By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org
Romeo Kattookaran could not help but notice the extra food generated by his own restaurant, Chicken & Fishes, that was being thrown in the garbage. So he asked one of his employees if they could give the extra food to someone.
“She told me no, not according to the law,” the Kentwood business owner said, adding that he learned restaurants were not allowed to give leftovers or extra food to anyone, but only to put it in the trash.
“It seemed like such a waste,” Kattookaran said during a recent interview on the WKTV Journal newscast. Especially when when Kattookaran started considering the number of restaurants in the area and the amount of food that was probably just being tossed.
So he decided to write about it. That story became the independent film “A Wonderful Day,” set to premiere this Saturday, July 21, at Celebration! Cinema at Woodland Mall. The show time is 3 p.m. For tickets to the premiere, click here.
“There certainly is a need,” said Wyoming-based filmmaker Nuri Bauswell, owner of BlackHoleMediaGroup.com, and who was a cinematographer for the film. Bauswell said it was not only the story that caught his attention, but the purpose behind the film.
That purpose is to encourage patrons of area restaurants to give their leftovers to those in need.
“While restaurants can not give the food to others, you or I can do that,” Kattookaran said.
Participating restaurants will have either containers or something that can be placed on a container that says “A Wonderful Day.” The patron can then take the leftover and give it to a person in need.
The release of the film this week is the first push in promoting the concept to help those in need by encouraging people to donate their leftovers, Kattookaran said, adding the group plans to work toward promoting the concept to area restaurants. He has started it at Kentwood Chicken and Fishes restaurant located in the Marathon gas station on the corner of 44th Street and Shaffer Avenue.
The film also has received a couple of awards including best producer award and best first-time filmmaker award from Los Angeles’ Olympus Film Festival and recognition from the Film Freeway’s Best Shorts Competition.
For more about “A Wonderful Day,” visit the Kentwood Films International website, kentwoodfilms.com, or follow the Facebook page, Kentwood Films. The trailer for the film has been running on WKTV with the movie scheduled to air at a later date.
