The Festival de Málaga this Wednesday hosted a new session of Cinema Cocina marked by stories of overcoming and inheritance. The Echegaray Theatre was the venue for the screenings of the feature film Cerrando el círculo by Sonia Ziadi Trives and Víctor García Garrido and the short film Koldo by Pedro Peira; two works that deal with the kitchen as a space where personal life and professional project come together. During the presentation, the attendees enjoyed a DIMOBE vermouth from Antigua Casa de Guardia with crisps from Ardales and anchovy gilda.
 
Ziadi Trives and García Garrido's proposal goes into the journey of chef Daniel Ochoa and the evolution of the restaurant Montia located in the mountains of Madrid, focusing on its reconstruction process after the fire that destroyed the original premises. The documentary presents cooking as a tool for rebuilding links, reaffirming values and reinforcing the connection with the natural environment and local produce.
 
In turn, Koldo offers a close portrait of the chef from Navarre, Koldo Rodero, whose career is deeply linked to his family history and his apprenticeship in the kitchen since his childhood. The piece shows the transformation of the restaurant together with his sisters and the constant search for a contemporary cuisine that keeps the essence and flavours of Navarre intact.
 
The session continued with a colloquium with Pedro Peira, the director of Koldo; and Víctor García Garrido, director and Daniel Ochoa, the chef starring in Cerrando el círculo. Together with the attendees, they were able to enjoy a game croissant that chef Dani Ochoa prepares in his restaurant Montia and an Emilio Moro Tinto 2023 wine.
 
According to García Garrido, Cerrando el círculo "is a documentary that tells the story of Dani Ochoa, a very authentic and intimate story. He is a very special person and what he does is very special."
 
For his part, Pedro Peira has pointed out that with Koldo he wanted to "portray someone normal, as someone who has nothing to do with cooking. Humanising the chef," adding that "Koldo is a fighter, he wanted to recover the Michelin star of his parents, who won a star and didn't even realise it," alluding to the current awards, where the prizes are public.
 
For Dani Ochoa, this film brings "the negative stage" they went through at the restaurant to an end, referring to the title of the documentary by Víctor García, who admitted that he has "seen it 500 times" and knows it "by heart", but seeing it on the big screen at the Echegaray Theatre "was very enjoyable". As they have detailed, "it was going to be a series or a medium-length film, but it ended up being a documentary".
 
Cinema Cocina will continue this Thursday with the screening of the feature film Decía que aquí no había ná by Jorge Fernández Mayora.