The Galician working women of Amas da terra and the leading couple of Binu, història de dues estrelles, won over the audience at this Wednesday’s ‘Cinema Cocina’ session, which marks the halfway point of the gastronomic documentary cycle. The films, a short and a feature-length, both moved the audience and brought laughter during the screening, which was followed by a round table with the protagonists. 

The event was given a special Galician flavour by chef Lucía Freitas of the Michelin-starred restaurant A Tafona, with a tasting of two Galician cheeses – a mature cheese from Dajosefa and a cured cow’s cheese – accompanied by ox chorizo and an O viño da Esther wine from Bodega Diego de Lemos.

At the beginning of the round table, the director of the Amas da terra short film, Xisela Franco, and the driving force behind the social project that appears in the film, chef Lucía Freitas, pointed out that 'although the filming was much more anarchic than it seems, we knew what we wanted to see and show. We didn’t want it to be an illustrative or disjointed documentary'. To which Freitas, the person behind the social, cultural and gastronomic project reflected in the film, added: 'I’ve only been working on the Amas da Terra project for two years and I want to give it much more exposure, take it to schools and give it that visibility. I feel that I’m lucky enough to know some incredible women and that I can, from the outside, help them and make them stronger'.

The talk continued with Francesc Fortí who, together with Francina Suriñach, is the owner of the restaurant El Racó d’en Binu, the protagonist of the documentary. 'Now we live as we like, from day to day. Last month we celebrated the 57th anniversary of the restaurant, I prepared a special menu and people ate what I wanted', said the chef, to the laughter of the audience. 'The years have to serve for something, don’t they?'.

Binu, història de dues estrelles is the first experience in cinema for its directors Mar Clapés and Guillem Cabra, who come from the world of television and were looking to experiment with other types of narrative. 'With Francesc and Francina, everything has been very easy. They work on their own, and the camera eats them up. We just had to listen'; to which Clapés added: 'It was hard to maintain the right level of intimacy in the interviews. We also had to find that point where the humour comes well-balanced. The music helped a lot with that'.

‘Cinema Cocina’ begins its final stretch tomorrow, Thursday 7 March, with the screening of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, by Pedro Peira, which tells the story of David Yárnoz, a chef who, as well as running a restaurant in Navarre, runs a replica of the same restaurant in Taiwan.