Presented by Prez Hall & Lola's Local Food Lab, each film is accompanied by a small plate menu inspired by the film, and introduced by series producers Vanessa Downing (Prez Hall) and Kim Shkapich (Lola's Local Food Lab).

This season's theme: TABLE MANNERS: Recipes for Polite Society. Explore the confines of class and the balance of personal freedoms in the midst of tight family and social structures, often served before the entrée at dinner. Each film has a different recipe for power and passion as the protagonists hunger for transformation and acceptance.

Small plate menu: Firepot Vegetable Soup, Rice paper Spring Rolls, and Almond Dofu (gelatin) (Vegetarian)

Screening Thurs. 2/18: RAISE THE RED LANTERN (Orion Classics, 1991) Directed by Yimou Zhang In Mandarin with English subtitles. A rich and disturbing story set in China in the 1920s that follows the four wives of a wealthy merchant, each of whom tries to claim personal agency, sexual attention, and love despite their deeply misogynist and oppressive culture.

As Ellen J. Fried points out in her essay in Reel Food (Routledge, 2004), it's the customs and rituals related to food that prove the women's greatest source of social control and manipulation within their domestic situation, from the quality of the meals they prepare to the dining rules they set. Such power, however, comes at a price