Legendary “Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy” Open Nationwide on Virtual Cinema Many 22

Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy Opens Nationwide on Virtual Cinema Friday, May 22nd.  It will be available on TVOD/EST  Friday, June 19th.

DIANA KENNEDY: NOTHING FANCY will open nationwide on Friday, May 22nd as part of Greenwich Entertainment’s virtual cinema partnership with theaters throughout the country.  50% of proceeds will go to local theaters to support them during this unprecedented time.

Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy is an intimate, candid perspective into the curious world of cookbook author and British ex-pat Diana Kennedy -widely regarded as the world’s expert on Mexican cuisine. At five feet tall and 97 years old, Diana is larger than life: a foul-mouthed fireball far more feisty and energetic than her age and petite frame let on.

The homage features extensive interviews with Diana Kennedy and descriptions by famed chefs José Andrés, Rick Bayless, Gabriela Camara and Alice Waters.  The interviews open with footage of the chef on a tv show and one with Martha Stewart joining her in her TV kitchen.  Diana Kennedy provides an intimate look at the leading expert on Mexican cuisine.  The author of nine acclaimed cookbooks and a two-time James Beard Award winner, Diana is called the “Julia Child of Mexico”,but the feisty cook prefers “The Mick Jagger of Mexican Cuisine”.

Author of nine Mexican cookbooks, Kennedy has spent over 60 years researching and documenting the regional cuisines of Mexico.  Kennedy has lived ‘off-the grid’ on an eight-acre ranch outside Zitácuaro, Michoacán since the 1970’s: composting, growing her own crops, and using solar power to run her home. Aware of her own mortality, she is working tirelessly to solidify the legacy of her life’s efforts, with the hope of turning her home into a foundation for culinary education in Mexico.  Many students have gathered her over the years to do a  sort of “culinary camp” that included market shopping and classes.

A two-time James Beard Award winner, Diana was decorated with an Order of the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican government and became a Member of the Order of the British Empire from the UK in 2002. Despite her notable achievements, Diana is difficult  to categorize. Often referred to as the “Julia Child of Mexico,”  but Diana prefers a different title: “The Mick Jagger of Mexican Cuisine.”

Diana Kennedy:Nothing Fancy explores Diana’s vibrant,  unconventional life, blending vérité with archival footage, photographs and interviews. Viewers accompany her in intimate settings at home -cooking, gardening, and traveling to accept awards and speak to audiences.

The film features interviews with notable chefs and friends including Alice Waters, José Andrés, Rick Bayless, and Gabriela Cámara, along with footage from Diana’s TLC cooking show, “The Art of Mexican Cooking.” Whether she is instructing chefs at her in famous “Boot Camp” cooking school, blazing her truck over the cobblestone roads of Zitácuaro or sunbathing with a scotch on her balcony, Diana is captivatingly bold, spirited, and unapologetically herself.

Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy is Director Elizabeth Carroll’s feature film debut. Carroll studied documentary film at the University of San Francisco under Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and Sundance fellow Sam Green. She has directed video content for The New York Times, and in 2013, she founded Honeywater Films to produce stories about food.  Carroll also produced the film, along with Dan Braun(Wild, Wild Country; Pick of the Litter).  Jonathan Gould, Anna Godas, and Margaret Martin serve as Executive Producers.