Blog post by Molly Scott Cato
Bristol Somali Kitchen brings film and food to Trinity Rooms through Stroud Film Festival
From the heat of Djibouti City to the cool of a Gloucestershire winter, a screening at the Trinity Rooms as part of the Stroud Film Festival aims to bring communities together, as well as providing great entertainment and homemade Somali food!
The screening of The Gravedigger's Wife is hosted by Stroud Community Agriculture-Somali Kitchen Twinning Project and is bringing together a community kitchen in Bristol and Stroud’s community farm. Stroud residents was able to enjoy authentic Somali finger food and watch a special screening of a Somalian drama at this special event that aimed to celebrate Djiboutian culture through film and food. The event at the Trinity Rooms started at 2pm with some delicious Djiboutian food followed by the film screening and closed with a discussion with members of the Somali Kitchen.
(Photo from Stroud Film Festival screening event at Trinity Rooms on Feb 18th 2024)
Hailed as ‘visually captivating’ and ‘deeply moving’, The Gravedigger’s Wife intimately captures the personal toll of poverty in Djibouti City through its compelling lead performances and evocative imagery. Already praised at numerous film festivals, and winning awards for Best Film and Best Actor at the Pan African Film Festival, the film has captured both audience and critics. With an audience score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, the critics’ verdict is that the film is ‘a tender tribute to the power of family’.
The twinning is a 'Bringing People Together' project supported by the Real Farming Trust. The purpose of the project is to bridge social divides and build understanding between people involved in growing food in rural areas and urban based social justice projects and the people they support.
For 20 years, Stroud Community Agriculture has been providing organic vegetables with almost no food miles to 200 families in the Stroud Valleys. As a community-supported agriculture farm, farm workers and members share the risks and rewards. Somali Kitchen work in inner city areas of Bristol with their network of mothers who would like the children to experience nature and space but most of the people in the group rarely ever leave the city.
(Photos visit at Hawkwood last summer, 2023)
You can read more about how Stroud Film Festival brings other communities together at Trinity Rooms here
You can find our more about Stroud Community Agriculture here
Find Bristol Somali Kitchen here on Facebook
Read more about the Real Farming Trust that has created this twinning project opportunity.