Documentaries 50/60

HARD WHEAT, SEMOLINA AND FANTASY

Guy ESCHLIMANN
1957
Version : French
Duration : 18'
Format : 35 mm., 16 mm., Béta SP, DVCam
Colors
Producer : ARMOR Films - Fred ORAIN
Country France
With Commentaire dit par Maurice GARDETT
Music Guy THÉVEN
Picture Jacques LETELLIER
Archive footage - Small-scale mechanical wheat harvesting in Algeria,
- Industrial flour mill,
- Industrial pasta manufacturing plant.

Original title : Blé dur, semoule et fantaisie

From Olympus to the present day, pasta has often been the stuff of tales and legends, and the stuff of history. Even today, their role in modern life deserves to be highlighted, particularly the complex organisation that, from the harvest in Algeria, transports durum wheat to silos in France and Africa before modern factories clean, sort and wash the grains to obtain different qualities of semolina. It is still the machine that carries out the kneading, rolling and drawing, shaping and drying operations, depending on the physical qualities that the pasta must have at the end of the manufacturing process. We can’t help but be surprised that a mixture as simple as durum wheat and water requires such considerable industrial resources.