Born Hungry-life can change course at any time.

 BORN HUNGRY

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Sash Simpson

Directed and Written by Barry Avrich
Executive Producers: Jay Hennick, Mark Selby, 
Cinematographer: Ken Ng 
Cast: Sash Simpson, Shipra Khanna, Thomas Zacharias, Sandra Simpson 
Year: 2024 
Run Time: 77 minutes 
Countries: Canada Language: English 

This film is a beautiful journey from a street kid in India to a celebrated Chef in Canada.  

How did he get there? 

Sash Simpson as he is known now was given his name when he moved to Canada to be adopted by caring Philanthrophists  Sandra and Lloyd Simpson.  Sandra a saint set up an orphanage that saved Sash's life at 5 years old.  From 5 years old he somehow survived on the streets of India until Sandra and an Indian woman found him sitting on a bench and they took him to their Canadian foundation orphanage where he would finally have a bed, clothing, and most importantly food.  This changed the trajectory of his life.  A determined boy, he constantly tugged on Sandra to bring him to Canada and, as a Christmas gift to her he was finally brought to live with her in Canada along with many other orphaned kids who came and went, estimated at about 31.  The family had 4 biological children as well who all accepted these other kids as normal for their family.

Because of this large family it became the children's task of cooking at least one night a week and Sash's specialty was his favourite spaghetti.  When you have to cook for that many people it becomes easy to work in a professional kitchen because you can handle the stress.

I have never met Sash but have been aware of him for a long time because he was on a TV show about catering events that his boss and mentor Mark McEwan (North 44 and Bymark) was the subject of.

I have met and eaten McEwan's food many times so Sash may have cooked some of it.

I have a couple other connections to this film.  I used to work at the director's former company for a year in a not-very-exciting role.  And one of the other producers was on my TIFF team for a couple of festivals.  So not only was this film sort of about food and a chef but there were so many other reasons to see it.

I loved this film because Sash returned to India to find out about his past and search for his family but what he found was the flavours, the culture, and the feelings he had when he was a boy trying to survive.  It was a full circle moment when he was serving food to the boys at the Orphanage where he lived.

He explored the markets,  all I can say about that is, goat brains.

In 2019 Sash finally opened his own Restaurant,  of course, it is called  Sash but of course, he also had to pivot during Covid so that's when they started working on this film and a trip to India.

His adopted father has passed away but his mother was able to see his restaurant open and he attributed it all to her.  Unfortunately, she has since passed on so his journey to find his biological family continues.

The film flows back and forth from India to Canada with family interviews and archival footage along with his search in India.  It's beautiful and heartwarming to see how far a determined and strong boy can go.

President of Hot Docs Marie Nelson, Director Barry Avrich, Producer Mark Selby, Cast: Sash Simpson

The last Hot Docs screening is:

Sunday, May 5, 2024 - 2:15 PM - TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema

To support the Orphanage Families For Children, visit FamiliesForChildren.ca