Written by Melanie Carden
A global pandemic, streaming a film festival, and geo-blocking—oh my! Michael Howell, and Lia Rinaldo, of Devour! Fest were gracious enough to pull the curtain back and share with me the wizardry behind their extraordinary success—even through the pandemic. Wolfville, Nova Scotia is home to Devour! The Food Film Fest which serves up an annual smorgasbord of culinary-centric film, chef dinners, and experiential programming.
What began in 2009 as a volunteer event offered by Slow Food Nova Scotia to increase regional awareness of the issues surrounding food production, food security, society, health, community and the environment, Devour! has grown into a leader in mid-size destination-based film festivals. On the enduring success, Rinaldo suggests, “It’s the perfect marriage—this collision of food and film and artistic expression—who doesn’t want a thoughtfully curated plate? A heart-ripping documentary?”
2020 was set to be a showstopper celebration as the festival welcomed its tenth event. With the pandemic ravaging the globe and life largely upside down, Michael (Founder & Executive Director), Lia (Managing Director) and their team had to quickly pivot. In a journey that took heart, brains, and courage—the festival weathered the storm. In October 2020, Devour! 9.5 offered 21 in-person film screenings, 44 streamed films, eight live and in-person workshops, and five in-person signature events.
The festival had grown exponentially over the years. You can imagine the excitement—on the heels of 2019—when the devoted culinary cinema hosts had their biggest year to date: over 15,000 attendees and 100 events. The momentum—fueled by their vision and large network of both film producers and food advocates—was seemingly unstoppable. Howell speaks fondly of these early days when the first celebrity dinner was served in an old barn next to a pot belly stove. Jason Priestley, he remarks, has been a big help, even in the good ol’ barn days. The 90210 and Private Eyes star, is a Devour! Advisory board member as well as recurring guest presenter at the festival. This year, he teamed with celebrity chef Bob Blumer, who was releasing his new cookbook Flavorbomb. The pair hosted a socially-distanced live taping of a cooking demonstration—making Puttanesca Pasta La Bomba and chocolate, peanut butter, caramel and banana wontons.
Jason Priestley with Team Devour
The culinary festival is peppered with big names such as Jacques Pépin and Phil Rosenthal, creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, and the star of the Netflix docu-series Somebody Feed Phil. But one such star changed the trajectory of the festival—Anthony Bourdain. With Bourdain’s show, Parts Unknown, shuttling him across the globe, it took two years to finalize his participation in Devour! But in 2014, the celebrity chef—so smitten with the festival’s mission—hosted in grand style before jetting off to film another episode. Devour! had been building steam since its inception in 2009. Bourdain’s enthusiasm and star power was like hitting the warp-speed button on an insta-pot. A semi-annual festival at this point, the festival doubled in size in 2011. In 2013, Michael Howell and Lia Rinaldo teamed-up, launching Devour! into the annual festival realm.
Howell and Rinaldo are a perfect pairing for culinary cinema success. Howell has been a leading chef across the United States, Canada and The Bahamas, and has twice cooked at New York’s prestigious James Beard House as featured chef. Deeply committed to Slow Food (he is the former Co-Chair of Slow Food Canada) and global food literacy, Michael was named a winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2011 for his contributions to improving the food system for all. Rinaldo has 30 years of experience in the film industry and the Atlantic Film Festival. Her interest in the culinary industry and enviable communication skills led her to a second career as a freelance food and travel writer for Eat North, Halifax Curated Magazine, Occasions Magazine, North American Traveller among other publications.
Though moving the festival to an annual timeline was challenging, their location in Wolfville, Nova Scotia helped set the stage for an international audience that would be more than willing to visit time and time again. With over twenty-two local wineries, and the surreal beauty of the landscape, Howell describes the location as fortuitous:
“To be located in a burgeoning wine region means that the culinary traveler is potentially setting their sites on this region, to be a discoverer rather than a follower. Blessed with the sea never more than 30 minutes away and the seafood from there, you can enjoy Tuscany like vistas, go to the beach, have a sail, or visit a great metropolitan region (Halifax)—all within an hour’s drive.”
Bill Pullman and Bob Blumer at the 2015 Devour! Fest
But a global food mission, celebrity endorsements and a glass of well-balanced vino will only get you so far. You’ve got to have the festival chops to pull it all together and make a go of it. And that’s when a friend and mentor like Thomas Struck is crucial. Struck—the Culinary Cinema Curator at Berlinale (The Berlin International Film Festival) took Howell and Rinaldo under his wing. His advice, industry introductions, access, and inspiration is deeply valued by the Devour! leaders, and an important layer in their baklava of networking resources.
