Marcella Hazan changed how we cook Italian. MARCELLA is a new documentary that tells her amazing, delicious, dramatic story.
Marcella lived an improbably eventful life. An immigrant woman trained as a scientist, she never set foot in a kitchen until she married and moved to America in the 1950s. A childhood injury had left her with an injured right arm, a challenge for the physical work of food preparation. But before long she was not only preparing the Italian dishes she remembered from home, but writing the definitive cookbooks that introduced millions of Americans to the glories of authentic Italian cuisine.
The New York Times wrote that “the impact Mrs. Hazan had on the way America cooks Italian food is impossible to overstate.” As uncompromising as she was beloved, her influence went beyond cooking: “These were elemental truths that was telling us,” one observer notes, “it wasn't just how to make dinner.”
Marcella’s life story is interwoven with visits to chefs preparing her most iconic recipes, and commentary by food stars Jacques Pépin, Danny Meyer, April Bloomfield, Shola Ulunloyo, Lidia Bastianich, Rancho Gordo's Steve Sando, and a passionate chorus of friends and admirers.
Directed by Emmy and Peabody Award-winner Peter Miller (SACCO AND VANZETTI, AKA DOC POMUS, BEDLAM), MARCELLA will reach audiences throughout the world in cinemas and film festivals, on television, streaming, and video, bringing Marcella’s story to millions of old fans and new admirers.
Directed, produced, and written by
PETER MILLER
Produced by
RENÉE FRIGO
Edited and produced by
AMY LINTON, ACE