The eighth edition of Cinema Cocina, the section of the Festival de Málaga that fuses film and gastronomy, kicked off on Friday 14 March at the Echegaray Theatre with the screening of the short films 'Pequeñas Sinfonías' and 'Beber para (no) olvidar', as well as the feature film 'Moles y Escamoles', which opened this year's programme. The presentation took the opportunity to pay tribute to Alfred Oliveri, the recently deceased film director and producer, author of the short film that opened the cycle.
 
Fiorella Gianuzzi, a great friend of the director, was in charge of reading a letter from Paz León, Oliveri's widow, in which she remembered his passion, creativity and the legacy he left in cinema and gastronomy. "Amazing, passionate, brilliant, driven and persistent, Alfred was, is and always will be impossible to limit or pigeonhole. His strength, energy and optimism, together with the love with which he undertook everything, will continue to inspire us to live and give us the necessary impulse to continue telling stories linked to gastronomy," Paz wrote in her letter.

In the words of Álvaro Muñoz, director of Lumen Proyectos Gastronómicos, Oliveri was "Cinema Cocina's fetish director, above all because he was a friend, but also because of his enormous curiosity about gastronomy and his way of understanding cuisine. He won a Biznaga de Plata with us and will always be part of this Festival and Cinema Cocina."
The screening began with 'Pequeñas Sinfonías', in which Alfred Oliver takes the viewer to Aramburu, the only restaurant in Buenos Aires with two Michelin stars. 'Beber para (no) olvidar', by Jeniffer Castañeda García, traces the history of phylloxera and its impact on viticulture, highlighting the importance of wine from the Canary Islands. The screenings concluded with 'Moles y Escamoles', by Vera Ruiz Acevedo and Michael James Wright, a feature film that explores innovation in Mexican cuisine through two chefs working with local ingredients such as escamoles, known as Mexican insect caviar.

The screenings were followed by a colloquium moderated by Álvaro Muñoz, with the participation of Fiorella Gianuzzi, Jenniffer Castañeda, Michael James Wright and Mayela Cárdenas, chef.

During the colloquium, Michael James Wright talked about how he was inspired to win the Biznaga de Plata in Cinema Cocina at the 25th edition of the Festival. "When I got to the office I told my producer, 'We do moles or we do escamoles, but we have to do something. In the end we made 'Moles y Escamoles', bringing together two characters who don't know each other but intercept each other."

Jenniffer Castañeda talked about how her project was born during a family dinner: "The wines were so important and many Canary Islanders did not know about them" that I did not hesitate to make the leap from fiction to documentary and make a film about the historical memory of the wines of the Canary Islands.

As in every edition, during the colloquium, a tasting inspired by the flavours of the films screened was served, this time by Mayela Cárdenas, bringing "a little bit of Guanajuato to Malaga". Attendees enjoyed a mezcal and hibiscus flower cocktail with a mini ceremonial tortilla taco with escamoles and quelites in a regional mole vinaigrette.

The Cinema Cocina programme will continue on Saturday 15 with the screening of the short film 'The Dish: La Paella', by Carlos González de la Peña Romero, and the feature film 'Las hijas del Trueno', by José Martínez and Marisol Picón.