Fall in love with New Haven pizza - again

Liv7/11/02 Photo by Mara Lavitt-PepeSign ML0018A #1270 The outside of Pepe's on a typical early evening. Liv7/11/02 Photo by Mara Lavitt-PepeSign ML0018A #1270 The outside of Pepe's on a typical early evening. Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Fall in love with New Haven pizza - again 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — Isn’t saying ‘pizza, a love story’ redundant in New Haven?

Or is it instead a way of singing to the world what we already know?

You can find out on Feb. 14 — yes really Valentine’s Day — when “Pizza, A Love Story” by filmmaker Gorman Bechard receives a “theatrical opening” when it begins screening at the Bow Tie Criterion Cinema on Temple Street. (if you go, don’t embarrass yourself: it’s apizza - pronounced ah-BEETS)

The film, 11 years-in-the-making is an homage to Pepe’s, Sally’s, and Modern, according to Bechard.

Related: New Haven pizza rises from humble beginnings to superstardom

Or, as Register reporter and columnist Randall Beach wrote: This is a love story about three guys and their limitless affection for three pizza places in New Haven. You can guess the names of those places: Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana, Sally’s Apizza and Modern Apizza.

The film has previously played at festivals and locally at the Whitneyville Cultural Commons in Hamden.

As Bechard notes in a release, “The film sets out to prove its tag line: Pizza wasn’t invented in New Haven. It was perfected there.”

This means “by combining history, comedy, and some of the most mouth-watering footage you will ever see, into a film that also features cameos from actor Henry Winkler, musicians Lyle Lovett and Michael Bolton, Senator Chris Murphy, legendary concert promoter Jim Koplik, and dozens more. The film also includes the last known interview with Flora Consiglio of Sally’s, filmed shortly before her passing in 2012.”

Work on the film began in 2008, when Bechard and longtime friend Dean Falcone, “both self-acknowledged pizza snobs, decided it was time to turn the camera on the only pizza that matters,” the release said.

“I learned long ago the best films are driven by passion,” Bechard said in the release, “and if there’s one thing I truly believe it’s that New Haven has the best pizza on this planet.

Further local historian Colin M. Caplan, came on as a co-producer mid-way into the project, and has since written the acclaimed book “Pizza in New Haven.”

“Colin was able to find a lot of the historical images that seemed to be out of our reach,” Falcone said in the release. “He has a great knowledge of the early history of pizza.”

The opening night at the Criterion will also include a reception with the filmmakers from 6 7 p.m. in the lobby. Bechard, Falcone, and Caplan will all be present for a Q&A following both the 7 and 9 p.m. screenings on opening night, the release noted.

For more information visit: www.PizzaALoveStory.com