Private Project

Susan Feniger. FORKED (A Culinary Disaster Film)

Susan Feniger. FORKED is a verité style documentary film following award-winning celebrity chef Susan Feniger on her first solo restaurant and passionate struggle to bring global street food under one roof in the form of a new LA restaurant: STREET. Shot by her longtime filmmaker partner in Vietnam, Shanghai and Los Angeles, it’s a story about starting over and about not IF one fails… but HOW.

  • Liz Lachman
    Director
    Pin-Up, Getting To Know You, Chef Tips with Susan Feniger
  • Liz Lachman
    Writer
    Pin-Up, Getting To Know You
  • Liz Lachman
    Producer
    Pin-Up, Getting To Know You
  • Lisa Donmall-Reeve
    Producer
    Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance
  • Susan Feniger
    Key Cast
    Master Chef, Top Chef Masters, Bones
  • Mary Sue Milliken
    Key Cast
  • Wolfgang Puck
    Key Cast
  • Bobby Flay
    Key Cast
    Beat Bobby Flay, Iron Chef America
  • Barbara Fairchild
    Key Cast
  • Joan Gill-Amorim
    Editor
    Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 13, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    250,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    China, United States, Vietnam
  • Language:
    English, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, mini DV
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Austin Film Festival
    Austin, TX
    United States
    October 27, 2023
    Texas premier
    Official Selection
  • Chicago Reeling Film Festival
    Chicago, IL
    United States
    September 24, 2023
    World Premier
    Best Documentary Feature - Audience Award
  • Newport Beach Film Festival
    Newport Beach, CA
    United States
    October 17, 2023
    West Coast
    Official Selection
  • Palm Springs International Film Festival
    Palm Springs, CA
    United States
    January 8, 2024
    Official Selection
  • Vail Film Festival
    Vail, CO
    United States
    December 9, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Ojai Film Festival
    Ojai, CA
    United States
    November 5, 2023
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Gary Rubin
    Sales Agent
    Country: United States
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Liz Lachman

LIZ LACHMAN is an EMMY AWARD winning musician and composer, a GOLDEN REEL AWARD winning music editor.

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 and Liz is now in development on the feature version.

As a writer, Liz has twice been a Quarter Finalist and in the Top 15% in the ACADEMY NICHOLL Competition, a Semi Finalist and a Quarter Finalist in the PAGE Screenplay awards, and a Semi Finalist in the FINAL DRAFT Screenplay Competition and STOWE Story Labs. Her feature screenplay, Rowing In Eden, is currently being produced with and directed by Saffron Burrows.

Liz has just completed her first documentary feature she shot and directed: “SUSAN FENIGER. FORKED,” produced with Lisa Donmall-Reeve (Uprooted). The verité film follows her partner of 28 years, chef Susan Feniger (Border Grill and Socalo restaurants/ TV Food Network) traveling the world, gathering street food recipes and building out her first solo restaurant in Los Angeles… all which went horribly wrong.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

When my beloved long-time spouse, Chef Susan Feniger, decided to return to her roots and open a solo restaurant without her business partner, I thought: “She’s a celebrity at the top of her field, practically starting over. Someone should record this.” I didn’t mean ME. But I quickly realized there was no one else to do this; no one else who would have the unedited access to behind-the-scenes thoughts, dreams, and failures. As a narrative filmmaker I fought doing this project because I wanted my feature directorial debut to be one of my narrative scripts. But after shooting most of the film, it made no sense not to finish it. So I put to use my narrative storytelling skills, my editing and music experience, all to bring my "stamp" as a director. It was so important for me to make sure I led the audience to fall in love with Susan Feniger (as any director wants for their main character), to go on her journey with her, watch her fail, but know that somehow she will prevail. And it was also important that I shake the audience expectations, drop them into an unexpected hole-then climb out of it along with Susan. And laughter was the "salve" I would use to entertain and cajole so they would never suspect what was coming. In completing the tale, I thought I knew the story I wanted to tell. But as so often happens in documentary, the story rewrote itself and turned into an examination of any long-term relationship: That of Susan and her business partner, Mary Sue. It also took an even deeper dive into the nature of failure and success: and how dealing with failure IS the measure of success in life. The effect this film seems to have on people besides laughing and crying at moments, is to want to live their lives with more passion. So my belief in my ability to "tell a story" has been buoyed and I'm looking forward to soon directing my first narrative feature, having cut my teeth on Susan Feniger. FORKED.