Denver Film Festival 2017 Must-See Pick for November 8: Ramen Heads

Again this year, Denver Film Festival artistic director Brit Withey is offering his must-see picks for each day of the fest — including many flicks that movie lovers might otherwise miss amid the flood of silver-screen goodies. Today he spotlights a selection for November 8: Ramen Heads.

Ramen Heads
Directed by Koki Shigeno
6:45 p.m. Wednesday, November 8, and 9:15 p.m. Thursday, November 9
Sie FilmCenter
For Denver Film Festival artistic director Brit Withey, the November 8 screening of Ramen Heads is an opportunity to learn from a miscalculation he made last year.

In 2016, Withey says, "we started a culinary cinema program — showing films about food with a post-film reception where you can actually try the food, with limited tickets and a higher ticket price. And at the festival, we had this film called Bugs. It's a fascinating film, and I got a restaurant to serve cricket tacos afterward. But there were few takers — and I realized afterward that's because we were asking people to pay $40 or $50 to eat crickets. I loved the cricket tacos, but I think they scared some people off."

The topic of Ramen Heads should be much more appealing. Here's the trailer:


Withey describes Ramen Heads as "a really good film about all the best ramen chefs in Japan. It's a very straightforward food documentary that looks at all the different styles of ramen, what's the best kind, who's the best chef. It's the sort of film that leaves you really wanting to eat that food when it's over."

Fifty lucky attendees will get the chance. After the screening, Withey notes, "we'll be going over to The Goods," a restaurant in the same complex as the Sie FilmCenter. There, "the crew from Bones, one of Frank Bonanno's restaurants, is going to take over the kitchen and make a ramen dinner. And we're also going to have sake from a Colorado craft sake company, Gaijin 24886, and the Chocolate Lab is going to be serving dessert to everybody."

This menu probably won't bug anyone.

Click to access all of the film festival's selections and to purchase tickets.