Director and producer: Natasha Schull
Co-Director and Cinematographer: Hillevi Loven
Editors: Till Osterland, Natasha Schull & Matthew Bird.
Thanksgiving weekend, Las Vegas: A camera journeys through Sin City’s all-you can-eat buffets and finds a kaleidoscope of character behind the food-from tireless chefs preparing gargantuan bowls of ambrosia, to serves who buys endless plates, to hungry dinners in search of culinary jackpot and a portion of the American dream. “The buffet is the happiest and saddest places,” says Pierre, a meat carver at the New Frontier’s buffet. This documentary brings the happiness and the sadness of the buffet to light, talking the audience on a wild gastronomic voyage behind the scenes of an all-American ritual, Buffet follow the food: from kitchen to cornucopia, table to buffet leftovers. All along the consumption chain, a diverse cast of characters share their desires, their weaknesses, their pleasures, and their shames. The camera rolls as the savory promise that greets diners turns to gluttony, then despondence-and sometimes, a flickering hope for something more than just “all you can eat.”