Matia and the Farmers of the San Juan Islands – trailer
My new documentary centering on Matia, on the NY Times top 50 American restaurants list in 2022, and its relationship to local food production and the small-scale farmers’ in the San Juan Islands, Washington.
The full version can be viewed here – https://zevrobinson.gumroad.com/l/matiaandthefarmers
Installation of my work at Saatchi Art’s The Other Art Fair, March 7-10, at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London.
Two Tomatoes
Tomatoes, Olive, Bowl and Landscape on the Wall
Ontario Landscape No 1 (with road)
Ontario Landscape No 2 (with farmhouse)
Scottish Landscape No. 1 (Isle of Lewis)
Three Chefs in a Kitchen. Oil on canvas, 120x80cm, 48x32in. 2023.
I’m thrilled to announce that the San Juan Islands Museum of Art www.sjima.org in Washington State, near Seattle, will be hosting an exhibition of my paintings and works on paper from June 9 to Sept 11, 2023, along with a series of screenings, presentations and dinners. I will also be creating a documentary/video installation about the Islands’ history and food systems. Here are some of the pieces that will be included.
A new series of works for an exhibition in 2023. More info soon.
Sixty people at the sold-out screening of Real Bread Bakers https://vimeo.com/411720338 at e5 bakehouse in London on Thursday, July 7, followed by a fantastic panel discussion with Chris Young of The Real Bread Campaign, Roshni Shah, Sarena Shetty, and me, moderated by Lizzie Parle.
Thanks to Chris Young for the pics, and extra special thanks to the fantastic crew at the e5 Bakehouse who made it happen.
In 2020, I had been working on Why We Eat the Food We Eat, about the history of American and British food, but then ran out of archival material and the lockdown meant I couldn’t do any filming of my own. So after a dozen years of working on food documentaries non-stop, I thought I’d take a break and focus on my on again, off again art history project, The Art and Politics of Painting.
Then, in the spring of this year, the University of Glasgow Food Sovereignty Network approached me to do another documentary, Feeding the City (all trailers here), to be completed by September in time for the Glasgow Science Festival, so once again I had to drop my art history project, and by late summer with the deadline looming, my painting and social life and just about everything else.
At the same time, as things started opening up, live screenings were on again, starting with The Glasgow Diet at The Stove in Dumfries, then Feeding the City at the Science Festival, at the University of Glasgow and, along with The Glasgow Diet as part of the COP26 fringe, as well as a recent online viewing-presentation in collaboration with the UofG FSN, IFSTAL and CDT
Both Feeding the City and the Glasgow Diet can be streamed here for the price of a coffee: https://zevrobinson.gumroad.com/l/XatRa
The premiere of Real Bread Bakers was cancelled just before the first lockdown but in collaboration with Scotland the Bread, a number of screenings in various cities across the UK are being organised. I’m an artist in residence with the Food Sovereignty Network, and more projects are being planned as part of that. All assuming that things go fairly well from here on in. Let’s hope for the best.
Real Bread Bakers can be streamed here: https://zevrobinson.gumroad.com/l/psrqH
Real Bread Bakers. Final Trailer
The full 28 minutes now streaming here – https://gumroad.com/l/psrqH
After mulling over the possibility of doing a documentary on bread for a few years, I was somehow put in touch with Andrew Whitley, founder of Scotland the Bread, the Real Bread Campaign and author of Bread Matters among many other things, and went to the Bowhouse in Fife to meet him. I then started the documentary interviewing and filming other participants and it seemed that virtually everyone had been trained by Andrew or had some other connection with him.
It also became apparent how much artisan bread makers, sourdough in particular, formed a community. People may have been friends and acquaintances in other food sectors, but they did not share the same companionship, baking together, sharing techniques and secrets and helping others out. As Andrew says, the word company comes from the Latin com (with, together) and panis (bread).
Real Bread Bakers. Trailer 3, with Andrew Whitley, Scotland the Bread and John Castley, Wild Hearth Bakers
I started off at Bridging the Gap – High Rise Bakers, a community baking project in the Gorbals, interviewing Catriona Milligan and Marie McCormack, both being trained by Andrew Whitley. I then went on to Rachel Smillie at The Glad Cafe, organisers of The Crossmyloof Bread Festival with historical connections to the place High Rise Bakers are situated in the Gorbals area of Glasgow.
