HI NRG presents:
A SPOTLIGHT ON LES BLANK:
Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers & All In This Tea
(DOUBLE FEATURE plus Q&A with Maureen Gosling)

Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers
A zesty paean of praise to the greater glories of garlic. This lip-smacking foray into the history, consumption, cultivation and culinary/curative powers of the stinking rose features chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, and a flavorful musical soundtrack.

The SF Chronicle called this loving ode to garlic “a joyous, nose-tweaking, ear-tingling, mouth-watering tribute to a Life Force.” Nothing less than a hymn to the stinking rose of the kitchen, this beautifully photographed documentary is an odyssey of garlic feasts blended with uniquely individual interviews of garlic aficionados. Not only does the film promote garlic as our first line of defense against all forms of blandness, it also titillates the taste buds with shots of garlic dishes sizzling in their pans. Les Blank shows once again that he knows how to have a good time and share it on film – especially if it involves food!

Maureen Gosling

MAUREEN GOSLING (Director/Editor) has directed, produced, edited, recorded sound and distributed documentaries since 1972. She is best known for her twenty-year collaboration with Les Blank. She got her start as an apprentice to Blank after graduating from the University of Michigan with a BA in Social Anthropology. First a sound recordist and assistant editor on DRY WOOD AND HOT PEPPER, Gosling went on to work with Blank on over twenty films, including BURDEN OF DREAMS (Co-filmmaker, Editor, Sound Recordist) British Academy Award – Best Documentary, 1982; I WENT TO THE DANCE: The Cajun and Zydeco Music of Louisiana (Co-Filmmaker, Editor); GAP-TOOTHED WOMEN (Co-Filmmaker/Editor) and more.

All In This Tea
This film follows world-renowned tea expert David Lee Hoffman to remote regions of China in search of the best handmade teas in existence. As a tea importer, Hoffman’s obsession with this ancient beverage led him from “insipid tea bags in America” to far-flung tea regions in Asia. In the process, he discovered the rarity of good, handmade tea, especially in China, where the ancient craft of making tea has been giving way to mass production. Tea-making secrets have been handed down through generations of tea makers over thousands of years. In this, his first digitally shot film, Les Blank takes his famous fly-on-the-wall approach. The film moves from modern, urban settings to a pastoral China rarely glimpsed by westerners. Scenes shot in cinema véritéare interwoven with more formal presentations about the fundamentals of tea. 

HI NRG curated DJ SET at 7:00 PM
GARLIC IS AS GOOD AS TEN MOTHERS at 7:30 PM
Q&A with Maureen Gosling (Sound Recorder & Editor of GARLIC) at 8:20 PM
ALL IN THIS TEA at 8:40 PM