Why did Greek-Cypriot director make a film about porridge?

When Constantine Costi first heard about the World Porridge Making Championships, he was working in Berlin and took a spontaneous trip to Scotland to explore Carrbridge, a small Highland village known for its annual porridge competition which ultimately became the subject of The Golden Spurtle, a documentary that has since been screened and film festivals and cinemas around the world following its release last year.

Costi, a Sydney-based Greek Cypriot Australian writer, whose background is primarily in opera and theatre, says his move into documentary film grew from an interest in people, place and community.

The film focuses on a small village that is brought together by tradition. For Costi, that focus on community felt immediately familiar. “In many ways, aspects of village life are universal. Whether it’s in Carrbridge or stories from my Papou’s village, Vatili, a simpler way of life carries nostalgia, whimsy and a bittersweet sense of times gone by,” he says.

Costi first heard about the World Porridge Making Championships from a friend who had competed in the event in 2022. As he was living in Berlin, his intrigue led him to travel to Scotland to see the competition and the village for himself.

“What I discovered was not only the quirky and joyful world of competitive porridge making, but a cast of characters, each with their own stories and charming personalities,” he says. “It felt immediately perfect for the screen”.

The competition takes place in a village surrounded by forests, rivers and mountains, a setting Costi says was integral to the film, “a gift” for the production, particularly cinematographer Dimitri Zaunders.

Although the competition delivered humour and visual appeal, Costi says his interest quickly moved beyond the even itself. “While on the surface a documentary about the competition promised great fun,” he says, “I also felt there was another story to tell about legacy, community connection, and finding meaning in the simplest of things”.

These themes would go on to shape The Golden Spurtle, which focuses not only on the competition itself but on the people involved, and the sense of tradition and community surrounding it.

Even though The Golden Spurtle is sets thousands of kilometers from Cyprus, Costi says he carries his background “both subconsciously and consciously in my work”.

He describes growing up in a family where storytelling was central to everyday life. “I come from a family of charismatic, witty raconteurs with a particularly Mediterranean flair for storytelling,” he says, “At the dinner table the only way to grab attention as a child was to speak confidently and have a great anecdote from your day.”

He believes that this upbringing paved his path to writing and directing as a profession. At the same time, being part of a diaspora community has shaped the way he sees the world. Living at a distance from Cyprus has placed him a position of both, as Costi explains, “an insider and an outsider that makes you simultaneously an observer and participant in so many aspects of life”.

Despite living and working mainly in Sydney, Costi says he maintains a strong bond with Cyprus and visits as often as he can. His relationship with the island is also shaped by loss, as with many other Cypriot families his family history includes displacement following the events of 1974. “My thoughts on Cyprus are, of course, also tinged with deep sadness, with so much of my family losing their homes and having to start new lives far away”. Alongside that sadness, he says he has a deep admiration for the resilience and strength of the Cypriot people, something that remains a huge inspiration to him.

While spending time in Carrbridge, Costi noticed similarities of village life he experienced in Cyprus. Although the setting was different many of the dynamics felt familiar.

Costi points out that the closeness of small communities, their distinctive personalities and shared ritual all stood out. “Their eccentric personalities, gossip, and sense of togetherness feel strikingly similar in both places.”

He adds that while some rituals easily translate across culture, others remain tightly rooted in place. “I can’t quite imagine a trahana competition taking off in the same way as porridge!”

Alongside his work in film, Costi also has also built a career in opera and theatre, a background that has helped influence his documentary work. “My opera background has undoubtedly influenced my documentary work. I’m always compelled to find the theatrical, the magical, and even the operatic in everyday life,” he says. This year he will be directing a new repertoire production of Puccini’s La Bohème for Opera Australia, an opportunity he describes as unimaginable a few years ago.

That operatic training, Costi says, shaped his approached to The Golden Spurtle. “I wanted to elevate it into the poetic,” he says, “that’s something that opera does magnificently”. Despite working across different forms, Costi says he is attracted by similar ideas for all his projects. “I’m drawn to stories that celebrate imagination,” he says, “whether on the opera stage or in documentary film.”

Looking ahead, Costi’s next film project, cowritten by his brother Michael, is set among the European diaspora communities in Sydney, a continuation he says of his interest in stories shaped by migration, memory and cultural inheritance. Beyond cinema he says that his “absolute dream is to one day direct an opera in one of Cyprus’ ancient amphitheaters!”