Real Bread Bakers. Trailer 2, Neal Thomson and the Crossmyloof Bakery
I then interviewed Andrew Whitley and Scotland the Bread’s miller Connie Hunter, and John Castley at Wild Hearth Bakery that gets some of their flour from Scotland the Bread, about how sourdough is directly connected to nutrition, local food, a sense of community and sustainability, from rural Fife to urban Glasgow.
I’m always interested in the stories and people that create a complex woven fabric that enables food to get to our plate, and every documentary is a learning experience, but even so, I wasn’t expecting that so much lies behind a loaf of bread.
The full 28 minutes can be seen here – https://gumroad.com/l/psrqH
Real Bread Bakers. Trailer 1, High Rise Bakers
“The Glasgow Diet” is Zev Robinson’s engaging, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant 37 minute documentary about the evolution of food from the city’s industrial past through the post industrial decline and present day resurgence. Interviewees share memories of homemade soups their mothers and grandmothers once made and how that disappeared with the advent of supermarket culture, while examining efforts to once again promote local, fresh food from independent producers.
With the Coronavirus crisis, those efforts are suddenly under threat. Local restaurants at the core of the food scene have had to close, and the farmers, producers and wholesalers that supplied them have seen sales plummet. Organisations and food banks that provide food and warm meals, not to mention social engagement and a sense of community for local residents are now operating under even harder conditions with partial or complete shut downs and little by way of food donations.
After two recently sold out screenings, the film can now be seen online at https://gumroad.com/l/UqLcp for £2.30 + VAT.
The Glasgow Diet
An action packed spring screening season. First, Slow Food Edinburgh is hosting a screening-dinner of The Glasgow at Ostara on March 13, with Steve Brown and Donald Reid from QMU Masters of Gastronomy as panelists. Tickets and info – http://bit.ly/2Vlo7gU
On March 19, Locavore will show The Scottish Breed, about quality meat production and rather than have a binary meat vs vegan debate, panelists will be looking at the complex decisions we make as consumers and the consequences they have. With Babs Macgregor from Greencity Wholefoods, Bryce Cunningham of Mossgiel ethical dairy farm, and Denise Walton of Peelham Farm. Tickets and info – https://ctzn.tk/complexchoices
The Scottish Breed
On March 29, The Glasgow Diet, along with my first Scottish doc The Black Isle, makes its way to the great setting of Comrie Croft, with dinner, craft beer samples, Scott Erwin of Greencity Wholefoods on the panel and with a special offer for those who want to stay over. Tickets and info – https://ctzn.tk/comriecroftfood
On April 3, The Stove Network in Dumfries will be hosting a screening event with Abi Mordin of the Glasgow Community Food Network joining Scott Erwin of Greencity Wholefoods on the panel, tickets soon.
Real Bread Bakers will have its premiere at the Glad Cafe, Glasgow, during its Bread Festival on April 24.
On June 16, there will be a screening of new video work done in collaboration with the Glasgow Food Policy Partnership, again at the Glad Cafe.
Real Bread Bakers. Trailer 2, Neal Thomson and the Crossmyloof Baekery
Premiering 6pm, November 24, 2019 at the CCA, Glasgow.
Tickets and info: http://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/cooking-pot-the-glasgow-diet
Like most of my other docs, The Glasgow Diet examines local food, supply chains, and quality, but it is the first to so with the context of an urban environment, and so also touches on the the issues such as food poverty that form part of the city’s complex history.
I came across so many stories that one film was not enough to cover it all, so I plan to do one two or more follow ups in 2020 starting with Growing Glasgow, about efforts for the city to become more self-reliant and healthier through urban food gardens and allotments.
The CCA screening on November 24 will be followed by a discussion with some of the interviewees including Scott Erwin of Greencity Wholefoods, Reuben Chesters of Locavore and Annie Morgan of the Govan Community Project. There will also be representatives of Slow Food Glasgow, the Glasgow Community Food Network, and other organisations joining the conversation.
Should anyone wish to spread the word, the jpg below can be used, or a .pdf of the flyer can be downloaded here and emailed or printed up.
