A story about a young Greek boy (Fanis) growing up in Istanbul, whose grandfather, a culinary philosopher and mentor, teaches him that both food and life require a little salt to give them flavor; they both require... A TOUCH OF SPICE.

Fanis grows up to become an excellent cook and uses his cooking skills to spice up the lives of those around him. 35 years later he leaves Athens and travels back to his birthplace of Istanbul to reunite with his grandfather and his first love; he travels back only to realize that he forgot to put a little bit of spice in his own life...

As his mentor used to say "there are two types of travelers in life, those who are leaving and those who are returning, the first look at the map, the later look in the mirror...". Now it's time for our hero to take a look in his own mirror.

A TOUCH OF SPICE is a nostalgic bitter-sweet comedy about self-awareness, people leaving their homeland, personal conflict but most importantly shows us how cooking can give all of us valuable lessons about love and life itself.

Humor, sensitivity, romance and mouth-watering delicacies make up this touching yet comical coming-of-age story that will delight audiences worldwide.

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS & RECOGNITION

• A big Greek commercial success (1,300,000 tickets sold till Feb. 2004)
• The film was awarded the following prizes at the 44th International Film Festival of Thessaloniki:
  • Best Motion Picture First Prize
  • Best Director award (Tassos Boulmetis)
  • Best Screenplay award (Tassos Boulmetis)
  • Best Cinematography award (Takis Zervoulakos)
  • Best Set Design award (Olga Leontiadou)
  • Best Music award (Evanthia Reboutsika)
  • Best Sound award (Dimitris Athanassopoulos)
  • Best Editing award (Giorgos Mavropsaridis)
  • The Dewars Audience award for best Greek film
  • Special award for technical excellence, Greek Film & Television Technicians Association
• Greek Film Festival of Adelaide, Australia, 2004, screening
• Tribeca Film Festival, USA, 2004
• Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2004, competition
• Boston Turkish Film Festival, Boston, 2003, screening
• 3rd Beirut Greek Film Festival, Lebanon, 2010, screening
• European Film Festival in Jordan, Jordan, 2010, screening
• Greek Festival of Sydney (open-air cinema,) Australia, 2012, screening
• Festroia Film Festival, 2011, Portugal, screening
• Greek Cinema Days, Hamburg, screening, 2010
• European Union Film Festival, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), 2011, screening
• Ciclo de Cine Griego, Santiago, Chile, 2012, screening

CREDITS