Networking—and relationships—have been at the heart of their mid-pandemic festival success. Engaging in evolving discussions with everyone from film producers, celebrity partners, government officials, and streaming-tech companies allowed Howell, Rinaldo, and the Devour! 9.5 team to pivot—and pivot…and pivot again. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the globe early in 2020, the team took pause. With five months to plan an effective, safe hybrid festival—it was all hands on deck. In addition to discussions with partners such as The Atlantic Presenter’s Association, HotDocs, and CineSend, Howell says the first action, though heart-wrenching—was to, “toss what could not be done.” They needed to focus on realistic goals. This included canceling traditionally anchoring events such as celebrity chef gala dinners, opening night taste of Nova Scotia gala party, all large-scale receptions and live music, Devour! Golden Tine Awards, the jury & awards brunch—and more.
Rinaldo adds, “We’re in an exceptional period of history right now, and with people consuming everything on screen and on their plates, it was only a matter of time […] before they started to become hyper-aware of where their food was coming from.These are the kinds of things we screen, teach and talk about at Devour!, so the pandemic just slipped us some relevance on a whole other scale, if you will.”
Howell explains they “went deep, not wide,” with the viable programming options. Devour! 9.5 rotated smaller 40-person audiences through its live screenings, deepened audience participation in virtual events, and used the local drive-in theater—where honking became the new clapping. Their Opening Night Gala film—Ratatouille—was held at the Valley Drive-In, followed by a streamed Q&A with Phil Rosenthal direct from Hollywood.
They were able to maintain their dedication to offering expanded cultural access and maintained many of their give-back programs in the form of timed and socially distanced events such as the Great Devour! Community Supper and the Mayors’ Bike Ride. The festival rebuilt itself on a sliding scale that was ever-ready for adjustments, as the pandemic precautions required. A comprehensive training manual— approved by the local government—was created by the festival to ensure all staff were operating with the same mission of safety-first. The results of their efforts are nothing short of historic. It was the first hybrid film festival of its kind.
Devour! Fest 9.5 by the Numbers:
- 3,450 attendees (virtual and socially-distanced live)
- 40 unique events over 5 days
- 44 new films screened from the global film festival circuit
- 189+ media hits resulting in a record-breaking 47.7 million earned media impressions
- The festival maintained 60 official sponsors and attracted seven new partners
- In spite of the fact that the budget was halved during the pandemic, effectively cutting $300K, Devour! will still post a surplus for the 2nd year in a row
Photo courtesy of Devour! Film Festival
In addition to logistical pivots and relying on the strength of their industry partnerships, the numbers—and success—of Devour! The Food Film Fest is also rooted in the negotiation of limited geo-blocking. As a niche international festival, Rinaldo states emphatically that although geo-blocking allows film distributors to protect the global film distribution system, it “would have killed them.” In a year where travel was largely prohibited, the festival leaders put significant effort into discussions and negotiations on limited geo-blocking. Narrower windows of viewing time empowered the festival to navigate this particularly foreboding obstacle. Howell explains:
“Because our festival is niche and few other festivals would be showing many of our films, we were able to negotiate little or no geo-blocking. We are a destination festival rather than relying on a large urban audience. [Many film partners agreed] so that viewers that would normally fly to our festival…could watch during the pandemic.
[Shortening the streaming window to a day or less] further encouraged distributors to allow no geo-blocking because the limited audience also had a limited window to view, so again, other festivals and streaming services might show the film the next day.”
Michael Howell and Lia Rinaldo are thrilled with what the festival team accomplished under such stressful circumstances. Howell lovingly refers to Devour! as a “collision of food and film,” but both he and Rinaldo are quick to spotlight its cultural importance. In all the myriad details of producing the hybrid food film festival, the team still prioritized honoring the indigenous Mi’kmaq lands and customs through the event, Beyond Terroir: A Collaboration with Benjamin Bridge & Glooscap First Nation. This featured Mi’kmaq culture, highlighting Mi’kmaq leadership, cultural representatives and allies in a walking tour at outdoor fire pit stations.
In the coming months, they prepare for another celebratory and educational showcase of food film and experience. Howell is looking forward to celebrating, “Indigenous cinema and cuisine from around the world. [It will be] a very dynamic, tasty and ultimately timely program this year, and hopefully welcome back more patrons in person as the experience of being here is what makes this festival more special than others.”
This year’s festival—October 19-24, 2021—is in the works. Visit their website for information on how to book your tickets to participate now!