Partners in Food and Film: An Interview

Posted on by

An Interview with SIFF27 Culinary Excellence Award winner, Chef Susan Feniger and filmmaker Liz Lachman.

By Geneva Anderson

(March 20, 2024)

When Los Angeles filmmaker and Emmy award winner Liz Lachman (“Pin-Up,” “Getting to Know You”) set out to make her first feature-length film about partner, Chef Susan Feniger, opening her first solo restaurant in Los Angeles in 2009, she already had lots of footage.  The idea of capturing Susan’s journey in realizing “Street,” a dining concept that would bring a variety of global street foods together under one roof and doing this without her longtime business partner and co-chef Mary Sue Milliken, had been simmering for 13 years. Continue reading →

Champagne Biopic “Widow Clicquot” opens Sonoma International Film Festival’s Tasty Program

Posted on by

By Geneva Anderson

(March 16, 2024)

Haley Bennett rises to become the Grand Dame of Champagne  in Thomas Napper’s “Widow Clicquot”

The Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF27) is just around the corner, March 20-24.  Set in the heart of the wine country, with a program that emphasizes film, food, wine, parties, and community engagement, SIFF has twice been voted one of the 25 coolest festivals in the world by MovieMaker magazine.  SIFF27 showcases 43 narrative and 16 documentary features plus 48 shorts from over 25 countries. Continue reading →

The Pleasures of an Omakase Movie

Posted on by

By Gaetano Kazuo Maida

“It’s never finished. It’s always in movement.”—Michel Troisgros

Okay, so let’s say you’re like me and you don’t customarily (like, never!) spend $1000 for lunch for two, and it happens that you don’t live in France, and yet you have good taste in food, you know what it is to enjoy a fine wine occasionally, you’re curious about the synergies between sustainable agriculture and restaurants, and at the moment are feeling a bit peckish. Well, the universe is generous, and Menu Plaisirs Les Troisgros offers a reasonable facsimile of enjoying one of the world’s top haute cuisine institutions from the comfort of your own seat or couch for four hours, about the duration of a really nice long lunch, albeit without the tasting bit. Continue reading →

Six California Kitchens-Recipes for Sally Schmidt’s Portuguese Duck & Sausage plus Apricot & Cherry Clafoutis

Posted on by

“Six California Kitchens is the quintessential California cookbook, with farm-to-table recipes and stories from Sally Schmitt, the pioneering female chef and original founder of the French Laundry.

Sally Schmitt opened The French Laundry in Yountville in 1978 and designed her menus around local, seasonal ingredients—a novel concept at the time.

                Continue reading →

Shining the Light on Celebrity Chefs and Legendary Wine Country Women at the Sonoma International Film Festival  

Posted on by

By Geneva Anderson

(March 21, 2023)

Long known for its culinary and wine films and now, its celebrity chef events, the 26th Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF), March 22-26, finds magic in its combo of film, food, wine, parties and its gorgeous wine country setting.  This year’s edition offers 110 films from 32 countries, one world premiere and eight U.S. premieres.  SIFF has always excelled at bringing audiences great stories, especially dramas that find their resolution in working together in a food, wine, or vineyard setting. Its two celebrity chef dining experiences are luxurious splurges that enliven the whole festival experience: the annual Chefs & Shorts dinner and Joanne Weir’s luncheon.

Continue reading →

THE ART OF EATING: THE LIFE OF M.F.K. FISHER Satisfies the Appetite

Posted on by

By C.J. Hirschfield

Author Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was smart enough to realize early on that using just her initials when writing in an era of accepted female domesticity would grant her greater opportunity to publish passionately about gastronomy—and life. Her first book of essays was released in 1937, followed by over 30 other books, and hundreds of published articles and essays, until her death in 1992. Her “The Art of Eating” has been in continuous publication for nearly 70 years.

The delicious new documentary, The Art of Eating: The Life of M.F.K. Fisher provides a comprehensive—and very entertaining—look at this strong and opinionated woman, her philosophy, and her legacy.

Continue reading →

THE AUTOMAT–Recipes, In The Movies & More

Posted on by

Assembled by Gary Meyer

(Updated November 21, 2022)

The theatrical release of a new documentary by Lisa Hurwitz, The Automat, has taken me back in time with its wonderful clips from classic movies and discussions of food favorites of our youth from Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Chicken Pot Pie to Custard Cups and Pumpkin Pie. It is essential viewing for those interested in the history of restaurants in the 20th Century, the combining of technology and home-cooked meals and a trip down memory lane even if you were born too late to actually visit one. But we also cover contemporary attempts at automated food. We have included many photos, film clips, recipes, music, and related links to supplement your enjoyment of The Automat now playing in theaters and at film festivals—only on the big screen. 

Continue reading →

How the Bay Area Got Hooked on Fish Tacos

Posted on by

By Nancy Friedman

September 20, 2022

Fish have been swimming onto San Francisco Bay Area menus ever since there were people around to catch and cook them. And Mexican cuisine has been represented in the region ever since Alta California was part of Mexico. But until 1992, although dozens of Bay Area restaurants served a steady tide of petrale sole, halibut, salmon, and sand dabs—not to mention McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish, invented in 1962—and although there were plenty of places to enjoy burritos, enchiladas, and quesadillas, one Mexican fish dish was still just a wish: the fish taco. Continue reading →

Living Wine- Land to Bottle 

Posted on by

By Risa Nye

July 15, 2022

The first thing to know about Living Wine is that it was filmed in 2020. The reason the year is worth noting—as one would note a particular vintage on a wine label— is that this was the year of the Lightning Complex fires: one of the costliest disasters of the year, and the sixth most destructive wildfire in California’s history.

Before viewers know this, however, producer and director of this documentary, Lori Miller, introduces us to a number of nontraditional winemakers who produce natural wines in Northern California.  We accompany these winemakers through their beautifully tended vineyards: Gideon Beinstock and Saron Rice (Clos Saron), Darek Trowbridge (Old World Winery), Megan Bell (Margins Wine), James Jelks (Florèz Wines), and Dani Rozman (La Onda). Continue reading →

Deep Diving into Living Wine

Posted on by

By Fred Swan

July 15, 2022

Many wines are simple. The world of wine is not. A seemingly endless list of factors creates the individual character of any wine. From microbes to mesoclimate, from variety to vintage.

If you scratch the surface of most any wine topic, you’ll find greater depth, and more connections with other topics, than you’d imagine. Living Wine, a new film being released Friday, July 15, does more than just scratch the surface of “natural wine.” Nearly every one of its 85 minutes raises an idea or question that would be fascinating to explore in depth.

Continue reading →