“CAKE PICNIC™ was born out of a simple desire to eat a lot of cake. And be surrounded by friends,” writes founder Elisa Sunga. “It is a gathering for the love of cake. It celebrates cake in all of its forms — chiffon cakes, upside down cakes, Princess cakes, Russian honey cakes, meringue cakes, jello cakes, trifles, multi-tiered cakes, sponge cakes, butter cakes, and more. Continue reading
By Meredith Brody
(March 26,2025)
What are my strategies for choosing what to see at a beloved SF film festival when much of what is offered are unknown titles? Sometimes all it takes for me to want to see a movie is a word or two.
While perusing the twelve film lineup of the upcoming Berlin and Beyond Film Festival, the 29th iteration presented by the Goethe-Institut, this happens several times. Continue reading
Director Peter Miller talks with Geneva Anderson
(March 20, 2025- foods mentioned with an * behind them open to recipes)
Marcella Hazan is the secret ingredient that made Italian cuisine irresistible to Americans. Through her cookbooks and teaching, she taught home cooks to focus on fresh ingredients and master simple techniques to unlock flavor, which is what truly matters in food. Emmy and Peabody Award winning director Peter Miller’s thoroughly engaging new documentary, “Marcella,” which just won a Taste award for best feature, masterfully pieces together Hazan’s life (1924-2013) and legacy.
A Marcella Hazan tribute dinner, 17 food-related films, and Michelin Chef Yoshinori Ishii’s masterclass on Japanese cuisine highlight a wine country festival starting Wednesday with 90+ events.
By Geneva Anderson
(March 16, 2025)
The Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF), March 19-23, offers an extravaganza of groundbreaking cinema, food, and fun spread over five days in glorious Sonoma, the heart of the wine country. All films are screened at venues in or within walking distance of the historic town square making SIFF one of the country’s most laid back and enjoyable festivals. The full line-up includes over 90 films.
An excerpt from Walter Murch’s upcoming book on “The Languages of Film Editing and Sound Design”
Award winning editor Walter Murch will be in conversation after a screening of “Her Name Was Moviola” on Friday, March 21 at the Smith Rafael Film Center @ 7pm. He will discuss the kind of editing equipment used for decades with celluloid and how his work has changed in the digital age. Moviolas and other equipment will be on display. For full information and to buy tickets go here.
Steve Sando founder and chef at Rancho Gordo has developed a special Marcella Bean and offers two recipes from The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen by Steve Sando with Julia Newberry. Continue reading
UNDERDOGS is a special film that follows minimum-security prisoners as they care for and train homeless dogs with behavioral issues that have made the dogs —- until now —- unadoptable. Positive Reinforcement helped both dogs and inmates find their way back home.
A Director’s Event with live music from the soundtrack and a film screening followed by a Director’s Q&A will take place on Thursday March 20, 2025 at the Sunrise Center, 645 Tamalpias Drive, Corte Madera from 6:30-8:30 pm. Tickets and more information here. Continue reading
By Farwa Ali (January 30, 2025)
Graceful veined hands turn the seashell over a few times in reverent contemplation. A few moments later artist Ann Arnold tosses the seashell back into the rippling cerulean waves lapping against the shore of San Francisco’s Baker Beach. It has completed its journey, traveling from the ocean into Arnold’s life; where she has acknowledged its value, captured its luminous existence in her painting, and respectfully returned it to the ocean from whence it emerged. Wrestling The Angel – an Artist’s Passage, does more than capture Arnold’s artistic journey.
We were thinking of the wonderful supporters of our film The Art of Eating- The Life of M.F.K. Fisher on Valentine’s Day and wanted to express our love and add a little romance, Mary Frances style, to your day.
by Meredith Brody (February 4, 2025)
We cinephiles contain multitudes. Luckily, the SF Bay Area continues to cater to its diverse audiences with a number of well-curated film festivals. One of my favorites has always been the annual Mostly British Film Festival, which colonizes (haha) the Vogue Theater for 8 days in February. Mostly British includes films from the UK, Ireland, Australia, India, South Africa, and New Zealand. Catnip for not only the Acorn and Britbox addicts, but for Anglophiles and others. Continue reading
San Francisco’s A Day of Silents Features a Stellar Lineup of Musicians and Films on Sunday, February 2, 2025.
by Meredith Brody. (January 28,2025)
The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Photo by Pamela Gentile.
You’ve all heard that silent movies really weren’t SILENT: they all had live musical accompaniment, ranging from a solitary guy at an upright piano or a mighty Wurlitzer to up-to-110-member symphonic orchestras. When Carmine Coppola was about to go on tour in 1981 to conduct his new score for his son Francis Ford Coppola’s restoration of Abel Gance’s 1927 Napoleon, he reminisced about the silent movie palaces of his youth: “”When I was really young,” Mr. Coppola recalled, ”I would go to Broadway to see a movie. I remember The Thief of Bagdad, with Douglas Fairbanks; he always insisted on an original score. Those theaters – the Strand, the Rialto, the Rivoli, the Capitol – had 40-or 50-piece orchestras. It was so beautiful. I saw the Big Parade that way and What Price Glory and The Three Musketeers. ”
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