Devour! The Food Film Fest kicks off in Wolfville

Fans of food and film are heading to the Valley as Devour! The Food Film Fest takes over Wolfville.

The festival, featuring culinary workshops and films focused on food, runs until Sunday.

This is the seventh year for Devour! and executive director Michael Howell said they've grown to have 99 events, 72 films and 3 celebrity chef dinners.

Howell told NEWS 95.7, it's amazing to have an international festival of this calibre in Nova Scotia.

“We have the resources to put these things on,” he said. “We have the teams, we have the chefs, we have the filmmakers and the film community to support and grow a film festival of this magnitude in this part of Canada.”

Canadian film icon Gordon Pinsent will be the guest curator for Wednesdays' Opening Night Gala, and Howell said he's been trying to get him for years.

“This year of Canada 150, we thought it was apropos to have a major Canadian talent to open the festival,” he said. “He picks the opening night film, which typically is the only retro title we'll show.”

Pinsent chose 'The Hundred-Foot Journey' starring Helen Mirren.

Some other films will have an educational focus, including 'Atlantic', a documentary exploring the impact of factory fishing fleets and deep water oil exploration on coastal fishing communities, and Aube Giroux's 'Modified', which takes a look at GMOs and their effect on society, culture and health.

Culinary legend Jacques Pepin will also make an appearance at an event Thursday.

“He and Julia Child are kind of synonymous with the early days of television and cooking in the United States,” said Howell. 

“The chefs that are going to be cooking the dinner that night are awestruck that they actually get to cook for Jacques Pepin,” he said. “Three Nova Scotia chefs and three chefs from Scotland are actually going to be interpreting the dishes of Jacques Pepin through their own lens.”

Tickets for Devour! The Food Film Fest can be purchased online.