The 2025 Vancouver International Film Festival is just around the corner. The 44th edition will be dominating the city’s silver screens from Thursday, October 2nd through Sunday, October 12th; and although, as usual, there are heaps of films vying for our attention, one documentary in particular is appealing to our filmic and gastronomic appetites: The Golden Spurtle.

The new documentary from Constantine Costi stars the humble oat and some of its biggest devotees who compete in the annual World Porridge Making Championships in Carrbridge (a village located in the Scottish Highlands) in the hope of securing the coveted, titular Golden Spurtle award. From VIFF:

“Dating back to neolithic times, few culinary traditions have survived as long as the hearty bowl of morning porridge. Despite its simple recipe of oats, salt and water, there is a lot that can vary…Against the backdrop of the breathtaking Scottish Highlands and infused with whimsical humour of an eclectic cast, Constantine Costi’s warm-hearted documentary captures the humanity of village life and those who visit with spurtle in hand. The Golden Spurtle is an ode to finding the greatest meaning in the smallest things.”

True, here in Vancouver, porridge isn’t typically the sort of thing that gets food-loving people revved up (as far as we know) the same way they do about tomatoes or Spot Prawns, for instance. But regardless of where you fit on the breakfast spectrum – whether you’re a stick-to-your-ribs-steelcut-oats, eggs-and-bacon, bagel-with-cream-cheese, green smoothie, cuppa-coffee, or skip-it-altogether kind of person – we have a feeling that after watching the porridge zealotry featured in The Golden Spurtle you’ll never be able to consider a bowl of oatmeal the same way again. And, no matter the subject matter, that’s just the sort of shift in perception that makes a documentary ‘good’ and worth watching.

Screenings of The Golden Spurtle are slated for Sunday, October 5th (bright and early at 10:30am) at VIFF Centre; Thursday, October 9th (6:15pm) at International Village; and Sunday, October 12th (5:30pm) at SFU Woodwards. For more details and to purchase tickets head over here. Watch the trailer below: