Feasting on Light: 2001 Fall Film Festival Continues with "Tampopo"

Tampopo, the second installation of the Texas A&M International University Fall Film Festival: "Feasting on Light," will be shown on Wednesday, September 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Bullock Hall 101. The showing is free and open to the public.

Tampopo (1986) continues the theme of the festival and simmers with the joy of food and life. Served with humor, the meat of the story portrays the quest for the perfect bowl of noodles by a widowed restaurant owner and a wandering truck driver. The other vignettes slowly bubble together in a clever, appetizing stew, each adding additional spice to the idea of food as life and life as food.

Hal Hinson, film critic for The Washington Post called the film a "feast of delights," and Tampopo was nominated for the 1988 Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film.

The film is not rated, but contains adult themes. It is shown in Japanese, with English subtitles.

After the show, there will be 15 to 30 minutes of commentary and questions and answers, led by Dr. Sean M. Chadwell and Dr. William J. Nichols II, both assistant professors in the College of Arts and Humanities, and series creators.

The next film in the series will be shown on September 26 and is entitled Jamón, Jamón. This sensual, Spanish dark comedy examines family, love, food and an underwear factory.

For more information, contact either Drs. Chadwell or Nichols by phone, 326.2471, 326.2610, visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 418C, room 421B or visit the festival's website: http://www.tamiu.edu/~wnichols/food.htm.

Office hours for the University are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu