COLDWATER KITCHEN

ART OF IMPACT | WEST COAST PREMIERE

Directors BRIAN KAUFMAN, MARK KURLYANDCHIK (US 2022) 90 min
Beloved chef Jimmy Lee Hill heads up a gourmet culinary training program at Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan. Nearing retirement after 30 years, his goal is unchanged: offering tender but tough tutelage that gives inmates a set of skills they can use outside prison to help them stay outside. Three of those men are tested: “Dink” Dawson immediately finds work in a kitchen, with all its challenges; after his release, Ernest Davis feels like he’s still tethered to the system; and Bradley Leonard, a recovering addict and experienced line cook, copes with personal demons from within prison walls. Skirting talking-head interviews in favor of a fly-on-the-wall narrative, directors Brian Kaufman and Mark Kurlyandchik use intimate camera work and compelling voiceovers to present endearing portraits of four men at the decision points that will determine the courses of their lives.

IN PERSON: Co-Director BRIAN KAUFMAN

SATURDAY, MAY 13 • 11:30 AM

COMMUNITY PARTNER
MT. TAMALPAIS COLLEGE

DIRECTORS

MARK KURLYANDCHIK honed his filmmaking skills at the UC-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism under the tutelage of legendary doc filmmakers Jon Else and Orlando Bagwell. His previous film, Dinner In Abruzzo, a short doc about two chefs’ journey to Italy, screened at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival and the Napa Valley Film Festival.

BRIAN KAUFMAN is the executive video producer for the Detroit Free Press, where he has worked for over a decade to bridge the gap between video journalism and documentary film. His work has been awarded three national Emmy awards and was recently part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning package on President Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico. 

FILM INFO

COUNTRY:US
YEAR:2022
RUNNING TIME:90 min
LANGUAGE:English
DIRECTORS:Brian Kaufman, Mark Kurlyandchik
PRODUCERS:
Steve Byrne, Kathy Kieliszewski, Nicole Avery Nichols
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:
Brian Kaufman, Mark Kurlyandchik
EDITOR:
Brian Kaufman
PRINT SOURCE:
NOTE WRITER:
David Riedel

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