Followed by Q&A with Director Tassos Boulmetis – This Friday at 5.30 pm at the Stony Brook Wang Center Theater
By Nick Stamatakis
The Center for Hellenic Studies at Stony Brook University will host a special screening of the acclaimed film A Touch of Spice, followed by an exclusive discussion and Q&A with the film’s director, Tassos Boulmetis.
The event will take place on Friday, October 9, 2026, at the Wang Center Theater at Stony Brook University. A reception will begin at 5:30 PM, followed by the film screening and Q&A at 6:00 PM.
Blending cinema, history, memory, and the evocative language of food, A Touch of Spice tells the story of Fanis, a young Greek man raised in Istanbul whose family is displaced and forced to relocate to Athens. Through the recurring imagery of spices, cooking, and family traditions, the film explores questions of identity, belonging, displacement, cultural heritage, and the lasting power of memory.
Food becomes more than a backdrop to the story. It serves as a language through which family relationships, cultural traditions, personal histories, and experiences of migration are expressed. In this way, A Touch of Spice offers audiences an intimate perspective on larger historical and cultural questions while illustrating how memory can be preserved through the rituals of everyday life.
A highlight of the evening will be the opportunity to hear directly from Tassos Boulmetis, who will join the audience for a post-screening conversation and Q&A. His participation offers students, faculty, members of the Greek and Greek American community, and the wider public a rare opportunity to explore the creative process behind the film and engage with its historical and cultural themes.
The screening forms an important part of the Center for Hellenic Studies’ fall cultural and academic programming, bringing together film, scholarship, and community conversation.
Related Academic Program
The film screening will be complemented by a special academic lecture by Tassos Boulmetis on Thursday, October 8, 2026. The lecture will provide an opportunity for a deeper examination of his cinematic approach and the historical context surrounding the themes explored in A Touch of Spice.
Together, the lecture and film screening create a two-day program examining cinema as a means of preserving cultural memory and interpreting experiences of migration, identity, and belonging.
Event Information
Film: A Touch of Spice
Director: Tassos Boulmetis
Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
Reception: 5:30 PM
Screening & Q&A: 6:00 PM
Location: Wang Center Theater, Stony Brook University
Presented by: Center for Hellenic Studies, Stony Brook University
This special event invites audiences to experience a film in which history is remembered not only through words and images, but through taste, aroma, family tradition, and the enduring emotional connections between people and place.
