The Amber Light: With Scotch whisky expert Dave Broom as your guide, this doc dives into the history and culture of Scotland’s beloved brown booze, relying on poetry, music, and literature to drive home how critical the beverage is to understanding the country. Scotch fans will be enthused by the famous distilleries on display, but more memorable are more visceral discussions of how taste and smell can connect us with the surrounding world.
Born in a Ballroom: This film is a love letter from a filmmaking granddaughter to the late Eleanor Mailloux, who co-founded Hütte Restaurant in the rural Appalachian outpost of Helvetia, West Virginia. After a globetrotting life raising five kids, the stern, stubborn, but always fair Mailloux returned to her hometown to cook Swiss-inspired cuisine that TV foodie Andrew Zimmern made famous. The film is about family, community, and how cuisine can be the through line for a life well lived.
Breaking Bread: Using fame gained by winning MasterChef Israel, Arab-Israeli chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel organizes a cross-cultural cooking extravaganza in Haifa, inviting Muslim chefs to cook in Jewish kitchens and vice versa. The resulting meals stir hope for peace through food, introduce a number of chefs we should get to know, and showcase drool-worthy cuisines from multiple cultures.