Kings of Pastry

Kings of Pastry

Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - 7:00pm to 8:30pm
  • Library Hall

A film about by Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker about the competition for the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France, the country’s Nobel Prize for pastry. Sixteen chefs whip up the most gorgeous, delectable, gravity-defying concoctions and edge-of-your-seat drama as they deliver their spun-sugar desserts to the display table. The inevitable disasters and successes prove both poignant and hilarious.  

Free film.
Run time: 90 min.

More about Kings of Pastry
As an internationally celebrated pastry chef and co-founder of the highly regarded French Pastry School in Chicago, Jacquy Pfeiffer might be expected to feel supremely confident when it comes to all things French and sweet. But his self-assurance turns poignantly vulnerable as he contemplates entering the finals of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (Best Craftsmen of France) competition in pastry making. Pfeiffer is hardly alone. Other accomplished pastry chefs, such as Regis Lazard in Luxembourg and Philippe Rigollot of Maison Pic, France’s only three-star restaurant owned by a woman, appear daunted as they get ready to go for the prize — the right to wear the distinctive tri-color Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (M.O.F.) collar. Even the judges and coaches, all previous winners, turn unashamedly weepy as they reflect on the trials faced by the finalists — and recall their own struggles — in this Olympics of pastry making.

In Kings of Pastry, the new documentary from the award-winning filmmaking team of Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker (Don’t Look Back, The War Room), chefs Pfeiffer, Lazard and Rigollot serve as exclusive guides to a remarkable and never-before-filmed world, where sugar is the stuff of fantasy, high drama and joy. And because the men — who are among the 16 semifinalists in competition — also serve as the film’s protagonists, they reveal what it feels like to risk both pride and reputation in a grueling quest to be named one of the “kings of pastry.”

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

This event is a collaboration with POV, PBS' award-winning nonfiction film series.

About POV

POV


POV (a cinema term for "point of view") is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 300 films to public television
audiences across the country. POV films are known for their intimacy, their unforgettable storytelling and their timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues.POV films have won every major film and broadcasting award including 23 Emmys, 13 George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Broadcast Journalism Awards, three Academy Awards and the Prix-Italia.