By Noma Faingold (April 6, 2025) They baked. They came and placed their cakes on white tablecloths. They devoured. The official count was 1,387 cakes (and at least that many participants) at the CAKE PICNIC™ on the morning of March 29, on the front lawn of the Legion of Honor Museum.
“You have to edit the material. That assumes that some kind of a mind is operating in relation to the material. Not all minds are the same. Every aspect of filmmaking requires choice. The selection of the subject, the shooting, editing and length are all aspects of choice.” ~ Frederick Wiseman By Cari Borja […]
By Gary Meyer (updated from the archives November 15, 2024) Are you ready for candy that offers the flavors of the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner spread: Roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, green beans, ginger glazed carrots, and, for dessert, sweet potato pie?
By Julie Lindow It is rare that watching a film can provoke a similar response as reading an author’s work, but The Art of Eating: The Life of M.F.K. Fisher does just that. One feels both starved and satisfied. Fortunately, Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher’s words on screen and paper not only awaken our hunger, but […]
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 […]
