An interview with Film Director Bess Kargman By Noma Faingold (July 18, 2024) Director Bess Kargman knew going in that prolific songwriter Diane Warren, the subject of her latest documentary, doesn’t fully trust anybody. “It’s not in her nature,” Kargman said. “The biggest challenge was earning her trust. I had to navigate when to push […]
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 […]
(August 7, 2023) Join industry insiders Bill Kinder and Bobbie O’Steen as they guide readers on a journey through every stage of production on an animated film, from storyboards to virtual cameras and final animation in their recently published Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation. We offer an excerpt from the […]
By Linda Ronstadt and Lawrence Downes, with photographs by Bill Steen (July 14, 2023) Growing up the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants and a descendant of Spanish settlers near northern Sonora, Ronstadt’s intimate new memoir celebrates the marvelous flavors and indomitable people on both sides of what was once a porous border whose denizens were happy […]
“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. […]
By Marilyn Freund (October 28, 2022) Cat Daddies is a deceptive film, and therein lies its emotional punch. On the surface, director Mye Hoang’s documentary debut presents episodes from the lives of nine men whose lives have been changed by their relationships with cats. But underneath, it takes a look at what behavior our culture […]
By Mihaela Mihailova On paper, Pixar’s Turning Red, a film about a thirteen-year-old Chinese Canadian girl whose entry into puberty causes her to transform into a large red panda every time she feels a strong emotion, is not for (or about) me. I am not of Chinese descent. I did not grow up in Toronto […]
By C.J. Hirschfield March 14, 2022 Cinema junkies forgive iconic documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman for the length of some of his works that venture deep into American institutions; his most recent City Hall covering the government of Boston clocked in at four and a half hours. We absolve him because he is so good at […]
FELLINI 100 is a feast of Fellini Films playing at the Berkeley Art Museum/ Pacific Film Archive through May 14, 2022. We present recipes from Bay Area chefs that honor Federico Fellini along with music and Fellini’s own thoughts on food. The restaurants are C’era Una Volta and Poesia.
by Gary Meyer “Why don’t you make films in color?” Federico Fellini was asked shortly after his 1963 black and white hit 8 ½. He explained that it was not his right to determine for the audience the exact color of, say, a blade of grass or the blue in the sky. I was a […]
Assembled by Gary Meyer Food and beverages play an important part in our love lives. Enjoy a sampling of Valentine images around food and drink, vintage and current. We even link to a few recipes.
