WFC Guatemala: Ixcanul

After a few not very good films from Central America, I wasn’t expecting much from this film, but it’s really good! Wonderful cinematography; great actors (well, probably non-professionals, but they’re convincing) and a plot I had no idea where was going.

Oh, it won a prize at the Berlin film festival, the only film festival that counts. I have to go someday…

Volcano. Jayro Bustamante. 2015. Guatemala.

Rosa Palopo

  • 2 parts dark rum
  • 5 parts fresh watermelon puree
  • 2 parts hibiscus water
  • sugar to taste
  • squeeze of lime juice

Mix and then pour over ice. Garnish with a slice of lime.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC Guinea-Bissau: A batalha de Tabatô

This is a visually arresting film. Some seemingly very strange choices have been made, but it works. I first thought that the actors (and their line readings) we uncomfortably stiff, but then I realised that that’s what the director was going for (a la Robert Bresson).

Mesmerising.

The Battle of Tabato. João Viana. 2013. Guinea-Bissau.

West African Ginger Drink

  • 3 ginger roots
  • 6 limes
  • 2-3 cups of water
  • 1 heaped tbsp peppercorns
  • 1 heaped tbsp raw sugar
  • rum

Chop ginger and lime into pieces (including skin and rind). Add the water and run through a blender. Strain and squeeze into a bowl. Return to the blender and add the peppercorns and sugar and blend until smooth. Strain and squeeze into a sauce pan and bring the liquid to a boil. Allow to cool, add the rum, and strain into an ice-filled lowball glass.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC Iraq: Curse of Mesopotamia

Man, modern life is complicated.

I was going to watch this on my big Ipad, but it turns out that you can’t screenshot this film there, even though the previous film let itself be screenshot. So I had to scramble (since the cocktail was already made) and watched the film on my 10″ Android tablet. (Where screenshotting was not a problem.) (Yes, this makes sense.)

I’m not doing that again, so I have to find a way to … er… do something. An external HDMI screenshotting box? A larger android tablet? Android->HDMI? Is that I thing? Research is needed.

DVDs were so much simpler than newfangled media!

And then there’s the film.

Oh, deer.

This turns out to be more of a low-budget American film than an Iraqi film. I mean, aesthetically and actor in the acting dept. (It’s filmed in Iraq and Jordan, allegedly, but it’s difficult to tell one window-less room in Jordan from a window-less room in Miami. And there are so many scenes in window-less rooms.)

For some reason, American lo-bu films are way more amateurish than, well, anything else in the world. I have no idea why: There’s more of a divide between the pros and the ams in the US than in most places?

The dialogue is physically painful in places, in fact. Literally! But it’s not without a certain charm.

Curse of Mesopotamia. Lauand Omar. 2015. Iraq.

Kubbeh Libre

  • 2 parts pomelo juice
  • 1 part arak

Combine over ice in a highball glass. Garnish with some sprigs of mint.

I used raki instead of arak, because it’s about the same number of characters.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.