PRESS RELEASE
The 61st Sydney Film Festival announced two special Gourmet Cinema packages of food and film to be experienced this 10 and 11 June.
Sydney Film Festival’s Gourmet Cinema events bring together the finest food from two of Sydney’s chef’s-hat-winning restaurants (from the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards 2014) with two excellent examples of world cinema. Combined, they create an entire evening’s entertainment that is designed to satisfy all the senses.
This selection includes the combination of top Australia celebrity chef Luke Mangan’s glass brasserie and The Lunchbox, a delicious celebration of romance and food set in Mumbai screening at Event Cinemas George Street. The film is followed by an appropriately Indian-inspired multi-course menu created by Mangan at one of Sydney’s iconic restaurants, awarded a chef’s hat again in 2014, as well as Little Creatures beer and Eden Road wine.
The second Gourmet Cinema event is an evening at hat-winning Gowings Bar & Grill exclusively designed by Creative Food Director Rob Marchetti. The meal is followed by the Special Presentation at the State Theatre screening of Two Faces of January, a thriller starring Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen, set in picturesque Greece and Turkey, following a couple and a stranger involved in a murder. The food, designed to share, adds a great social element to the experience while allowing you to sample the widest variety of Gowings’ specialties, with plenty to please all tastes.
Luke Mangan’s glass brasserie and The Lunchbox
Tuesday 10 June, film 6pm, dinner 8:30pm
Tickets $130 per person: Film, dinner and drink per course included
Seating for this dinner will be communal; however bookings of six people or more will be guaranteed individual tables.
The glass brasserie menu will encompass an amuse-bouche of raw tuna marinated in spices, a first course of Tandoori quail with cucumber raita and crispy shallot salad; a second course of lamb rack with potato and mustard seeds, Punjabi cabbage, mint coriander chutney; and a third course of chai tea bavarois with saffron mandarin, candied fennel and fairy floss.
Gowings Bar & Grill and The Two Faces of January
Wed 11 June, dinner 6pm, film 8:35pm
Tickets $98 per person: Film and dinner included
Seating for this dinner is communal
With concept created by acclaimed Sydney restaurateur Robert Marchetti, Gowings Bar & Grill presents the style of a European brasserie, with edgy contemporary design. Gowings Bar & Grill offers the freshest produce from Australia’s best artisan providores, prepared with cooking techniques featuring wood-fired rotisseries and ovens, and a specially curated wine program featuring exciting young winemakers from all around the world that complements the food selection.
Full film synopses for The Lunchbox and The Two Faces of January are below:
The Lunchbox
India, Germany, France, USA | 2013 | 105 mins | In Hindi, English with English subtitles | Australian Premiere
Director, Screenwriter: Ritesh Batra | Producers: Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap, Arun Rangachari | Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui | Distributor: Madman Entertainment
This Indian indie hit is a delicious celebration of romance and food featuring star Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire). The story is inspired by Mumbai’s remarkable dabba (lunchbox) delivery system, in which only one in four million home-cooked meals is ever incorrectly delivered. That one wayward lunch links a housewife with an office worker in the dusk of his life. Ila (Nimrat Kaur) is an eager young wife trying to impress her distant husband through her cooking. Saajan (Khan) is a disillusioned office worker who is about to retire, further emphasising his solitary existence. A correspondence between the two is triggered by the lunchbox, leading them into a rich fantasy. With perfect performances and deft direction by Ritesh Bhatra, The Lunchbox is a sweet love story that has charmed audiences around the world.
The Two Faces of January
UK, USA, France | 2014 | 97 mins | In English, Greek and Turkish with English subtitles | Australian Premiere
Director, Screenwriter: Hossein Amini | Producers: Tim Bevan, Robyn Slovo, Tom Sternberg, Eric Fellner | Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac | Distributor: StudioCanal
Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac star in this sumptuous, sun-drenched adaptation of the classic novel by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley). Hossein Amini, who wrote Drive, makes his directorial debut with this sophisticated, suspenseful story. We meet a glamorous American couple (Mortensen and Dunst), who are holidaying in Athens. While living the high life, they come across a small-time hustler (Isaac) who begins showing them around, extracting cash from them along the way. Soon they are mixed up in a murder, and must rely on the assistance of their shady young tour guide as tensions rise and trust erodes. This is a gripping thriller set in stunning locations with beautiful people doing dangerous things.
The 61st Sydney Film Festival runs 4-15 June and brings a packed program of screenings and special events to even more venues across Sydney. For tickets and full up-to-date program information visit sff.org.au
ABOUT SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL
Sydney Film Festival screens feature films, documentaries, short films and animated films across the city at the State Theatre, Event Cinemas George Street, Dendy Opera Quays, the Art Gallery of NSW, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne, the Apple Store, SFFTV at Martin Place, Skyline Drive-In Blacktown, and the Festival Hub at Town Hall.
The Festival is a major event on the New South Wales cultural calendar and is one of the world’s longest-running film festivals. For more information visit www.sff.org.au
Sydney Film Festival also presents 12 films that vie for the Official Competition, a highly respected international honour that awards a $60,000 cash prize based on the decision of a jury of international and Australian filmmakers and industry professionals. Previous Sydney Film Prize winners include: Only God Forgives (2013), Alps (2012), A Separation (2011) – which went on to win an Academy Award, Heartbeats (2010), Bronson (2009) and Hunger (2008).
The 61st Sydney Film Festival is supported by the NSW Government through Screen NSW, the Federal Government through Screen Australia, and the City of Sydney. The Festival’s Strategic partner is the NSW Government through Destination NSW.
What: Sydney Film Festival
When: 4-15 June, 2014
Tickets & Info: 1300 733 733 sff.org.au