Céline Roustan
The story starts the night before Mary’s first wedding, when she made her signature eggplant sauce. Part cooking show, part personal documentary, in her intimate documentary My Mom’s Eggplant Sauce writer/director Shaina Feinberg has an honest discussion about trauma with her own mother, as she makes a dish that ultimately represents much more than just a meal.
With such an unusual story within her own family, we were curious to hear how Feinberg’s mom actually shared the story with her daughter for the first time, and what prompted the making of the film. “I was interviewing my mom for a project I hope to make at some point and she told me this crazy story about her first marriage”, Feinberg shared with us. Mixed with her pandemic obsession with cooking shows, the format of the film came together: “the idea was to have her re-tell the story, using audio only, and then film her as much like a cooking show as possible”.
Recording interviews with audio only, “discovering the story”, filming later and then mixing the two in the edit is a process Feinberg is used to. After long interviews with her mother, she started filming both the making of the dish and general footage of Mary going about with her day, with DP Jonathan Nelson. Those B rolls allowed some BTS moments that not only ended up making it to the final cut, but also help give the film its engaging structure. It’s not just about hearing a story and watching a recipe being made, we also get some authentic moments with Mary.
Mary shopping for the perfect eggplants
This unexpected format is surprisingly emotionally compelling. This is a deeply personal story, intergenerational too… and cooking feels like the perfect way of echoing that. Because of the cooking show aesthetic, it is incredibly beautiful and captivating to watch, and truthfully made me hungry. It also creates an effective contrast between the darkness of her tale and the joy that comes from making the dish.
Admitting that initially she was not supposed to be as present in the film, Feinberg ultimately realized that “it was more honest (and funnier) to include those aspects”. Indeed, given the story, her presence adds a lot of levity to the narrative and also contributes to painting Mary’s moving portrait as a woman who is not only resilient, but also a woman with a strong sense of humor. Because of its visual aesthetic, the smell of eggplant sauce it triggers in our brains can be distracting, but deep down this is a film about mothers and daughters, with Mary at the center explaining her role as both.
Ahead of its online debut, My Mom’s Eggplant Sauce hit the festival circuit with stops at Aspen Shortsfest, Hot Docs and Palm Springs ShortFest. Feinberg currently has multiple projects in the pipeline: a second book with her illustration partner Julia Rothman, a show in development with Alysia Reiner, and her latest film, which is a short doc that Shaina describes as “about body dysmorphic disorder — but funny!”