presents
A film by Leslie Iwerks
Running Time: 96 minutes. Color
Language: English
United States
SCREENING TIMES
World Premiere
New Orleans Film Festival October 14, 2016
8:30 PM Orpheum Theater, New Orleans, Louisiana
California Premiere
Mill Valley Film Festival October 15, 2016
7:00 PM Century Larkspur, Larkspur, California
PRESS CONTACT:SALES CONTACT:
Ashley MillerKyell Thomas
212.227.7575 x320Vice President, Octagon Entertainment
8687 Melrose Ave. 7th FL
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Sam
504.207.1364310-854-8376
PRODUCTION CONTACT:
Michael E. Tang
Synopsis
Ella Brennan is a household name in the restaurant industry. Known today as the inspirational matriarch of the rambling Brennan family of New Orleans and the force of nature behind the first Brennan’s and Commander’s Palace.
Literally helping to create the idea of the celebrity chef, Ella thought America should get to know who was in the kitchen. She launched the careers of dozens of restaurateurs and chefs including Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse.
Ella envisioned what America’s food world would become...then she went out and did it. She wanted New Orleans to become the Paris of the food world and she wanted her team to give every ounce of their being to reaching that goal. And she believed you could work very hard and not miss a minute of fun. Ella is dripping with wisdom and one-liners.
Ella Brennan was a teenager in 1940's New Orleans, the city’s food and drink business was in its infant stage, generating less than a million dollars a year. Today, it has grown into a billion-dollar industry for the city, many crediting the Brennan family, guided by Ella for pushing Creole wining and dining into the American mainstream and helping to instigate the modern American food movement.
Interviews and verite footage with current and former chefs from Commander's Palace, restaurateurs, peers,family and friends will provide past and present glimpses into Ella's unique life and world. Turns out that one of America’s greatest coaches is a woman, and her field is a restaurant. But it could have been anywhere. Told by Academy Award and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks, this is the intimate and inspiring story of a true American icon.
Logline
When 18-year old Ella Brennan went to work at her family’s bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the 1940’s, America had no idea what was about to hit the culinary world. While overcoming a lifetime of personal and family struggles, she persevered to not only raise the bar in the New Orleans culinary world, she launched the careers of Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Lagasse, Tory McPhail, among others, created iconic dishes from scratch that have since become world famous, and built two of America’s most renown restaurants from the ground up; Brennan’s and Commander’s Palace. Through it all, Ella Brennan was driven by one goal: to bring true hospitality and the finest dining experience to The Big Easy.
Director’s Statement
"There are few women who have accomplished what Ella Brennan has in her lifetime, a true visionary and glass ceiling-breaker for all things food, hospitality and business, a mentor and inspiration to many of the food industry's top chefs and restaurateurs, and a woman who has truly roused creativity across the culinary scene. My love has been to tell entertaining, enterprise stories, and Ella Brennan's life work and passion is a story to inspire the world." – Leslie Iwerks
FILMMAKERS
LESLIE IWERKS, Director
Leslie is an Academy Award and Emmy nominated director and producer. For over a decade, she has produced, directed, and edited award-winning feature and short documentaries, television specials, tributes, corporate films, and digital content. Her clients have included Disney, Pixar, Hearst, Starz, Bravo, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among others. Leslie is an avid traveler and has filmed on all seven continents documenting a wide array of subjects.
Her body of work encompasses enterprise feature films (The Pixar Story, Citizen Hearst, ILM: Creating the Impossible, the Imagineering Story, The Hand Behind the Mouse) to her acclaimed environmental and social issue documentaries (Recycled Life, Pipe Dreams, Dirty Oil and Downstream).
Her desire to innovate and push boundaries in documentaries, film, animation and new technologies has been cultivated and inspired by her family upbringing. Her grandfather, Ub Iwerks, was the original designer and co-creator of Mickey Mouse and multi-Academy Award winning visual effects pioneer. Her father, Don Iwerks, also an Academy Award winner for Technical Lifetime Achievement, was founder of the large format film company, Iwerks Entertainment, building large format systems in over 200 theaters around the world.
MICHAEL E. TANG, Producer
Michael is a versatile producer with extensive experience filming in domestic and international locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
While working towards his dual degree in visual arts and history at the University of California, San Diego, Michael began his entertainment career in the film critics circle. His creative prose would ultimately earn him the San Diego Union Tribune's Young Critics Award and Scholarship. After graduating cum laude, he relocated to Los Angeles to collaborate with several commercial production companies. His complimentary interests in artistic craft and non-fiction material prompted him to enter the non-fiction scene.
Since joining Iwerks & Co., Michael has helped oversee production on short and long form content across broadcast, cable, web, and new media platforms for Disney, Pixar, Hearst, GE, as well as The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
DEBRA SHRIVER, Executive Producer
Debra Shriver is a former newspaper journalist and is currently CCO at Hearst, one of the nation’s largest private diversified media and information companies.Debra co-produced the documentary Citizen Hearst and edited the companion book,Hearst One Hundred Twenty Five.
