Foodnotes: Three Films by Vivian Ostrovsky

Avant-garde filmmaker and curator Vivian Ostrovsky takes us from three star Michelin restaurants to food festivals in the South of France, via childhood memories in the 1960s Brazil and USSR with a selection of three short films – Nikita Kino, Eat and *** (Trois étoiles) – shot between 1987 and 2002.

Followed by a Q&A with director Vivian Ostrovsky

This screening is part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival and echoes the Food: Bigger than the Plate exhibition at the V&A.

All tickets £5.

 
Full programme:

Nikita Kino

The film is a travelogue of sorts. Ostrovsky’s personal family footage from the 1960s when her father in Brazil discovered that his sister and brother in Moscow, who he hadn’t seen for 40 years, were still alive. Her footage, shot in 8 and super 8 mm, meets Soviet found-footage from the same period, including feature films, propaganda footage, newsreels and images from Stalinist cookbooks. The result is a kind of Khruschev-era mix with a collage of Soviet music and a voice-over by the artist of her memories of the Cold War era, with, among other things, the joyous footage of family meals.

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Eat

A humorous observation of human and animals’ table manners as they gulp down breakfasts, lunches, cocktails and dinners in a variety of situations. Ostrovsky uses her filmic diary and travelogue to cast her curious characters. Playfully voyeuristic.

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*** (Trois étoiles)

Sarah and Paul leave their native California once a year to eat their way through France, testing the Michelin guide’s three-star restaurants and doing wine tasting at the best cellars. The filmmaker follows them around in a second car, playfully observing the rituals of these food institutions.