A Touch of Spice

A Touch of Spice (Greek: Πολίτικη Κουζίνα/Politiki Kouzina) is a 2003 Greek film directed by Tassos Boulmetis and starring Georges Corraface as the character of the adult Fanis Iakovides. The character of Fanis Iakovides as a child is played by Markos Osse and the supporting role of Fanis's grandfather, Vassilis, is played by Tassos Bandis.

A Touch of Spice
Directed byTassos Boulmetis
StarringGeorges Corraface
Ieroklis Michaelidis
Renia Louizidou
Başak Köklükaya
Tamer Karadağlı
CinematographyTakis Zervoulakos
Edited byYorgos Mavropsaridis
Music byEvanthia Reboutsika
Production
companies
Village Roadshow Productions
Smallridge
ANS International
MC² Productions
Distributed byCapitol Films
Village Roadshow
Release date
  • 2003 (2003)
Running time
108 minutes
CountriesGreece
Turkey
France[1]
LanguagesGreek
Turkish
English
Budget€2 million[1]
($2.3 million)
Box office$10.4 million[2]

Name

The original Greek title is Πολίτικη Κουζίνα (Politiki Kouzina) which means Cuisine of the City and refers to the Cuisine of Constantinople. However, in the film's promotional material , the word Politiki of the title is depicted in capital letters, therefore allowing an alternative reading of the title, due to the lack of stress marks, as Πολιτική Κουζίνα (Politiki Kouzina) which means Political Cuisine signifying the important role that politics played in the lives of the main characters.

Plot

Fanis Iakovides, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, recalls his childhood memories from growing up in Istanbul. When Fanis was 7 years old, his grandfather Vassilis was an owner of a general store with a specialty in spices. He was also a culinary philosopher and his mentor. Fanis grew very attached to his grandfather who would assist with his homework using imaginative techniques. For instance, Vassilis would teach his grandson the planets of the Solar System by showing an illustration of it and replacing the planets with spices. Cinnamon took the place of Venus since according to Vassilis, "like all women, cinnamon is both bitter and sweet". Fanis also fell in love for the first time in his grandfather store's upper floor with a young Turkish girl, Saime.

However, beginning with the Istanbul Pogrom in 1955, through 1978, the ethnic Greek community of Istanbul was reduced from 135,000 to 7,000 by a series of government orchestrated riots, pogroms and deportations.[3] Most of Fanis' family is deported in 1964 with the Ankara government decision to renege on the 1930 Greco-Turkish Ankara Convention, affirming the right of Greek etablis (Greeks who were born and lived in Istanbul but held Greek citizenship) to live and work in Turkey, and most Greek citizens who lived in Constantinople were deported to Greece,[4] despite most never having previously resided there. Since Vassilis was not a dual citizen, he was able to stay behind while his grandson Fanis and his parents were deported to Athens.

Fanis had trouble initially adapting in Greece, constantly trying to spend his time in the kitchen cooking, as it was the only link between him and his homeland. However, this would upset his mother who was afraid that the boy was either severely depressed or a homosexual. Fanis grew from childhood to adulthood, preserving his culinary talents and often offering his secrets of the Politiki Cuisine to those that ask for his help.

As the years passed by, and the tension between Turkey and Greece resolved, grandfather Vassilis made several promises to visit his grandson in Athens but failed to keep them. The reason for the final incompletion of this engagement was his rapidly declining health. Consequently, Fanis returns to Constantinople after three decades to visit his near-death grandfather and also runs into his old love, Saime, who is now married. Together, they reflect on their lives and the way politics managed to change everything.

Fanis will eventually realize that contrary to what his grandfather had taught him, he forgot to put a little bit of "spice in his own life".

Analysis

The main characters easily fit into a parallel metaphor - Saime, the old love of Fanis, a beautiful Turkish girl and multi-lingual tour guide, represents Istanbul (a cosmopolitan city called a "she" in Greek), Fanis is modern Greece, one that is still deeply in love with Constantinople and nostalgic for the past, while Saime's husband is a Turkish military doctor who represents a modern, pragmatic Turkey.

Cast

Reception

Box office

Politiki Kouzina was released nationwide in Greece on Friday, 24 October 2003. It sold 62,091 admissions on its opening weekend (Friday-to-Sunday),[5] with other reports putting it an estimated 65,000 admissions, including 46,500 admissions in Athens.[6] It went on to sell 33,000 admissions on a single day, 28 October which is a national holiday.[6] In Athens, its second,[7] third[8] and fourth[9] weekends were well above its opening weekend in terms of admissions. In Athens, it remained in first place for 6 consecutive weekends[10] and in the top 10 for 17 consecutive weekends.[11] By the end of its run, it had sold more than 700,000 admissions in Athens alone,[11] included in the total of about 1,300,000 admissions nationwide,[12][13] which set a record among Greek films for the largest number of admissions sold in Greece, a record that still stands as of September 2016.[13] It also ranks as second-largest among all films (Greek and foreign) in terms of admissions, behind Titanic.[14] Other reports put the nationwide total at 1,600,000,[15][16] 1,560,000[17] or 1,277,902 admissions.[18]

Awards

winner:[19][20]

References
  1. "Politiki Kouzina / Touch of spice". MC2 Productions. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  2. "Politiki kouzina (A Touch of Spice)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  3. Kilic, Ecevit (7 September 2008). "Sermaye nasıl el değiştirdi?". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 25 December 2008. 6-7 Eylül olaylarından önce Constantinople 135 bin Rum yaşıyordu. Sonrasında bu sayı 70 bine düştü. 1978'e gelindiğinde bu rakam 7 bindi.
  4. The European Union and Border Conflicts: The EU and Cultural Change in Greek-Turkish Relations
  5. Ηλίας Φραγκούλης. "Ελληνικό box-office: Ελαφρύ το αεράκι του "Νοτιά"". freecinema.gr. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  6. "Κυτίον το Ελληνικόν, Τριήμερο 24/10 - 26/10". cine.gr. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  7. "Κυτίον το Ελληνικόν, Τριήμερο 31/10 - 02/11". cine.gr. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  8. "Κυτίον το Ελληνικόν, Τριήμερο 07/11-09/11". cine.gr. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  9. "Κυτίον το Ελληνικόν, Τριήμερο 14/10 - 16/11". cine.gr. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  10. "Κυτίον το Ελληνικόν, Τριήμερο 28/11 - 30/11". cine.gr. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  11. "Κυτίον το Ελληνικόν, Τριήμερο 13/02 - 15/02". cine.gr. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  12. "Nέα εποχή για τη Village". amarysia.gr. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  13. "Η τιμή του ελληνικού σινεμά". kathimerini.gr. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  14. "Ρεκόρ με το... καλημέρα". ethnos.gr. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  15. "Μα, 600.000 εισιτήρια στην Ελλάδα του 2016; Πραγματικά, "Ένας Άλλος Κόσμος"". thecolumnist.gr. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  16. "Στην κορυφή του ελληνικού box office οι "Νύφες" του Παντελή Βούλγαρη". news.in.gr. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  17. "Ελληνικό Box Office: οι πιο εμπορικές ταινίες όλων των εποχών". eida.matia.gr. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  18. "Κινηματογράφος" (PDF). Συχνότητες. p. 33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  19. "Politiki kouzina". imdb. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  20. "award 2003". Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
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