Food and Film with Alice Waters: Pather Panchali

The UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum are thrilled to partner with legendary Bay Area chef, restaurateur and activist, Alice Waters for a film series that explores how movies from around the world have represented food and food production. Each program pairs a movie with a special dinner at Lulu restaurant at the Hammer Museum, Waters’ latest culinary celebration.

Join Alice Waters in person for a masterwork of world cinema, writer-director Satyajit Ray’s directorial debut, Pather Panchali (1955). Pather Panchali is one of the most eloquent expressions of food’s profound role in human life. Hunger frames much of Ray’s neorealist portrait of an impoverished family struggling to make ends meet in rural Bengal. Its ever-present threat lays bare the physical, cultural, emotional and spiritual dimensions of even the simplest meals. The evening’s program will reflect on these resonances, particularly as intuitively understood by the couple’s young children, as well as pay tribute to Alice Waters’ longtime friend and cinema lover, Bay Area film curator, producer and festival director Tom Luddy.

Admission is free. No advance reservations. 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. The box office opens one hour before the event.