(fr)

Sales of organic products have increased tenfold in 20 years. In 2020, the market will have exceeded 13 billion euros in sales. The heavyweights of the food industry are surfing on this consumer craze for healthy food by offering more and more "green" products. But organic does not necessarily mean nutritionally balanced.

The Big Fat Lie(en)

A New Zealand man discovers the health benefits of a plant-based diet after he suffers a heart attack.

Fed Up(en)

Fed Up blows the lid off everything we thought we knew about food and weight loss, revealing a 30-year campaign by the food industry, aided by the U.S. government, to mislead and confuse the American public, resulting in one of the largest health epidemics in history.

Over de jaargetijden heen(nl)

Bananaland: Blood, Bullets & Poison(en)

For consumers, bananas are a delicious and nutritious start to the day, a healthy snack and a fixture in our fruit bowls. For millions of residents in the banana lands, the production of bananas means social upheaval, violence and pesticide poisoning. Banana Land explores the origins of these disparate realities, and opens the conversation on how workers, producers and consumers can address this disconnect.

Food, Inc.(en)

Documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner examines how mammoth corporations have taken over all aspects of the food chain in the United States, from the farms where our food is grown to the chain restaurants and supermarkets where it's sold. Narrated by author and activist Eric Schlosser, the film features interviews with average Americans about their dietary habits, commentary from food experts like Michael Pollan and unsettling footage shot inside large-scale animal processing plants.

King Corn(en)

King Corn is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom – corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, two college buddies return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America. With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America’s modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.

Food for Profit(it)

The film exposes the links between Agrifood and politics. With a pool of international experts it analyses the many problems related to factory farming: water pollution, migrants exploitation, biodiversity loss and antibiotic resistance.

From Us To Me / Vom Wir zum Ich(de)

This first co-production between the GDR and Great Britain is intended to contribute to an understanding of the situation and attitudes of millions of working people in opposing social orders. Using the example of shipyard workers, fishermen, the brigade and family of a trade union active cook and unemployed person of various ages and professions in Newcastle on the one hand and a brigade of crane operators of the Warnowwerft and fishermen of the Warnemünde cooperative on the other hand, insights into the way of life and attitudes of people of our time are to be conveyed.

Killer at Large(en)

Obesity rates in the United States have reached epidemic proportions in recent years. Killer at Large shows how little is being done and more importantly, what can be done to reverse it. Killer at Large also explores the human element of the problem with portions of the film that follow a 12-year old girl who has a controversial liposuction procedure to fix her weight gain and a number of others suffering from obesity, including filmmaker Neil Labute.

Bananas!*(en)

Juan “Accidentes” Dominguez is on his biggest case ever. On behalf of twelve Nicaraguan banana workers he is tackling Dole Food in a ground-breaking legal battle for their use of a banned pesticide that was known by the company to cause sterility. Can he beat the giant, or will the corporation get away with it?

Milk: Facts, Figures and Beliefs(de)

Milk - an essential food for our wellbeing? The highly processed white industrial product we are supposed to consume on a daily basis is suspected of causing numerous diseases of civilization. We take a closer look at the ongoing debate.

Food Coop(en)

In the middle of an economic crisis, in the shadow of Wall Street, an institution that represents a less well-known American tradition is booming. The Park Slope Food Coop: a cooperative supermarket where all 16,000 members work 3 hours per months to earn the right to buy the best food in New York at incredibly low prices. The success of this cooperative is a bad new for capitalism and aggro-alimentary business, and an opportunity to change the food production and distribution systems. We will see what has become of the Park Slope Food Coop, now a well-rooted institution in the heart of Brooklyn: the way it functions, its hundreds of rules, the diversity and eccentricity of its members. We'll see how the culture that has been created at the coop gives its members daily visceral lessons in democracy, how this could represent a potential change in mentality for Americans faced with increasingly difficult economic times.

Ketchup, Mayo: War of the Sauces(fr)

Ketchup and mayonnaise have experienced a global success. We love them, but we know almost nothing about them. How have they crossed the centuries and continents since their creation? From industrial tomatoes, specially shaped for the industrial process, to dried egg yolk powder dedicated to the food industry, industrial version sauces are surprising. However, it is possible today to eat gourmet versions of ketchups and mayonnaise. And it is not of little consequence to choose quality ones, because scientifically, they are indeed addictive.

James Beard: America's First Foodie(en)

Food in the 21st century has become much more than “meat and potatoes” and canned soup casseroles.” Chefs have gained celebrity status; recipes and exotic ingredients, once impossible to find, are now just a mouse click away; and the country's major cities are better known for their gastronomy than their art galleries. This food movement can be traced back to one man: James Beard. His name graces the highest culinary honor in the American food world today—the James Beard Foundation Awards. And while chefs all around the country aspire to win a James Beard Award, often referred to as the “culinary Oscars,” many of those same chefs know very little about the man behind the medal. Respected restaurateur Drew Nieporent summed it up when he said, “Everybody knows the name James Beard. They may not know who he is, but they know the name.”

Cheap Food(fr)

Industrial food production has provided the public with an abundance of food at very low prices. But with obesity and diabetes at record levels in Europe, there is clearly a problem with the food we eat. This documentary puts the spotlight on the agri-food industry and reveals how low-cost ultra-processed foods are really made.

Ovacik(tr)

Unknown to the rest of the world, Ovacik is a place where production meets solidarity and hope with almost no budget. Its mayor is the first mayor ever elected from the Turkish Communist Party. The film follows the mayor and the residents who work to develop a sustainable economy by promoting community-based agriculture. The story of Ovacik sets an example for agricultural towns around Turkey.