The DOXA Documentary Film Festival is bringing its film series back to Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
The festival is presenting the Vancouver premiere of Sally Rowe's A Matter of Taste, which takes its viewers into the cutthroat world of New York restaurant culture.
It's on Monday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Studio Theatre at Shadbolt, 6450 Deer Lake Ave.
A Matter of Taste follows Paul Liebrandt, who, at the age of only 24, was awarded three stars by The New York Times for such culinary creations as "eel, violets and chocolate" and "espuma of calf brains and foie gras."
"Whether he was a culinary Glenn Gould, as critic William Grimes opined, or simply an enfant terrible in the kitchen, hurling ingredients together like a tantrum-driven toddler, Paul firmly divided opinion in food critics, fellow chefs and even restaurant-goers," a press release notes.
Rowe, in making her film, began following Liebrandt in 2000, when he was riding high.
But in the post-911 New York City, where comfort food replaced experimental fare, he started to fall from favour and was reduced to flipping burgers. Then, when things looked dire, Liebrandt was hired by famed restaurateur Drew Nieporent to head up the kitchen at the new restaurant Corton.
"In a city where a single bad review from the paper of record and its food critic Frank Bruni can spell the difference between meteoric fame or abject failure for a restaurant, a lot rests upon Liebrandt's culinary chops," the release notes.
The film is described as "a real-life version of Ratatouille (albeit with fewer rats)" - part suspense tale and part insider's look into kitchen culture.
The screening at Shadbolt will be followed by a Skype interview with Rowe.
Tickets cost $12. Call 604-205-300 or book through www.shadboltcentre.com.
For further information, call DOXA at 604-646-3200 or see www.doxafestival.ca.