Debra’s first book,Stealing Magnolias: Tales from a New Orleans Courtyard, is a memoir of refurbishing a French Quarter house following Katrina. It was published by Glitterati in October, 2010, and is in its second printing.Her second book,In the Spirit of New Orleans, was published in the US and in France by Assouline in November, 2012. A third book is planned with Rizzoli for 2017.
She's a trustee of the New Orleans Museum of Art, and a board member of the Apollo Theater Foundation in Harlem, where she chaired the record-breaking 80th birthday gala in June,2014. Debra is a founding member of Lincoln Center’s Women’s Leadership Council is also past president for New York Women In Communications,Inc. (NYWICI)and the NYWICI Foundation, as well as a Matrix Award winner for Public Relations. She and her journalist husband reside in Manhattan and New Orleans.
KAROL MARTESKO-FENSTER, Executive Producer
Karol is an Austrian-born American entrepreneur and media industry innovator with broad motion picture, publishing, broadcast, event, and Internet backgrounds and his career spans over two decades including leadership in the American independent film industry. He is the Chief Content Officer of Thought Engine | Media Group, EVP/Partner of Abramorama, and Managing Partner of Cinelan.
He is a producer of Thomas Wirthensohn’s Homme Less (2014 DOCNYC Grand Jury Award), Guy Reid’s Orbital, Maura Axelrod’s Maurizo Cattelan – Be Right Back, and a special consultant on Kevin Kerslake’s A$ I AM – The Life and Times of DJ AM. Karol is an Executive Producer on Leslie Iwerks’ Ella Brennan: Commanding The Table, Daniel McCabe’s This Is Congo, Damon G. Smith and Martin Marquet’sThe Herd, D. Schmüdde’sJack and The Machine,Amy Benson’s Drawing The Tiger, Phil Cox’s The Love Hotel and The Bengali Detective (2013 Grierson Documentary Award), Noel Dernesch & Moritz Springer’s Journey To Jah (2013 Zurich Film Festival Audience Award), Havana Marking's Smash & Grab: The Story of The Pink Panthers, James Allen Smith’s Floored, and Dean Budnick’s Wetlands Preserved.
Karol was the Production Executive on Emmett Malloy’s Big Easy Express (2013 Grammy Award and 2012 SXSW Audience Headliner Award) and Harry Belafonte’s Sing Your Song (2012 NAACP Image Award) and Executive Producer of Danfung Dennis’s Hell and Back Again (2013 Grierson Documentary Award, 2013 EMMY Best Documentary Award Nominee, 2012 Academy Award Best Documentary Nominee, and 2011 Sundance World Documentary Grand Jury and Cinematography Award Winner).
He was the President of Film & Media for Michael Cohl’s S2BN Entertainment, EVP of Film & Animation at Babel Networks, and Head of Film at Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures. While at Palm, he led alloperations and brand positioning fortheRES Media Groupbusiness unit, including itsdigital film festivalRESFEST, the world’soriginal digitalarts and entertainment festival,which in its final year (’06)was a global touring event spanning sixcontinents, 19 countries and over 40cities worldwide. Karol has produced over 25 television and satellite broadcast music programs, multiple Webby Award-winning programs including wetheeconomy.com and focusforwardfilms.com, andhe co-foundedFilmmaker Magazine,RES Magazine,and several media content enterprises, includingindiewire.com,conditionone.com, cinelan.com, andhackateerventures.com.
Way back when Karol was a Coordinating Producer for PBS & WNET’s Great Performances Music Division and Market Director for the breakout 1989 Independent Feature Film Market and in 1990, as the Executive Director of the IFP, he restructured the organization and co-initiated the inaugural Gotham Awards.
