Susan Feniger. FORKED the verité style documentary by award-winning filmmaker Liz Lachman (Pin-Up, Getting to Know You) captures the raw, behind-the-scenes moments and the impactful career of her life partner: iconic culinarian, author, entrepreneur and James Beard award-winner, Susan Feniger. Featuring Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay, and longtime business partner Mary Sue Milliken, this independent film follows Feniger’s life’s work and meteoric rise to the top beginning with her joining the nearly all-male kitchen at Chicago’s Le Perroquet in her early days as a chef.
Susan Feniger: Forked Premieres at Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival
Feniger has cooked for everyone from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to Oprah and Lady Gaga, and together Feniger and Milliken, the infamous culinary duo, have appeared on The Today Show, Iron Chef, Top Chef Masters and over 400 episodes of Too Hot Tamales on Food Network. But what happens when Feniger takes a leap of faith to venture out on her own and build her first solo restaurant from the ground up? Between incredible trips exploring the vibrant street food flavors of Shanghai and Vietnam and the Los Angeles construction and recipe testing, Lachman has assembled years of personal footage and memorable moments of Susan’s passionate journey to open her global street food restaurant, STREET, in Los Angeles. Susan Feniger. FORKED is a story of reinvention and about not IF one fails… but HOW.
(Trailer here: www.forkedthefilm.com).
WORLD PREMIERE: Alongside Lachman, Feniger, who sits on the board for the Los Angeles LGBT Center, is thrilled to be screening the world premiere of Susan Feniger. FORKED at Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, on September 24th at 4:30 p.m. at Landmark Theatres at 2828 N Clark Street. Reeling is the second longest-running film festival of its kind and prides itself on showcasing the best LGBTQ+ films and videos each year. Tickets are $12 and available here: https://reelingfilmfest.org.
Prior to the official screening, there will also be an exclusive VIP party & discussion with Feniger and Lachman, including an afternoon of culinary delights, cocktails and fun taking place on Saturday, September 23rd from 4-6 p.m. The event is graciously hosted by Chicago’s own Breakfast Queen, Ina Pinkney and diversity consultant Mary Morten. Tickets are $100 and can be purchased here. https://susanfenigerforked.ticketleap.com
WEST COAST PREMIERE: The Los Angeles-based duo, Lachman and Feniger are pleased to be screening the West Coast premiere of Susan Feniger. FORKED at the prestigious Newport Beach Film Festival on October 17 at 8 p.m. at The Port Theater in Corona Del Mar. Prior to the screening, a ticketed reception at The Resort at Pelican Hill at 5:30 p.m. invites attendees to celebrate with Feniger, Lachman, cast and friends while enjoying Feniger’s signature bites and a brief moderated Q&A. A $150 allinclusive reception ticket includes entrance to the film; film-only passes are $20. Tickets and information are available at www.newportbeachfilmfest.com.
FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE: Susan Feniger. FORKED will also be screened across the U.S. at several premier film festivals with additional dates to be announced here: www.forkedthefilm.com.
○ Chicago, IL — Reeling Film Festival, September 24 **World Premiere**
○ Wichita, KS — The Tallgrass Film Festival, October 7
○ Newport Beach, CA — Newport Beach Film Fest, October 17 **West Coast Premiere**
○ Los Angeles, CA — LA Femme International Film Festival, October 19-22
○ Ojai, CA — Ojai Film Festival, November 2-6
○ San Diego, CA — Coronado Island Film Festival, November 8-12
QUOTES: “The joy of cooking takes center stage in this compelling and energetic documentary about the struggles and triumphs of celebrity chef and restaurateur Susan Feniger. With her roots in Chicago’s culinary culture, Feniger went on to change the gastronomic landscape of Los Angeles and beyond, authoring cookbooks and enjoying a successful career on the Food Network’s ‘Too Hot Tamales.’ We are thrilled to welcome back to Chicago this remarkable woman who has journeyed far and wide to spread the joy and love of food, and are honored to host the premiere of Susan Feniger. FORKED as part of Reeling: The 41st Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival.” – Dan Pal, Reeling: Documentary Programmer “The Newport Beach Film Festival has long been recognized for our outstanding showcase of culinary film,” says Gregg Schwenk, CEO & Executive Director of the Newport Beach Film Festival, “Liz Lachman’s Susan Feniger. FORKED focuses on one of our country’s most dynamic and notable chefs of our day. We are honored to have this film as this year’s culinary spotlight.”
