Melanie Liebheit and Gereon Wetzel: She Chef

This text is written by festival directors of the Magnificent7 Festival in Belgrade. Svetlana and Zoran Popovic:

Germany, Austria 2022 
105 minutes 
directed by: Melanie Liebheit and Gereon Wetzel

Screened at the most important festivals, this enchanting documentary is a fantastic journey through Europe and the elite spaces of contemporary cuisine. For Gereon Wetzel, co-author of the film, this journey begins ten years ago with his entry into a cult restaurant in Spain and his great film “El Bulli – Cooking in Process”.

The main character, an unusual girl named Agnes, is remarkable as she is the winner of a world cooking competition, but even more so because she wants to improve her knowledge and skills to the highest level. She sets herself the task of a search that takes her to the kitchens of some of the most prestigious restaurants in Europe. Both when she observes from the sidelines as an apprentice and when she passionately participates in the process in these exclusive kitchens, she equally concentrates and intensively re-examines her own professional choices. At the same time, in an exciting way, it becomes an increasingly present search for knowing oneself and discovering the meaning of one’s life. So, not by chance, guided by deep inner currents, this search finally brings us to one of the most unusual restaurants in the world, which is located in surreally beautiful, dream-like landscapes in the north of Europe. Brilliant discreet observers, Melanie Liebheit and Gereon Wetzel, gradually introduce us to the process of fantastic transformation, creating an extremely exciting film finale that enchants us with beauty and hope.

A visually fascinating entry into the exciting processes of different cuisines shaped by the skills of Europe’s best chefs, but above all, a film about maturing and discovering yourself.

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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