Berlinale Pays Tribute to Carlo Petrini and Alice Waters with the Camera Award During the 65th Berlin International Film Festival

The global Slow Food movement is honored that two of its leaders were awarded this year’s Berlinale Camera Award on February 8, as part of the Berlin International Film Festival. The award pays tribute to personalities and institutions that have made a unique contribution to film and to whom the festival feels especially close. Dieter Kosslick, Director of the Berlin International Film Festival, now in its 65^th year, recognized the passionate involvement of Slow Food President Carlo Petrini and Slow Food Vice President Alice Waters by saying that they “have not only given the Berlinale a new impulse in 2006, which led to the creation of the Culinary Cinema in 2007, but inspired also food and film events in other countries.”

The Culinary Cinema kicked off with the screening of the Danish documentary Så meget godt i vente (Good Things Await) about the biodynamic farmer Niels Stokholm who successfully fought bureaucracy in Denmark. The event proceeded with a dinner served by famous chef Michael Hoffmann and a laudatory speech by Dieter Kosslick who highlighted that “the international Slow Food movement has greatly influenced the Culinary Cinema and shaped the way we see food. The concept of food for thought came from Carlo Petrini and Alice Waters and this is why for the first time in the Berlinale history, we are giving out the Berlinale Camera to people other than film producers, and instead to two very special people who are close to us. Many things are going wrong in the food system, and Slow Food can help us approach these”.

In the subsequent panel, Petrini joined in on stage, receiving his Berlinale Camera and commenting on the award with the following words: “I am glad to see that this ten year anniversary of the Culinary Cinema marks a very important development in comparison to its beginnings: Ten years ago, the idea of gastronomy was limited to recipes and restaurants. After ten years, finally a new understanding of gastronomy is becoming more and more popular, allowing gastronomy to be approached in the way it deserves, namely as a holistic science that involves anthropology, geography, local economies, the entire production process and also the people that grow or cook a product or dish. Gastronomy is a complex science that deserves to be looked at with great attention and from different angles”. Alice Waters also gratefully received the Berlinale Camera by saying that “she is pleased to be honored in this very special way”.

Attached please find Carlo Petrini’s biography.

For further information, please contact the Slow Food International Press Office:

Paola Nano, +39 329 8321285 [email protected]

Slow Food involves over a million of people dedicated to and passionate about good, clean and fair food. This includes chefs, youth, activists, farmers, fishers, experts and academics in over 158 countries; a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide (known as convivia), contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize; and over 2,500 Terra Madre food communities who practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.