Things My Parents Taught Me: Ode to the Empanada
A Documentary Film by Marilo Nunez & Peter Riddihough.

A film with a recipe, Things My Parents Taught Me: Ode to the Empanada is a light-hearted and personal explanation as to how to make the Chilean empanada. Carried by the extraordinary music of Chilean-Canadian musician Marcelo Puente, the film follows actor and writer Marilo Nuñez as she prepares her family's version of the recipe. She explains how she learned to make empanadas and why the tradition is important to her.

Along the way filmmaker Peter Riddihough takes us to the various bakeries and restaurants in Toronto in which empanadas are made and sold, and eventually to the family home where the personal tradition originated.

Things My Parents Taught Me: Ode to the Empanada is, however, much more than simply a recipe. It is an exploration of the relationship between food, culture & family and an examination of the immigrant experience.

Format: Video
Length: 18 minutes
Production: 4 Devils Productions / Hoffworks Productions

Director, Photographer, Editor: Peter Riddihough
Producer: Marilo Nunez
Music: Marcelo Puente

Official Selection:
2003 5th Alucine Latin Film and Video Festival
2003 Chilean International Short Film Festival
2003 Salvador Allende Arts Festival for Peace