The Cinematheque

“The folks in this colour-saturated fable aren’t just anybody. They are the Greeks of Istanbul, forced back across the Bosphorus during many conflicts between Christian Greece and Muslim Turkey … Persistence is part of the pungent tale’s charm, and will endear the effort to fans of sweepingly sentimental pics like Cinema Paradiso and Life Is Beautiful.”

Ken Eisner, The Georgia Straight

Fortysomething Fanis Iakovidis (Georges Corraface), a successful professor of astrophysics in Athens, has been an accomplished chef since his early childhood. Everything he knows about spices and the art of cooking, he learned as a youngster in the attic of his grandfather’s shop in Istanbul. So when he finds out that old Vassilis (Tassos Bandis) is coming to visit for the first time in 35 years, he prepares a welcome feast for him and some old friends. When a heart attack at the airport prevents the old man from travelling, Fanis decides to make the trip himself, taking us back in time and down memory lane. ​“Mr. Boulmetis structures the film like a meal; the segments are labeled ​‘appetizer,’ ​‘main course,’ and so on. And food is related to marriage, astronomy, even politics … The comic moments, many involving spice-related sabotage at the dinner table, are delightful” (Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times).

In Greek, Turkish, and English with English subtitles

The closing-night screening of A Touch of Spice on April 2 will be introduced by Dimitris Krallis, director of the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies at SFU.