Neighbor News
Burlingame filmmaker launches award-winning food documentary series
Burlingame High School grad returns from his international film expedition to finish production of "TASTE" in Burlingame.
Burlingame, CA - August 3, 2015
Filmmaker Kevin Longa recently launched his internationally award-winning food documentary - TASTE With Kevin Longa (or, TASTE, for short). The TASTE series explores a side of food that most food-and-travel shows rarely exhibit. The biggest difference is that TASTE focuses more on the people who make our food, rather than the food itself.
Each 4-minute, web-based episode features a different story about a food entrepreneur - from bakers to chefs to farmers. In fact, Kevin began his food filmmaking when he started his first feature-length food documentary as a student at Burlingame HS.
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“I’ve always been fascinated with my food - ever since I first started making films around the neighborhood when I was eight years old,” says Longa who grew up in Burlingame all of his childhood life.
After graduating from UCLA, Longa traveled across Asia, Europe and the Americas with his camera. He filmed culinary entrepreneurs such as a man who ditched his job at IBM to resurrect the lost art of snail (escargot) farming in Vienna and a San Francisco chef who changes a young criminal’s life through cooking (below). Longa has eight short films lined up for his TASTE: Europe series.
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While TASTE aims to set itself apart from traditional food TV and food advocacy documentaries, Longa respects and draws inspiration from food storytellers who came before him. According to PBS’s Joanne Weir (Cooking Confidence), she declares “TASTE is incredible filmmaking! This kid has talent!” And food advocate/documentarian Raj Patel (A Place at the Table, 2010) says “Kevin is a rare talent - a filmmaker ready to take risks and make the world right under our noses seem fresh and new.”
Recently Longa launched a Kickstarter campaign for the TASTE project to fund post-production editing of “TASTE: Europe.” At the campaign backers are able to join the founding team and get exclusive items, discounts and behind-the-scenes experiences. Watch TASTE and see the Kickstarter here.
