Press Release
Following on from its successful 63rd Berlinale sell-out screening, Make Hummus Not War, has been officially selected to screen at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival. San Sebastian is one of the world’s leading film festivals and the most prestigious in the Spanish speaking
world.
The feature documentary is presented by the Basque Culinary Centre, the San Sebastian International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival in their programme “Culinary Zinema: Film and Gastronomy”. As usual, all of the screenings will be accompanied by themed dinners
prepared by a select group of chefs and restaurants–to unite cinema and gastronomy– in a city that combines a competitive festival listed in its top category by the IFFPA with the highest number of Michelin stars per square meter in the world.
Make Hummus Not War also screens in Poznan, at the Transatlantyk Music and Film Festival Poland in early August, and last year won a Golden Kapok Award at Guangzhou International Documentary Festival, after its World Premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
With a fresh round of Peace talks currently being negotiated between Israelis and Palestinians Make Hummus Not War poses the question: Could a regional love of hummus be the recipe for peace in the Middle East? This is Graham’s humorous journey though the hummus bars and kitchens of Beirut, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and New York. Along the way he encounters the doyenne of Middle East cuisine Claudia Roden, zealots, Jewish settlers, biblical characters, political activists, chickpea farmers, novelists and Sheiks, for whom hummus is a near religious obsession.
“Hummus and chickpeas are a symbol of our common humanity… I want this movie to say ‘We have more in common than divides us’.” – Trevor Graham
The website, www.makehummusnotwar.com is a quirky online site, jam packed with recipes, characters, Middle East history and an especially designed section for schools, the website features videos, stand up comedians, historic footage, hundreds of photographs – and as you would expect, numerous ‘how to’ segments on making the best, ‘to die for’ hummus in the world.
Trevor Graham says of the film & website: “Kitchens are more than just a place for preparing and consuming food. They are the heart of the home, and the restaurant, a place of nourishment, sharing and enjoyment for the body and soul. Kitchens, foods and flavours are embedded in our memories–
the food we ate as children, the many tastes of adulthood, the tantalising prospect of recipes from a new cookbook, or eating at the latest restaurant.
I visited many Middle East kitchens, to film Make Hummus Not War, and tasted countless variations of the basic hummus recipe. I was welcomed in all these kitchens, whether, Jewish, Muslim or Christian with warmth and hospitality.
Make Hummus Not War is a call to action–an acknowledgement of our common humanity–our basic need to eat and enjoy life–a starting point for peace?”