Ceres Food Film Festival

Now in its ninth season, the Ceres Food Film Festival returns to New York City for a day of curated screenings and conversations.

Experience documentaries that examine food through multiple lenses - from personal chef journeys to global supply chains, cultural traditions to environmental challenges. Each program features work by filmmakers exploring the diverse stories that connect us to what we eat.

The day includes multiple screening blocks followed by discussions with directors and food industry professionals. The program concludes with the Ceres Awards ceremony, recognizing exceptional work in food-focused filmmaking.

Block 1: Eating the Future Directed by Katy Jenkyns

Running time: 48 mins

Kicking off the festival’s Sunday lineup, Eating the Future sends viewers deep into the hidden systems that fuel our food culture. Bafta-winner Mia McKenna-Bruce voices an eco-investigator who is traumatised by her work accessing factory farms and documenting animal abuses undercover. Terrified of a future of climate apocalypse, she embarks on a journey into the food systems that shape our planet, to look for hope.

Block 2: The New Peasants Directed by Jordan Osmond

Running time: 66 mins

What happens when the values of the culture you’ve always known no longer align with how you see the world? The New Peasants provides an intimate look into the life of Meg, Patrick, and their sons Zephyr and Woody. A family who, for 20 years, have been transitioning away from modern industrial culture toward a radically simple, sustainable, and beautiful way of life.

Block 3: Shorts - Local Stories

This block gathers short films rooted in local connections. Each story explores the ties between food, memory, and the people who share them. Together, they highlight the power of community at the table.

PB&P: dir. Eleanor Galloway (6 min) – Dwight Garner shares his unlikely recipe of peanut butter and pickles.
Ice Cream Window: dir. Astrid Malter (8 min) – A small shop’s ice cream window becomes a lens on community life.
Cada Noche: dir. Ian Phillips (8 min) – A Dominican restaurant in Brooklyn hosts nightly rituals around food.
The Vibrant Hong Kong Table: dir. Liza Mosquito de Guia (17 min) – Christine Wong opens a window into Hong Kong’s food culture.

Block 4: Rowdy Girl Directed by Jason Goldman

Running time: 72 mins

When former Texas cattle rancher Renee King-Sonnen has a profound change of heart, she and her husband turn their beef operation into an animal sanctuary, igniting a conversation about livelihoods, land, and compassion. Directed by Jason Goldman, Rowdy Girl traces a personal journey that bridges farmers and vegans and imagines a more humane future for food.

Block 5: Blank Plate: Creating the Best Restaurant in the World Directed by Ramon Pardina, Alan Fàbregas

Running time: 60 mins

From grueling innovation sprints to a coronation in Las Vegas, Blank Plate follows Disfrutar and its three chef-founders—Eduard Xatruch, Mateu Casañas, and Oriol Castro—on their ascent to “World’s Best Restaurant.” Along the way, it braids their El Bulli roots with a candid look at friendship, obsession, and the relentless pursuit of culinary imagination.

Block 6: Shorts - Regeneration & Resilience
Short films exploring farming, ecology, and resilience in a changing world.

A Vital Sun: dir. Alison Bartlett (12 min | United States) Explores how solar energy is reshaping agriculture and the future of food production.
Stories of Regeneration: Retired Dairy Cows: dir. Evan Harrison (11 min | United States) Retired dairy cows point toward a more ecological, flavorful, and regenerative food system.
The Grace: dirs. Moira Fett & Natalie Berger (13 min | United States) Across a year on a sustainable salad farm, everyday labor becomes a meditation on gratitude and sustainability.
Pêche: dir. Luzie Kurth, Lars Borges (7 min | Belgium) A lyrical exploration of seasonal abundance and the fragile beauty of cultivation.
Dune Forest: dir. Liener Van Hauwaert (13 min | Belgium) Efforts to combat desertification and restore fragile coastal ecosystems.

Block 7: Closing Night Film - The Little Things That Run the World Directed by Doug Hawes-Davis

Running time: 97 mins

THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD introduces viewers to a diverse group of scientists, nature lovers, gardeners, farmers, and general bug enthusiasts in exploring the importance of flying insects amid rapid declines in their numbers. This most numerous group of animals on the planet by far - three quarters of all species - have also been called the “glue of life” on Earth. They literally hold ecosystems together. Insects were the first animals to evolve flight nearly 440 million years ago, and they survived all five of the known mass extinctions since then. But, there is evidence that the pace of decline among insects in parts of the world today is fast approaching the levels of previous catastrophes. What this means for the rest of life on Earth, including humans, is the focus of THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD. The film documents the mysteries of the declines alongside creative and heroic human efforts to change the course of evolutionary history. What is causing this extinction crisis? What can be done to reverse the trend? THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD attempts to find answers to those questions and more.