NOTHING FANCY: DIANA KENNEDY
Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy is a feature-length documentary offering a candid look into the world of 92-year-old British chef and cookbook author Diana Kennedy, widely regarded as the world’s authority on Mexican cuisine.
Still from “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy.” Featured at Woodstock Film Festival.
Standing barely five feet tall with a still-thick English accent, Diana is a formidable critic of any individual who doesn’t agree with her subjective views of Mexican culinary traditions, or, God forbid, doesn’t recycle.
Still from “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy.” Featured at Woodstock Film Festival.
Diana is a force of nature, living entirely in harmony with it. She designed and built her ecologically sustainable property outside Zitácuaro, Michoacán in 1974, where she continues to cook, recycle rainwater, use solar power, and grow her own vegetables, coffee, and corn. She is a staunch environmentalist, maintaining a collection of plastic bags she’s reused for a decade.
Still from “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy.” Featured at Woodstock Film Festival.
The author of eight cookbooks; Diana was decorated with an Order of the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican government in 1982; received a Member of the Order of the British Empire for strengthening cultural ties between Mexico and the UK in 2002; and is a 2014 inductee into the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame.
Still from “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy.” Featured at Woodstock Film Festival.
Still from “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy.” Featured at Woodstock Film Festival.
Kennedy has always been adamant about preserving the authenticity of dishes –no recipe interpretations necessary. Her larger-than-life personality will quickly capture your heart, as you contemplate the topic of appropriation versus appreciation in this fabulous documentary about a woman's zest for life, still going strong in her golden years.
Still from “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy.” Featured at Woodstock Film Festival.
Still from “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy.” Featured at Woodstock Film Festival.
Still from “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy.” Featured at Woodstock Film Festival.
Elizabeth Carroll studied documentary film at the University of San Francisco under Academy- Award nominated filmmaker and Sundance fellow Sam Green. In 2013, she founded Honeywater Films to produce stories about food. She has directed video content for The New York Times and lives in Brooklyn.
Founded in 2000 as a grassroots arts organization driven by the sheer love of film and community, the Woodstock Film Festival has grown into one of the premiere independent film festivals in the US, bringing together thousands of filmmakers and film lovers over the years. This year, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Woodstock Film Festival, the 50th anniversary of the legendary Woodstock Festival, as well as the 100th anniversary of Woodstock as America’s oldest colony of the arts.
Actor Paul Rudd calls the Festival "a great festival... what a film festival should be, which is really independent films and showcasing the work of filmmakers you might not know about.”
Read more Beautiful Stories in film featured at the Woodstock Film Festival in our weeklong series.
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