PRODUCTION CREDITS - Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table
Iwerks & Co. presents
A Film by Leslie Iwerks
Narrated by Patricia Clarkson
Executive Producers
Debra Shriver
Karol Martesko-Fenster
Directed by
Leslie Iwerks
Produced by
Leslie Iwerks
Michael E. Tang
Written & Edited by
Mo Stoebe
Leslie Iwerks
Mark Catalena
Featuring in order of appearance
Meg Bickford
Jeremiah Tower
Danny Meyer
John Pope
Emeril Lagasse
Drew Nieporent
Julia Reed
Tim Zagat
Ella Brennan
Frank Brigtsen
Dottie Brennan
Ti Martin
Ron Thompson
Ralph Brennan
Lally Brennan
Gene Bourg
Leah Chase
Alex Brennan-Martin
Dickie Brennan
MarcelleBienvenu
Joe Henican
Paul Prudhomme
Tory McPhail
Daniel Boulud
Tom Fitzmorris
Chris Barbato
Tom Robey
Steve Woodruff
Arlene Nesser
Associate Producer
Samantha Cusimano
Production Associate
Darla Fisackerly
Assistant Editors
Matt Klein
Cinematography
Steven Parker
Antonio Rossi
Anthony P. Arenth
Aerial Footage by
Mel Bridges / Aerial Nola
Gimbel Operator
Clarance Leonard
Gaffer
Trenton McRae
Ronald Martin
Ned Hallick
Grip / Electric
Ronald Martin
Scot DuVall
Mike Smith
Richard Vallejos
Assistant Camera
Tyler Laperouse
Jack Khorram
Sound Mixer
James Eck Rippie
Lukas Gonzales
Julius A. Evans
Daniel Brooks
Additional editorial assistance by
Ryan McGuigan
Robby Salisbury
Production Assistants
Katelyn McGibney
Josh Greenwood
James K. Webster
Production Interns
Rachel Lattin
Megan Sashiro Rodriguez
Gus Gotschall
Hassan Hassan
Kristen Faulkner
Cooper Peltz
Post Production Sound Services Provided by
A.G.E. Post
Re-recording Mixers
Christian Gecosala
Rolando Nadal
Voice-Over Recording
Sound Lounge
Graphics and Title Design
Sam Huf
Online & Color Correction
Matt Klein
Post Production Services Provided by
Iwerks & Co.
Legal Services Provided by
Law Offices of Michael E. Morales
Clearance Counsel
Law Offices of Donaldson and Callif
Original Music by
Jimmy Sudekum
Additional Music by
Christine Wu
Music Provided by
5 Alarm Music
9 Lives Music
APM Music
Current Music
Extreme Music
Firstcom Music
Killer Tracks
Oovra Music
Opus 1 Music
ScoreKeepers Music
"Sunday Dinner" used with permission by Kathryn Bostick / BMI
“A Time to Change” written, recorded, and mixed by Nick Calligaro and Billy Gaudin
Archival
Alamy
David Bookstaver / AP Photo
Alex Brandon / AP Photo
Glade Bilby
Brennan's of Houston
John Bryson
Burt Wolf Productions
The Charles L. Franck Studio Collection at The Historic New Orleans Collection
FILM Archives, Inc.
Chuck Fishman
Cheryl Gerber
Getty Images
greatchefs.com
Historic Films
The Collins C. Diboll Vieux Carré Digital Survey at The Historic New Orleans Collection
Emeril Lagasse
Jacques Lameloise
Ramsey Landry
@nateus (Nathan Linhardt)
Michael McCarty
Hugh Morton / North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Brennan's New Orleans Cookbook / Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.
Producers Library
Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group
Emily Oppenheimer / Jack Robinson
Gift of Mrs. Solis Seiferth, The Historic New Orleans Collection
Flystock / Shutterstock.com
JJMedia / Shutterstock.com
Luuk de Kok / Shutterstock.com
Orlowski Designs LLC / Shutterstock.com
VideoFort / Shutterstock.com
footageforpro / Shutterstock.com
Twin Design / Shutterstock.com
WGBH Educ. Foundation / Shutterstock.com
Rick Ray / Shutterstock.com
Ken Steinhoff
The Times-Picayune
Jeremiah Tower
Tulane University
WPA Film Library
WYES-TV
Marilynn K. Yee / The New York Times / Redux
Donn Young
Special Thanks
Kitsy Adams
Chris Barbato
Glade Bilby
Michelle Terrebonne Becker
Sean Benjamin
Maggie Borden
Tony Butler
Cafe Adelaide
Fern Casio
Mary Cassidy
Leah Chase / Dooky Chase’s Restaurant
Commander’s Palace
Marty Cosgrove
Peggy Errol
Falco Ink
Michael Fey
Jennifer Finley
Galatoire’s Restaurant
Anna Hahn
Sam Hanna
Benny Harrell
Laura D. Kelley
Barbara Krieger
Kate Lindquist
Louisiana Research Collection
Betsy Lucsy
Maggie McCabe
Tiffany McEntee
SukiMedencevic
Julie O’Callaghan
Emily Oppenheimer
Chris Owens
Pelican Publishing
Stella Chase Reese
Melvin Rodrigue
John Shoup
Jerry Shriver
SoBou
Don Strunk
Kyell Thomas
Zachary Tompkins
Jeremiah Tower
Tulane University Archive
Wagstaff Worldwide
Nate Williams
The Williams Research Center
Hal Williamson
Peter Wise
Donn Young
Nina Zagat
Copyright © 2016 Saloon in the Sky, LLC
To learn more about the film:
Official Website
Social Media
Facebook:
Twitter: (@EllaBrennanFilm)
Instagram: @Miss_Ella_Brennan