Hello, food and film friends,
Lights. Cutlery. Action: The 14th Annual Devour! The Food Film Fest Opens with the Canadian Premiere of “La Cocina” and Brings The New Faces of Food and Ethical Eating To The Screen and Plate. Our full program is now LIVE – GET YOUR TICKETS!
On October 23-27, 2024, a community of game-changing chefs, filmmakers, producers and experts will descend on Wolfville, Nova Scotia and inspire us to think differently about food.
Making its Canadian debut, “La Cocina” is a pressure cooker drama starring Raúl Briones and Mara Rooney. It looks at immigrants chasing their dreams and the cultural divide in a NYC kitchen. The Hollywood Reporter describes it as “the Bear on cocaine with a Red Bull chaser.” Celebrity immigrant chefs Angel Ramirez Betancourt, one of the world’s top pastry chefs and Meeru Dhalwala, co-founder of Vij’s and Lila in Vancouver, will share how their cultural roots have played a role in their cuisine and discuss the new faces of the food scene. Two celebrated international film experts, Dieter Kosslick, former Director of the Berlin International Film Festival and Jacopo Chessa, Executive Director of the Veneto Film Commission, will be judging this year’s films.
“The opening gala film sets the explosive tone for this year’s festival, and immigrants’ impact on our evolving food scene comes across loud and clear,” says Lia Rinaldo, Managing Director, Devour! The Food Film Fest. “From Toronto-based Chef Sash Simpson and his film “Born Hungry” to food producers like Frances Ward, a kelp farmer in BC, whose film, “Send Kelp,” will convince you kelp is the next superfood to “The Ballad of Tita and the Machines,” which pits AI against an elderly fieldworker, this year’s films will make you laugh, cry and inspire you to think differently about food.”
Famous game-changing chefs and producers who will bring these films to life on the plate this year include:
- Nova Scotian-born chefs Timothy Charles, executive chef of Fogo Island Inn and Seadon Shouse, executive chef at Halifax Hoboken at the W Hotel, NYC and Coast Kitchen in California.
- Top Chef Canada contender and Indigenous chef Stéphane Levac.
- The top seafood sustainability expert and chef, Robert Clark.
- Italian Toronto chef Dario Tomaselli, a Mediterranean food expert.
- Rising star chefs Andreas Preuss, Oxalis, a European farm-to-table restaurant in Nova Scotia, and Winnie Chen from the award-winning Fu’s Repair Shop in Edmonton, a little bit dim sum, a little bit Hong Kong diner and a whole lot of fun.
- Michael Palij, M.W., the Youngest Master of Wine in his time.
- Former punk rocker and international olive oil expert Fil Bucchino.
- Master Chocolatier and chef, Julien Rousseau, ROUSSEAU Chocolatier.
This year’s festival includes 60 events, 50 films, 25 screenings, an Ethical Eating Celebrity Chef Dinner, Chefs and Shorts Gala, three-panel discussions, 14 workshops, a Fogo Island-foraged luncheon with Chef Timothy Charles, an NS-foraged luncheon with Stéphane Levac.
We invite you to explore this year’s program and we hope to see you in October
Michael Howell and Lia Rinaldo
Executive Director and Managing Director
Devour! The Food Film Festival
