Wanderjahre

Filmstill She Chef

She Chef

Wanderjahre
Gereon Wetzel, Melanie Liebheit
German Competition 2022
Documentary Film
Germany,
Austria
2022
100 minutes
German,
English,
Danish,
Spanish
subtitles: 
English

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Gereon Wetzel
Melanie Liebheit
Florian Brüning
Thomas Herberth
Alireza Golafshan
Georg Gruber
FilmFernsehFonds Bayern
Filmfonds Wien
ORF Film/Fernsehabkommen
Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF)
Österreichisches Filminstitut
BKM – Staatsministerin Kultur und Medien
Filmstandort Austria (FISA)
Gereon Wetzel
Stephan Bechinger
Wolf-Maximillian Liebich
Melanie Liebheit
Dimitri Aschwanden

We’re travelling from luxury kitchen to luxury kitchen with Agnes, from Bergisch Gladbach via Barcelona to the Faroe Islands. The cook’s luggage always includes her backpack containing various knives, cleavers and tweezers. The camera watches over the inquisitive young woman’s shoulder as delicacies are being prepared. Our mouths water. At the same time, we get insights into the different ways of running a restaurant. It’s about team spirit and equality at the stove.

Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and Travels” comes to mind, because this observational documentary is also like a novel of development. Agnes is ambitious, knows her craft. She wants to be her own boss one day. She soon finds her way around every new team, takes her place. It’s a sensuous pleasure to watch how the many hands interlock, how culinary creations are lovingly made, delicately plucked salad leaves arranged as decorations. At the same time, Agnes has to struggle against opposition. Her wages are low. A colleague asks her what business she, who has just finished her apprenticeship, has in a three-star restaurant. Agnes is moving in a male domain, in an environment that tends to pass the pressure down. But in the course of her journey, she also comes across collective forms of cooperation and new visions of cooking.
Anke Leweke
Nominated for VER.DI Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness, Young Eyes Film Award, DEFA Sponsoring Prize
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