Where's My Food?!

I just finished a post for Remake 4 Water and it occurred to me that I needed to post here as well, on the same subject: Documentaries.

In the Remake 4 Water blog, I gave stats about their status in the movie going public and as sad as I am about the un-popularity of them, there is one out there at the moment that needs mentioning. "Where's My Food?!" by Lee Godden.

 I watched the trailer and it seemed that he was being very honest and upfront about the restaurant industry-- which is the largest employer in the US, outside of the government, and I think it's the same in any country.

Think about it. In any small town, no matter how small it is, it might not have a bank, a gas station, or a barber, but you can bet it has a restaurant, or at least a cafe where the locals can come for the daily gossip and a cup of coffee. We all go out to eat at some point and restaurants are always a hot topic in blogs or articles and always get a high number of comments, many of them: quite heated.

Which is why I made my movie in the first place: to show waitresses and waiters as the fun and intelligent people they are and that restaurants are a great life! Even though I saw some of the negative aspects in Lee's trailer and yes of course they are there in life (and his is a doc after all), but I was so tired of movies focusing on them and portraying us as total losers, all the time. "Waiting" is a great example of that negativity and I have to say how thrilled I was to see the absurditiy of it. Again, yes I know there is a negative side, but do we have to focus on it? I had a great career in restaurants and ask Paul Paz about his.

Paul runs Waiter's World and is still loving being a fabulous waiter in Oregon. He is in "Where's My Food?!" and talks about his life in restaurants. So my message was about respect and treatment of people in the business and I hope that in the end, Lee's movie does the same, maybe with a different slant. But now I am going to use my movie for another reason, hence Remake 4 Water. Still a narrative feature length movie, but with another message incorporated into it, and that brings me again to the point I have been saying all along.

There's a message that has to get out to people, and no matter how many great and wonderful documentaries there are (and there are many about water and how it's crucial that we change our relationship with it), people don't hear the message! But if we incorporate it with a fun movie and make it entertaining, they will start to hear. But why "Did I Say Thousand Island?" ? Because restaurants can't operate without water, everyone goes out to eat and the movie has already been seen all over the world, which is amazing for a "no-budget-no-name-non-marketed" movie!

Coincidentally (nothing with God is a coincidence), a Calgary based production company, Nomadic Pictures is shooting here in High River, so I went down there to see whom I could talk to about R4W. I ended up meeting a cool guy named Zoltan Barabas--(cool name too eh?) who understood my reality about "Did I Say Thousand Island?" and how I am not a filmmaker...nor do I want to be. I am a waitress-- well now I am a trucker, but anyway, I told him my story, gave him the movie and he said he would pass it on.

I really hope that Lee's movie does well for him, and I think it would help people understand some things about the restaurant industry and its people, but also that it will give credibility to my opinion that restaurants are a popular topic-- from both sides of the table. I know that "Did I Say Thousand Island?", when it is remade by those in the biz, will be a hit, and I am not giving up.

But in the meantime, check out Lee's movie and support his efforts! Peace out from the Great White North... and Happy Valentine's Day too! ;-)