Chef's Tables at the Festival de Cannes

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Travel Feature

Published on Wednesday, 23 May 2012 13:06

Written by Marion Masone

For years, the official festival dinners for films in the competition at the Cannes Film Festival have been held in the major hotels (the Carlton, the Majestic) or in makeshifts restaurants in the Palais itself.

But since 2011, in partnership with Electrolux, a restaurant pavilion has been created on the Croisette in Cannes. It was the site of the Opening Night dinner, where festival heads Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux dined along with Wes Anderson, director of the opening film, Moonrise Kingdom, and 650 of their closest friends.

The Agora, as the restaurant is called, will host many other official dinners for films in competition, as well as lunches for the juries, since they will need sustenance to contemplate the awards to be handed out on May 27th.

Led by filmmaker/actor Nanni Moretti, this year's competition jury includes film directors:

• Andrea Arnold 
• Alexander Payne 
• Raoul Peck 

And a requiste number of actors (and designer Jean Paul Gaultier) sit on the panel as well:

• Hiam Abbass 
• Emmanuelle Devos 
• Diane Kruger 
• Ewan McGregor 

A number of award-winning chefs have been brought in to add their culinary creativity to the festivities, among them Bruno Oger and Rasmus Kofoed, who combined forces to prepare dinner for the opening night guests who included Tilda Swinton and other cast members.

They have also prepared Chef's Table lunches, whereby guests (mostly VIPS and jurors) sit in the massive kitchen (with all appliances supplied by Electrolux) and can observe their meal being prepared.

 Late last week, while French chef Oger, owner of local Cannes restaurant Villa Archangel and possessor of two Michelin stars, did a television interview in the kitchen, I sat outside and had champagne with Danish chef Rasmus Kofoed. He was taking a break after making the first course and dessert for dinner the night before, as well as cooking for a chef's table lunch that afternoon.

Kofoed is a Bocuse d'Or winner (the biggest culinary competition in the world; it's like the olympics of food) and owner of the celebrated Copenhagen restaurant Geranium.

 He spoke about bringing his Scandinavian touch to the Croisette, using his own local ingredients such as salmon, horseradish and licorice in his courses. And so far, all has been a success. "I want [the diners] to have a great time," he said, and it appears that they have.

"I got great compliments from Bruce Willis and Tilda Swinton," he continued. "There was a special electricity in the air."

Cannes will do that to you.

 Electrolux exec Tom Astin talked about the idea of world class chefs preparing meals for the glitterati in Cannes. "It's one of the most exclusive events in the world," he told me, referring to the festival, "so they need to have a culinary standard that reflects the image of the festival."

And this sponsor didn't just supply kitchen equipment -- though the entire kitchen is outfitted by Electrolux.

Since they work with these chefs throughout the year, supplying kitchen equipment to their own restaurants, the company has brought the chefs in, discussed what they want to prepare, and made sure the chefs had the equipment to do so. So far, it's working like a charm.

Kofoed wasn't the only Danish chef on the Croisette. More traditional Danish cuisine was on display the following night as the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish Film Institutes hosted a Nordic Kitchen Party on the Scandinavian Terrace. This Terrace is joint office of the three national film organizations of those countries, and they throw a mean party.

With traditional Nordic dishes -- lots of anchovies, mackerel, salmon and langoustines, as well as Danish beers and wine (yes, Danish wine) -- everyone was well prepared for the next day's screenings and meetings.

[Marian Masone is Director, Festivals/Associate Program Director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center]

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