It is set in an alien and exclusive world, withdrawn from most of us: the highly stylized gourmet restaurants and their often cramped and noisy kitchens. Focusing on nine Michelin starred chefs from three continents, skilled both in charming small talk with their guests and a gruff commanding tone towards their kitchen brigades. The film depicts the everyday life behind the scenes. Far from the common and superficial TV portrayals, it reveals the real business of cooking on the highest level, by cross cutting between the various kitchen routines, tastes and culinary philosophies. Exclusive interviews and shots of chiefs? ancillary activities, such as work in gastronomic laboratories, exquisite ingredients shopping on local markets or gathering rare edible plants on savage coastlines, combine with strikingly spectacular images of the natural or man-made surrounding landscapes. Award-winning filmmaker Lutz Hachmeister was privileged to observe the work of the following celebrity chefs: Yannick Alléno (Paris), Olivier Roellinger (Cancale, France), Sergio Herman (Sluis, the Netherlands), Jean-Georges Vongerichten (New York), Sven Elverfeld (Wolfsburg, Germany), Juan Mari and Elena Arzak (San Sebastian, Spain), Nadia Santini (Runate, Italy), Hideki Ishikawa (Tokyo) as well as René Redzepi (Copenhague, Denmark).

Three Stars

Lifestyle / People

90'

Directed by: Lutz Hachmeister

Written by: Lutz Hachmeister

Produced by: HMR Produktion with ARTE/ WDR / NDR in cooperation with Filmstiftung NRW