CINEMA À MESA
2025-05-15
A SENSORY EXPERIENCE THAT COMBINES CINEMA AND GASTRONOMY
The Cinema à Mesa section challenges chefs to create menus inspired by short films.
This year, the initiative features two sessions. The first will take place at Teatro Sá da Bandeira, with screenings of "O Pão" (1959) by Manoel de Oliveira and "Quando o Lobo Uiva" by Rogério Queiroz, followed by a masterclass on breadmaking and a tasting session — offering a unique experience that explores the traditions of baking and the significance of bread in the Mediterranean diet.
The second session, on Sunday 25 May, invites guests to a special dinner at ODE Winery, featuring the screening of The Everlasting Pea (2024, 17 min), by Su Rynard — a national premiere.
"O Pão", by Manoel de Oliveira
(1959/1964, 24 min) — a short version edited by the director in 1964 from the original 1959 film (59 min)
The Bread is not merely an industrial documentary praising the superiority of technical-scientific rationality in food production — even though it was funded by the FNIM (National Federation of Milling Industry). Here, labour is shown as a “constant effort” that dignifies humanity. Hands — ever-present — reap and harvest, bind and release, pour and let go, in an incessant, repetitive motion, almost mechanical and dehumanised. The need for “bread on the table” allows for no rest — mouths must be fed. In this frenetic rhythm, Oliveira's editing strings together seemingly dissonant or incongruous shots and sequences, lulling us into its cadence.
"Quando o Lobo Uiva", by Rogério Queiroz
(2025, 48 min)
World premiere
In When the Wolf Howls, the pace is different — guided by the rhythm of the seasons and the tasks involved in bread production. In contrast to The Bread, a near-silent film, narration plays a central role here. João Vieira, the protagonist, takes us through the process of cultivating Barbela wheat — an ancient variety, “a relic from the past century that has survived modern selection methods, thriving in poor soils where hybrid wheats fail.” Most likely absent from the milling facilities filmed by Oliveira in the 1950s, this wheat now grows in the lands of Cadaval, where João narrates the story with clarity, explaining the political, agricultural, and economic decisions that have led Portugal to produce only 5% of the wheat it consumes today.
Bread Masterclass and Tasting
Conversation with João Luiz Madeira Lopes
But there is more to bread than the milling and baking industry. After the tasting of the images, a conversation with João Luiz Madeira Lopes will follow — hands in dough, bread in hand. Because cinema, too, can feed us — as long as we thresh the images to reach the grain.
A film by Su Rynard (2024, 17 min)
National Premiere
The pea may be the most famous legume in the history of botany — thanks to the experiments of Abbot Gregor Mendel, we now know the laws of heredity and the beginnings of genetics.
In this short, both scientific and philosophical in tone, we are taken into the world of another botanist in 19th-century Rome. In an almost clinical setting, a voice-over poses the uncomfortable question of whether fabaceae might be sentient — unsettling for omnivores, vegans, and vegetarians alike.
Once seated at the table and recovered from the filmic enquiry, new questions arise in the minds of the diners: beyond purée, what culinary wonders can peas offer? What lasting taste sensations can this legume provide?
All will be revealed after the winners of FICS 2025 are announced.
After all, it is through cinema that we come together at the table.