FESTIVAL

KINOOKUS is a feast (in Croatian festa). A feast of diversity, unity, meetings, ideas, games and enjoyment. Kinookus is a wave (in Croatian val). A wave of new energy contemplating, living and awakening the land, a wave of sea and air. Kinookus is a feast (festa) and a wave (val). Kinookus is a festival.

Industrial food production and the massive use of chemical means with extremely negative impacts on human health and the environment have contributed to a greater awareness of the importance of a healthy diet, and this awareness has also been reflected in cinematography. It is sufficient to mention several recent documentaries and feature films which have played an important role in informing and raising public awareness of these issues: Super Size Me, Food Inc, Sideways, Mondovino, and Fast Food Nation.

Food preparation, and above all the enjoyment of food, has a specific social value, and gathering together around the table for the pleasant exchange of ideas and opinions, encouraged by good food and drink, has for centuries been a family and cultural event par excellence. Enjoying food is closely connected with hosting friends and acquaintances and presents one of the most appropriate opportunities to meet new people. In all cultures food has an important symbolic, and as such, artistic importance.

The Kinookus Food Film Festival takes place in Ston (Croatia). Formerly the second most important town of the Republic of Ragusa, Ston is centrally located in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and has been famous for ages for its walls, saltpans and excellent gastronomic offer. The area around Ston is renowned for the growing of shellfish, superb wines and olive oil. By bringing the seventh art back into the open public spaces of Ston, the Kinookus organizers wish to give their support to the ongoing efforts of the local community and CSO's to revive and preserve the unique spirit of this magical place.

Kinookus is a food film festival which, in exploring issues of industrial food production and its consequences for the planet, tells the story of “ordinary” men and women who engage their creativity and resourcefulness in trying to overcome the existing, collapsing socio-economic model. The Festival structure (Cinexperience – competition and retrospective, Cinefocus – lectures and meetings, Cinexperiment – educational workshops, Cinelocus – an open-air market for local, traditional and organic products, Unseen - agro-archaeological bike tours) strives to express all the abundance of the story of food as well as different aspects of its profound meaning for the life of mankind.