Peter Kerekes
Documentary, Austria/Slovakia/Czech Republic
German, Czech, Russian, French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Croatian & Serbian with English subtitles
Runtime 88 min.
This story has almost never been told and certainly never in this way. Slovakian director Peter Kerekes has brought us one of the more affecting portraits of the past as he cooks his way through six wars, 10 recipes and a death toll of 60,361,024. Military chefs have a unique and, until now, unshared influence on the battlefield. At times poignant and at times hysterical, the film introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, from a Russian woman, whose meat blintzes provide 11 million soldiers the fuel to conquer in WWII, to a Jewish prison camp bread maker, who executes a plan against his Nazi captors, to Tito’s personal chef, who shares state dinner menus from warring national cuisines that foretell the Balkan War. Be prepared to be hungry and cry.
This film marks an exciting new partnership for Slow Food Nova Scotia and Taste of Nova Scotia with the Atlantic Film Festival, which screened the film at its most recent edition.
Screening at 9pm on Friday, November 11 in the Al Whittle Theatre with the short film Alimation