Two films on the subject of chefs Tetsuro Maeda and Jota Urondo and a fiction about Vietnamese gastronomy complete the list of competitors for the Culinary Zinema Award

The streetwise irreverence of Kitchen 154, the flames and embers of Maeda, the authenticity of Urondo and the four hands brought to us by Roca and Dani García, will be protagonists of the dinners

A culinary thriller from the award-winning Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, a French production about a Texan chef whose dream is to open a Vietnamese restaurant in New York and three non-fictions focused on chefs Joan Roca, Javier Urondo and Tetsuro Maeda make up the menu of the Culinary Zinema section at the 73rd edition of the San Sebastián Festival. All five films will compete for the Culinary Zinema Award, coming with 10,000 euros for the winning film. 

Culinary Zinema, which will also include four themed dinners related to the screenings, were presented this morning in Tabakalera’s LABe Digital Gastronomy Lab by the director of the Basque Culinary Center, Joxe Mari Aizega, and the director of the San Sebastián Festival, José Luis Rebordinos.

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang (Bangkok, 1962), a regular at the Cannes, Berlin and Venice festivals, presented Ploy in Perlak in 2007, following its selection for the Quinzaine des cinéastes. He now returns to San Sebastián with Morte cucina, a foodie thriller opening the section, in which the protagonist uses her mastery of cuisine to exact her revenge. 

Twenty chefs boasting a total of 70 Michelin stars in their restaurants come together in the non-fiction Uno de los nuestros. El legado de Joan Roca visto por 70 estrellas Michelin, paying tribute to the chef at El Celler de Can Roca. Jorge Fernández Mayoral (Logroño, 1982) and Virginia Jönas Urigüen (Bilbao, 1975) direct this film to close Culinary Zinema.

Tetsu, Txispa, Hoshi is a documentary about Japanese chef Tetsuro Maeda and his restaurant Txispa, standing in the Atxondo Valley, at the foot of Mount Anboto, in Bizkaia. Jon Arregui Larrazabal (Portugalete, 1970) is participating in the section for the second time, after presenting Euskadi, cocina en la cumbre in 2013, co-directed with Francisco Javier Gutiérrez Pereda.

Also presenting his first feature film is the French director Nan Feix (Paris, 1974), who will participate in Culinary Zinema with Mam, a fiction following a Texan chef who falls in love with Vietnamese food while travelling and sets his mind on opening his own restaurant in New York.

Mariana Erijimovich (Buenos Aires, 1975), in her directorial debut, brings Jota Urondo, un cocinero impertinente / Jota Urondo, An Impertinent Chef, co-directed with Argentine director and producer Juan Villegas (Buenos Aires, 1971), who presented his second film, Los suicidas / Suicidals (2005), at New Directors. The non-fiction draws a portrait of the Argentinian chef and the place of resistance he created in a corner of Buenos Aires.

The Generalitat de Catalunya’s Catalan Tourist Board sponsors the section Culinary Zinema, to raise awareness of Catalonia’s distinction as ‘Catalonia, World Gastronomy Region 2025’ and to promote its campaign showcasing the excellence of Catalan cuisine worldwide.

 

Themed dinners

Four of the five films in the section will be accompanied by themed dinners, to take place from 23-26 September at the Basque Culinary Center. Culinary Zinema will follow its customary format of ten diners per table to prompt discussion and enrich the experience. Professors and students from the Basque Culinary Center will participate in all of the dinners collaborating both in the kitchen and in the service. Combined tickets for the screenings and the dinners will go on sale next Friday, 29th August, at 10:00, on the sansebastianfestival.janto.es and kutxabank-zinemaldi.janto.es websites. The cost of the combined tickets for the screening and the themed dinner is 85 euros. 

The Culinary Zinema themed dinners will open on 23 September following the screening of the film Morte cucina, which will be accompanied by a menu designed by Álex Zurdo, Txitxo Fernández and Gabryella Ismeria from Kitchen 154, the project from Madrid which has made Asian street food its personal stamp. Founded in 2014, these chefs have won over the city with their lively eateries lending precedence to flavour over form and where heat, spice and authenticity are king. Their philosophy is clear: “No gastro nonsense and no showing off”, only intense dishes smacking of markets in Bangkok, Hanoi and Luang Prabang. Thanks to these chefs, the foodie experience will be just as striking and spirited as the film.

The documentary Tetsu, Txispa, Hoshi opens the door to the creative universe of Japanese chef Tetsuro Maeda and his restaurant, Txispa. On this exceptional occasion, Maeda himself will design an exclusive menu sharing his particular approach to cuisine: intimate, surprising and profoundly tied to the pure origin of the project and to hot coals and their embers, the symbol of Japan’s foodie culture. The proposal, which will be held on the 24th, will take diners on a journey of flavours redolent of the Nippon essence —ferments, marinades, preserves— reinterpreted with local, fresh and seasonal ingredients, enhanced with an unmistakable Basque touch. A unique experience connecting tradition and territory in a culinary dialogue of myriad hues.

The film Jota Urondo, un cocinero impertinente portrays the Argentinian chef Javier Urondo and the space of cultural and gastronomic resistance he created on a Buenos Aires corner: the Urondo Bar. His cuisine, packed with memory and character, becomes an act of identity and coming together. This dinner will also be prepared by Urondo himself, brought directly from Argentina. A proposal combining flavour, history and defiance, in keeping with the spirit of the film.

The documentary Uno de los nuestros pays tribute to the legacy of Joan Roca, chef at El Celler de Can Roca, through the eyes of 70 Michelin stars. This screening will have the task of closing the year’s Culinary Zinema, and the final dinner, to be held on Friday 26th, will unite two leading lights of the international gastronomy sphere: Joan Roca and Dani García, in a menu prepared with four hands. A final flourish enabling the public to relive the tribute reflected in the film, transformed here into a gastronomic experience. 

 

The film Mam will not have an accompanying dinner, meaning that its tickets will go on sale on 16th September at the price of 8.75 euros, the same as the tickets for all other ordinary film screenings.