The Athena Cinema is giving “people what they want” by showing a movie about food.
This fall semester’s Food on Film series pick, Big Night, will be shown Wednesday at the Athena Cinema, 20 S. Court St., celebrating the 20th anniversary of its original release. The Food Studies Theme program and Atrium Cafe are co-sponsoring the event. Food on Film is a series of food-themed movies shown at the Athena, according to a previous Post report.
There will be a panel discussion after the movie which features two OU faculty members, Theresa Moran and Francis McFadden, along with Diane Spezza, former owner of an Athens Italian restaurant.
Big Night tells the story of two brothers who run a failing Italian restaurant in New Jersey in the '50s. In order to save their business, they enlist in the help of a rival restaurant to host a dinner party, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
“(In Big Night, the chef’s) reference frame is to make real Italian food for real Italian people but . . . (customers) don’t get the food because it doesn’t fit the mold of Italian-American food,” McFadden, assistant professor of nutrition, said.
Movies shown fall under themes such as “consumption” and “production of food,” Theresa Moran, director of the food studies theme, said.
“We’re showing students how food is a cultural and social identity marker through film,” Moran said.
Big Night has become a “cult classic” over the last two decades, Moran said.
Oftentimes, it's difficult to track down smaller indie films, such as Big Night, unless it’s in a large city, McFadden, who is also a chef and Atrium Cafe coordinator, said.
“Usually in small towns like (Athens) you’re just playing first-run movies,” McFadden said. “(Theaters) never have time to put these very creative movies on . . . I think to be able to do that (at places like the Athena) is the reason we should do that.”
Some of the films that were shown for the Athena’s Food on Film series have not been blatantly about food, such as a showing of Spirited Away last October.
“(Spirited Away) has wonderful sequences that really . . . highlight the difference between feeding and dining," Moran said. “Feeding is just an unconscious stuffing without the reflection of what it is you’re choosing to nourish your body and soul with.”
Ohio University offers a food studies curricular theme in the College of Arts and Sciences to allow students to learn about food from an academic aspect. Participants have to complete courses along with other out-of-class activities including Food on Film, Moran said.
When choosing what film to show, Moran said the Big Night shows the distaste people have for changes in their cuisine.
“Every immigrant cuisine, when it comes here, there’s a process of adaption to the American palette.”
