Cake and Drama, Rice and Romance: MIFF Pairs Screenings With Dinners at Top Restaurants

MIFF is back with over 250 films to choose from. There is a slate of food-focused titles on the line-up, from Iranian drama My Favourite Cake, a celebration of the simple beauty of an orange blossom sponge, to four-hour French documentary Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros, which chronicles the happenings at an Michelin-starred restaurant.

But even if you’re not catching a culinary flick, all that viewing is sure to stimulate your appetite. Luckily, many of Melbourne’s best restaurants are walking distance from MIFF and hosting special events as part of the festival.

“I love the idea of making it into an event and being able to take the conversation about the film somewhere,” says MIFF programmer Kate Jinx. “It’s not just about eating or going to see a film. It’s all about making a night out of things.”

Keen for dinner and a movie? Here are some highlights from the program.

Bar Lourinhã x La Cocina

Adapted from a play called The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker, La Cocina is a fast-paced black and white film set entirely at a Times Square bistro called The Grill.

“It’s one of the few major food films in the program,” says Jinx. “A lot of the chefs and staff in the film are from Spanish-language countries.”

Small but buzzing restaurant Bar Lourinha is La Cocina’s perfect match. Its emphasis on Iberian cuisine captures the liveliness of the film and its underlying Spanish influence. On the menu: cheese croquetas, Portuguese cuttlefish rice, slow-cooked pork cheek and more.

Friday, August 9. Tickets cost $111.

Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters x Malu

Malu, the breakout feature film by Brazilian director Pedro Freire, is a tender but turbulent drama about the emotional dynamics between three generations of women when a 50-year-old actress moves back home with her conservative mother and estranged daughter in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.

Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters is an obvious choice – but the similarities extend beyond the name.

“The restaurant is all about using fresh produce, looking at a seasonal menu and incorporating its growers into the restaurant,” says Jinx. Much like the narrative that unfolds in Malu, she equates the dining experience at Alejandro Saravia’s Fed Square venue to storytelling. And its emphasis on charcoal grilling is a perfect pair for the fiery film.

Monday, August 12. Tickets cost $131.

Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters x Universal Language

Set in a reimagined Winnipeg, Canada, that’s evocative of Tehran in the ’90s, Universal Language is another perfect match for Victoria. Both the film and the restaurant embody hyperlocality in a playful, creative way, designed to evoke a specific sense of time and place.

Director Matthew Rankin’s “autobiographical hallucination” cleverly combines his formative fascination with Iranian cinema and the complicated relationship he has with his hometown of Winnipeg.

“It’s inspired by classic Iranian films but it’s a very contemporary comedy drama,” says Jinx. “It has a Wes Andersen look and feel to it.”

Thursday, August 22. Tickets cost $131.

Cumulus Inc x My Favourite Cake

Winner of two prizes at the Berlin International Film Festival, My Favourite Cake is a bittersweet Iranian drama about a 70-something widow grappling with loneliness after her children move away. She finds solace through an unlikely connection shared over an orange blossom sponge: her favourite cake.

It’s hard to leave this film without craving dessert, which can be easily remedied with dinner and a chocolate torte with poached quince for dessert at Andrew McConnell’s Cumulus Inc.

“This film is about hospitality and good company and having a good experience while you can,” says Jinx.

Tuesday, August 13. Tickets cost $116.

Sunda x All We Imagine as Light

Romantic drama All We Imagine as Light was the first Indian film to screen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years, and quickly became a festival favourite. Praised by critics as “luminous”, the film follows three women on their romantic journeys around Mumbai. That city is also the birthplace of Sunda head chef Nabil Ansari.

With a contemporary Southeast Asian-inspired menu and an industrial fit-out mirroring the film’s urban setting, it’s a fitting spot for post-show debrief over dishes like seared scallop, grilled barramundi, and hazelnut and cardamom kulfi.

Friday, August 23. Tickets cost $130.

Bossley Restaurant and Bar x Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros

Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros is 94-year-old Frederick Wiseman’s 44th feature documentary. It follows the team and suppliers at Le Bois Sans Feuilles ( “The Woods Without Leaves”), a family-run French restaurant that’s been Michelin-starred for over 50 years.

“It’s such an expansive film, “says Jinx. “You really get to see the day-to-day minutia of the restaurant, what’s happening in the kitchen, and out on the floor with the guests [and on] the farms.”

At four hours long, it’s not the kind of film you’ll follow with an extended dining experience, so head to Bossley for free-flowing champagne and European-inspired dishes like beef tartare tarts, ricotta-stuffed zucchini flowers, homemade gnocchi with lamb shoulder and a charcuterie grazing table.

Sunday, August 25. Tickets cost $120.

Miss Pearl at the Festival Hub x Didi

Set in 2008 in Fremont, California, Didi is a coming-of-age tale about a Taiwanese-American boy navigating fluctuating relationships with himself and others as he enters high school. The semi-autobiographical film is the directorial debut of Sean Wang, who received critical acclaim after the film aired at Sundance.

After the film, head to the MIFF Festival Hub for dinner by Asian-fusion eatery Miss Pearl. The menu combines Asian and Western influences – much like the juxtaposed cultural influences from the US and Taiwan in the movie – across dishes like kingfish sashimi, lemongrass duck buns, crispy master stock chicken and jasmine rice cooked in pandan leaves.

Saturday, August 24. Tickets cost $81.

Miss Pearl at the Festival Hub x Black Dog

Black Dog is another great match for Miss Pearl’s festival pop-up. It’s set on the remote edges of the Gobi Desert. The Cannes Un Certain Regard-winning Chinese film explores loneliness and connection, following a former stunt motorcyclist who befriends a dog after being released from prison.

“It’s a really excellent contemporary Chinese film that aligns with the Asian-fusion menu of Miss Pearl,” says Jinx. “It’s very much about coming together and community and catching up.”

The menu for the Black Dog dinner is the same as the one for Didi.

Saturday, August 17. Tickets cost $81.

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