LAGFF and Athens International Culinary Film Festival set to collaborate for the 10th annual LAGFF in 2016.
LAGFF welcomes the Athens International Culinary Film Festival (AICFF) and Gastronomy Days in the heart of Hollywood.
On its 10th anniversary, the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) offers a special thematic tribute to culinary Greek cinema at the Egyptian Theatre on June 1-5, 2016 “Reason to”, the company for “Gastronomy Days” and the AICFF, in collaboration with LAGFF, and with the support of the Greek National Tourist Organization (EOT), will be presenting to the American public, the Greek-American community of Southern California and to US media representatives a selective program of culinary events.
To launch this inaugural collaboration, we are offering a cinematic three-course meal:
• We begin with hors d’oeuvres on Thursday, June 2nd at 4pm, screening seven animation and experimental shorts:
• For our main course, we will be screening Tassos’ Boulmetis acclaimed feature Touch of Spice on Saturday, June 4th at noon.
• For our dessert, we are offering Angelos Abatzoglou, Mustafa’s Sweet Dreams on Sunday, June 5th at noon.
The screening program is complemented by a live cooking show and tastings on Saturday, June 4th, 7:00-8:00pm, and a gastronomy panel discussion on Sunday June 5th at 1:30pm.
In Spring 2016, 16 students of Loyola Marymount University interned with the Los Angeles Greek Film festival as part of a course taught by Dr. Zacharia, LMU Professor of Classics and LAGFF Director of Education and Culture. The course activities included research projects on Greek cinema, gastronomy and culture.
According to “Reason to” President John Gourtzelas, and AICFF/Gastronomy Days Artistic Director at the 2016 LAGFF Takis Panagiotopoulos, “this initiative, which has already received the enthusiastic support by the public and culinary experts, is the first step for a more systematic presence and promotion of contemporary Greek gastronomy on the west coast of the United States”. This step was made possible with the support of the Greek National Tourist Organization and the LAGFF board, and especially its President Dinos Andrianos, the LAGFF Co-founder Ersi Danou, the LAGFF Artistic Director Aris Katopodis, and the LAGFF Director of Education and Culture, Prof. Katerina Zacharia. The LAGFF organizing committee has embraced and supported this effort from the very beginning and notes that “this year’s events are an appetizing sample for all the forthcoming events which are being planned with other Greek organizations for 2017 at the center of international cinema, within the context of the institutional collaboration between AICFF-Gastronomy Days, and LAGFF, a most important organization which promotes contemporary Greek filmmaking.”