MORE ABOUT SUSAN FENIGER: In addition to winning the Elizabeth Burns Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Restaurant Association in 2013, Feniger (alongside Milliken) was named the recipient of the fourth annual Julia Child Award from The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, which marks the first time women were honored by the organization. Feniger has also supported Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Share Our Strength and co-founded Chefs Collaborative. She also sat on the board and played an integral role for the Scleroderma Research Foundation, which is a cause that is near and dear to her heart.
ALL-FEMALE TEAM: Continuing to play an important role in paving the way for women in all industries, Susan Feniger. FORKED is written directed and produced by a lineup of female talent.
• Director/Producer: Liz Lachman is an Emmy award winning musician and composer, a Golden Reel award-winning
music editor and a BMI Film & TV music award winner. As a filmmaker her latest short psychological drama, Pin-Up, starring Angela Sarafyan (Westworld) and Christina Chang (The Good Doctor) has won 30 film festival awards worldwide, and Liz is now in development on the feature version. Her first short film, Getting To Know You, starring Dana Delaney and Ian Gomez, won nine festival awards. As a writer, Liz has twice been quarterfinalist and placed in the Top 15% in Academy Nicholl Screenplay Competition, placed as semifinalist and quarterfinalist in the PAGE Screenplay awards, semifinalist in Final Draft’s Big Break Screenplay Competition and in Stowe Story Labs. Susan Feniger. FORKED is Liz’s first feature film.
• Producer: Lisa Donmall-Reeve: Lisa migrated from a successful and extensive career in theatre, which armed her with all the essential cross transferable skills for producing. She is a true collaborator with a passion for storytelling and has over two decades of production experience. Her company, LDR Creative, plays to its strengths to make an impact. It has enjoyed its role in creating excellence in film entertainment building creative teams that inspire and to deliver a product that makes a difference. Lisa has been awarded over 15 major film festival awards in its first seven years of production. Her most recent work includes two feature length documentaries; Uprooted – The Journey of Jazz Dance (HBO Max) and Susan Feniger. FORKED (currently on the film festival circuit). She has several feature length projects in development and looks forward to creating, collaborating, and producing the current and future generation’s vision in film.
• Editor, Joan Gill Amorim started her feature career as the first assistant editor on Kevin Macdonald’s Whitney, which
made its debut at Cannes. She then dove head-first into Uprooted – The Journey of Jazz Dance, a feature-length
documentary looking at the roots, evolution and future of Jazz Dance which has been enjoying a hugely successful
festival run – winning over 16 awards including Best Documentary at the 2021 Pan African Film Festival, Best Musical Documentary at The Rhode Island International Film Festival, and Best Editing at the 2021 SCAD Savannah Film Festival. Her past editorial work includes the award-winning Whirlpool, a look at the often under told life of Helen Keller as an adult; Hymn of Hate, which takes us to the battlefields of World War I but delivers a still-timely message; and Mother Nature, a short documentary on navigating motherhood that became one of the highest-viewed films in Nowness’ history.
• Composer: Miriam Cutler, Three time Emmy nominated composer, Miriam Cutler, is passionate about documentaries. Her work includes HBO, CNN, PBS, Sundance, Emmy, and Oscar nominated films: RBG, Love Gilda, Til Kingdom Come, Dilemma of Desire, Flannery, Dark Money, The Hunting Ground, Ethel, Lost in La Mancha, Thin, Poster Girl, Vito, KingsPoint, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, A Plastic Ocean, Licensed To Kill, and many more. Co-Produced and scored Dark Money, One Lucky Elephant. Advisor/ Sundance Documentary Composers Lab, doc juror for Sundance FF, Spirit Awards, AFI, and more. AMPAS Documentary Exec Committee Branch member, Film Expert/USC Cinema/US State Department’s American Film Showcase. Past TV Academy Music Branch Exec committee member, Long-time former SCL Board Member and Co-Founder Alliance for Women Film Composers, co-produced live jazz albums including Joe Williams, Nina Simone, Shirley Horn, Marlena Shaw.
