A Basque documentary opens the Culinary Cinema at Berlin Film Festival

Soul inaugurated yesterday the Culinary Cinema section of the Berlinale. Co-produced by Orreaga Filmak and Nasa Producciones, this documentary follows Basque chef Eneko Atxa as he searches around the world for the “soul of cooking”. The film has two protagonists: Eneko Atxa, 39, and the Japanese chef Jiro Ono, 90. Both own three Michelin star restaurants.

On this culinary journey, directed by José Antonio Blanco and Ángel Parra, Atxa travels to Japan, one of the countries with the most Michelin stars, where gastronomy can become almost a mystical experience as it has always been closely related to history, traditions, culture and roots. Here he meets legendary Jiro Ono, a 90-year-old sushi master, and visits some of the city’s most emblematic places, such as the Tsukiji fish market and the world’s most exclusive restaurant Mibu. 

In 2015, still in production, this documentary was one of the 11 projects presented at Sunny Side of the Doc, under de label Basque Audiovisual, at the stand organized every year by Eiken –Basque audiovisual cluster- and the Basque Etxepare Institute. At the fair, representatives of the production company Orreaga Filmak had the opportunity to seek partners and funding to carry out the film.

Supporting Basque producers in this kind of fairs, Etxepare aims to promote Basque productions and to give the opportunity to Basque professionals to meet agents and entities from all around the world in order to carry out their audiovisual projects.