“**** (4 stars) An involving process documentary that’s also a deeply satisfying story of kindness – which suits the holiday season nicely… catch it while you can.”
“Theater Of Life serves up food for the soul,” Norm Wilner, NOW magazine, Nov. 20, 2016
December 1, 2016 – Montreal– National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Just in time for the holidays, Montreal filmmaker Peter Svatek’s Theater of Life brings its movable cinematic feast to cinemas in Montreal and Quebec City, starting December 23.
Co-produced by Montreal-based Triplex Films and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in association with Phi Films, Theater of Life opens in English at the Cinéma du Parc, while the French-language version Le théâtre de la vie opens at Montreal’s Cinéma Beaubien and Quebec City’s Cinéma Cartier.
It’s all part of national tour for Svatek’s feature doc, which began at Toronto’s Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema on December 3–5, with dates in Edmonton (December 23, 26–28), Vancouver (January 13) and Calgary (TBC).
In Theater of Life, two vastly different worlds have been brought together by a unique social experiment at an extraordinary soup kitchen in Milan, where chef Massimo Bottura―whose Osteria Francescana was named world’s best restaurant in 2016―asked 60 international chefs to join him in transforming surplus food from Expo 2015 into delicious and nutritious meals for Italy’s hungriest.
One of those top chefs was Montreal’s John Winter Russell, whose own restaurant Candide opened in Little Burgundy in 2015. John is joined by Jeremy Charles of St. John’s, alongside international stars like Ferran Adrià, René Redzepi and Alain Ducasse―all engaged in Bottura’s vision for sustainable cooking, relishing the experience of gathering around a table with their hungry guests to share a meal in the beautiful Refettorio Ambrosiano, decorated by Italy’s finest artists and artisans.
A visual feast in itself, Theater of Life puts a human face on its powerful message of social justice while raising awareness about the enormous environmental impact of food waste, in which 1.3 billion tons of food per year are thrown away globally, or fully a third of all food produced.
Theater of Life was named Best Canadian Feature at Toronto’s Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival and also garnered the Tokyo Gohan Award, given to the winner of the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Culinary Zinema section. The 94-minute film was produced by Josette Gauthier (Triplex Films) and Annette Clarke (NFB), and is distributed by the NFB (Canada) and Seville International (international sales).
About the filmmaker
Montreal-based Peter Svatek has written and directed both documentary and fiction films. He is the co-founder (with Josette Gauthier) of the documentary production company Triplex Films. Peter’s most recent documentary feature is Takedown: The DNA of GSP, nominated for several 2015 Canadian Screen Awards. Other recent documentaries include Stolen Babies, Stolen Lives (writer/director) and Targets: Reporters in Iraq (writer/producer). Recent fictional works include the two-part US miniseries Everything She Ever Wanted (director) and The Christmas Choir (director).
About Food for Soul
Food for Soul is a non-profit organization, founded by Massimo Bottura, that empowers communities to fight food waste through social inclusion. Bottura and his wife, Lara Gilmore, created Food for Soul to open more refettorios around the world. http://www.foodforsoul.it/
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Associated Links
Phi Films
Massimo Bottura
Seville International
Food for Soul