Calling all BBQ fans! This is the summer blockbuster you’ve been waiting for.
Australian filmmakers Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker traveled the world to explore methods and cultural importance of barbecue. The resulting documentary film, Barbecue, premiered in March at SXSW in Austin, TX, and has just been released on iTunes and Google Play. It will be available on Netflix in August.
Watch the trailer below.
Barbecue is about more than grilling a piece of meat. It’s a ritual performed religiously across the world. For some it’s a path to salvation. It’s the pride of nations. It brings the world together.
From Shisanyama in South Africa, to Engangsgrill in Sweden, people light the coals, gather, and tell their story. From the Syrian border to an outback Australian town, intimate portraits of those who stoke the flames reveal a bold vision of humanity.
Traversing 12 countries, with glorious cinematic images and a rich orchestral score, Barbecue is a symphony of meat and fire told in epic detail.
Read an interview with Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker for more about the film, and their experiences making it at Wide Open Eats.
What Critics Are Saying
“Salleh’s 4k photography is uniformly gorgeous (as a DP, he is equally attentive to pretty sunsets as to the savory colors of uncooked shawarma) and Larkin’s Philip Glass-like score is worthy of vinyl release.”
-Sean L. Malin, Austin Chronicle
“He [Salleh] captures gorgeous scenery and food in lush 4K imagery, loading up enough cultural nuance to make Anthony Bourdain look like a homebody.” –
–Eric Kohn, IndieWire
“Barbecue is a fascinating sociological document that certainly shouldn’t be watched when you’re hungry.”
-John Noonan, FilmInk
At a Theater Near You
If you happen to live in New Jersey, the Indie Street Film Festival will be screening Barbecue on July 27, in Red Bank.
There will be a community BBQ after the film, which we assume all ticket holders will appreciate after seeing so much barbecue on screen. Tickets are available here.
Barbecue fans around the country can follow the film’s Facebook page for announcement of future screenings.