News
"No Impact" Alum Laura Gabbert Goes for Gold in New film
Begins shooting a documentary about Pulitzer Prize-winning populist food critic Jonathan Gold
Posted on December 7th 2012 in Announcement
TFT alumna Laura Gabbert '97, MFA '04 ("No Impact Man") has begun shooting a new documentary about Pulitzer Prize-winning "LA Weekly" and "Los Angeles Times" food critic Jonathan Gold.
Gold rose to prominence at a time when conversations about eating were consumed by high-cuisine haughtiness, or cholesterol-lowering anxiety. In the early nineties, Gold blazed a very different path, unabashedly reveling in the food of ethnic America. Through his Odyssean quests for Oaxacan grasshopper soup, hand-cut tonkotsu ramen, or unctuous pad-see-ew, he unearthed eateries that other critics would not dare dine in, and attracted an obsessed following of foodies.
“I loved Laura’s film 'Sunset Story,'” said Gold. “So when she approached me about making a film using me as a prism through which to look at food as a prism looking at Los Angeles, it sounded like a good idea. And you wouldn't believe how fetching I look in a burqa.”
Gold won a Pulitzer Prize for his prose in 2007, the first and only food writer to win the award. He was the first food writer to be nominated for the National Magazine Award and has won seven James Beard Awards for his restaurant reviews.
Gabbert’s critically-acclaimed films employ humor and drama to put a human face on difficult social issues such as aging, the environment, and AIDS. Her most recent film, "No Impact Man," premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, played theatrically in more than 30 cities, and aired on Planet Green.
Her previous documentary, "Sunset Story," won awards at the Tribeca, Los Angeles, and Miami Film Festivals. She also directed a PBS documentary about a San Francisco AIDS clinic, "The Healers of 400 Parnassus."
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