Food and Film

Dinner and a movie. It’s a combination, a social custom, perhaps, almost as old as the movies themselves. But where the public fascination with how movies get made still drives an entire media industry, we’ve been less willing, by comparison, to learn as much about how a meal comes together, how the food on our plate gets there. Few people have been more instrumental in changing that than Alice Waters. The co-founder with film producer Paul Aratow of the award-winning Chez Panisse in 1971, the legendary Bay Area chef and restaurateur has been a central, passionate advocate of the farm-to-table movement which promotes seasonal, organic and locally sourced ingredients for restaurants, schools and in the home. Waters’ philosophy is predicated on eating being a political act; where and whom you get your food from and the conviction that sustainable farming practices are essential to building sustainable, thriving communities. The UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum are thrilled to partner with Waters for an ongoing series that explores how movies from around the world have represented food and food production. Each program will pair a selection of movies with a special dinner at Lulu restaurant at the Hammer Museum, Waters’ latest culinary celebration. For our inaugural weekend, we’ve curated a program of films centered on community, farms and the people they help sustain.