Food and Film: Like Water for Chocolate
Co-presented with the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
In person: chef and restaurateur Alice Waters.
Food and Film is a quarterly series designed to delight the senses and inspire the mind. Curated with renowned chef, activist and cinephile Alice Waters, each program in the series draws on Waters’ philosophy that eating, like art, is a political act and that exploring the intersections between the culinary and moving image arts can help illuminate the path toward building more sustainable, thriving communities together.
Director Alfonso Arua’s Like Water for Chocolate (1992) was an arthouse sensation when first released and still defines the evocative power of food in film. Based on Laura Esquivel’s novel, its sensuous tale of forbidden love unfolds in early 20th-century Mexico when Tita is bound by family tradition to remain unmarried to care for her mother. Prevented from acting on her love for the handsome Pedro, she pours her passion and heartbreak into her cooking which has a magical, intoxicating effect on those who consume it. The intimacy of the heart and the intimacy of the kitchen transform culinary preparation into a powerful expression of desire, rebellion and yearning.
Director: Alfonso Arau. Screenwriter: Laura Esquivel. With: Lumi Cavazos, Marco Leonardi, Regina Torné.
35mm print courtesy of the Sundance Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM?
Ticketing: Admission to Archive screenings at the Hammer is free. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis, limit one per visitor. Box office opens one hour before the event. Questions should be directed to the Archive at programming@cinema.ucla.edu or 310-206-8013.
Member Benefit: Subject to availability, Hammer Members can choose their preferred seats and pick up tickets for one additional guest. Members receive priority ticketing until 15 minutes before the program. Learn more about membership.
Parking: Self-parking is available under the museum. Rates are $8 for the first three hours with museum validation, and $3 for each additional 20 minutes, with a $22 daily maximum. There is an $8 flat rate after 5 p.m. on weekdays, and all day on weekends.
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