In Kings of Pastry , the new documentary from the award-winning filmmaking team of Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker (“Don’t Look Back,” “The War Room”), chefs Pfeiffer, Lazard and Rigollot serve as exclusive guides to a remarkable and never-before-filmed world, where sugar is the stuff of fantasy, high drama and joy. And because the men — who are among the 16 semifinalists in competition — also serve as the film’s protagonists, they reveal what it feels like to risk both pride and reputation in a grueling quest to be named one of the “kings of pastry.”

Kings of Pastry launches the 24th season of the POV (Point of View) series on Sunday, June 26 at 10:30 p.m. on WTVP 47.1. POV’s regular season continues through September and concludes with special broadcasts in 2011 and 2012. American television’s longest-running independent documentary series, POV has won a Special Emmy for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking, the IDA Award for Best Continuing Series and NALIP’S 2011 Award for Corporate Commitment to Diversity.

Filmmakers and married couple Hegedus and Pennebaker received unprecedented access from the M.O.F. organization to film the three-day contest in Lyons, France, including not only the event’s public presentations but also the behind-the-scenes cooking and judging. Chefs Pfeiffer, Lazard and Rigollot were eager to share their preparations — and private feelings — in the lead-up to the competition. Kings of Pastry follows Pfeiffer to his childhood home of Alsace, where he spends weeks creating and testing recipes in the bakery shop of an old friend. Lazard, who is competing for the second time — he tragically dropped his sugar sculpture the first time — and Rigollot, who emerges as a favorite among contestants and judges alike, undertake similar preparations.

During the competition’s three days of mixing, piping and sculpting, the 16 chefs create an astounding array of colorful desserts, from tiered wedding cakes and precarious six-foot sugar sculptures to delicate cream puffs, tea pastries and jams. Each chef must also create a bijou — a small, museum- quality sugar sculpture specially designed for the M.O.F. and presented in a glass box. The final challenge is a nail-biting race against the clock in which each chef must hand carry his fragile creations — without shattering them — through a series of rooms to the final display area. To top it off, the contestants must work spotlessly and with amazing composure under the constant scrutiny of master judges.

The M.O.F. prizes were created nearly a century ago to affirm the importance of manual labor in a society famously in thrall of its intellectuals — or, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy puts it (with wonderful Gallic intellectualism), the idea that “there are two forms of intelligence” is “morally scandalous.” The M.O.F. is not really a competition, in the sense of the chefs competing against each other. The challenge is to meet the exacting standards of the judges; consequently, all or none of the finalists may win blue, white and red striped collar. Given how tough the standards are and how exhausting the regime, it’s surprising anyone has the means and sheer nerve to try more than once.

In this environment, the relations among contestants and judges, plus coaches, families and concerned onlookers, is supportive and sympathetic — a far cry from the cutthroat ambitions usually on display at such events. Ultimately, after much struggle and many alarming setbacks, five of the 16 finalists take home the M.O.F. collar. When jury president Philippe Urraca (who required three attempts to win his own collar) chokes up at the announcements of the winners, it is because he is sincerely distressed for the losers. When the crowd spontaneously cheers all those who competed in the contest regardless of outcome, it is a heartfelt tribute.

“People often ask why we would make a film about a French pastry competition,” says co-director Hegedus, “but as soon as we met Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, we knew that the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition was not your average ‘Top Chef’ cook-off. Those reality television shows seemed like mere wind sprints compared to the marathon three-day M.O.F. contest. Watching Jacquy work a huge ball of sugar and like an expert glass artist blow it into a Brancusi figurine, it became clear that there was more required for this contest than imaginative baking.

“Like most of the chefs in the film, my grandfather apprenticed at age 16 to a baker in Europe,” she continues. “He immigrated to New York City, and in the 1920s he opened two elegant confectionery tea rooms. My great-grandfather was chef at one of New York City’s most famous German restaurants. On the other side of the family was my Hungarian grandmother, well-known in her community for her exquisite cooking and baking.”

“It seems that chefs are today’s rock stars, so observing these first-class chefs in competition should be especially thrilling for audiences.”

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About the Filmmakers:
Chris Hegedus (Co-director, Cinematographer, Editor)
Chris Hegedus has been making films as a director, cinematographer and editor for more than 30 years. She received the 2001 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for “Startup.com.” With her husband and partner, D A Pennebaker, she directed “The War Room,” which followed Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. The film received an Academy Award® nomination and won the National Board of Review’s D.W. Griffith Award for Best Documentary. Hegedus has received the Golden Eagle CINE award and lifetime achievement awards from several organizations, including the International Documentary Association. In 2006, she directed “Al Franken: God Spoke.”

Hegedus first collaborated with Pennebaker as editor of “Town Bloody Hall.” Subsequent collaborations include “DeLorean,” “Rockaby,” the 1977 television series “The Energy War” and the acclaimed 1998 documentary “Moon Over Broadway” with Carol Burnett. Hegedus and Pennebaker have devoted much of their creative energies to films about music, including the features “Depeche Mode 101,” “Down From the Mountain” (a companion concert film to the Coen Brothers’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) and the soul musical tribute “Only the Strong Survive.” Recently, they made several political films for the Sundance Channel, including 2008’s “The Return of the War Room” and “National Anthem: Inside the Vote for Change Concert Tour.” Also for Sundance, Hegedus directed “The First Amendment Project: Fox vs. Franken.” Hegedus and Pennebaker live in New York City.

D A Pennebaker (Co-director, Cinematographer, Editor)
D A (Donn Alan) Pennebaker is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of cinéma vérité. In the early 1960s, he and colleague Richard Leacock developed one of the first fully portable 16 mm synchronized camera and sound recording systems, which revolutionized filmmaking and introduced the immediate style of shooting so popular today. Pennebaker’s first film was the 1953 short “Daybreak Express.” In 1959, he joined Drew Associates, which produced the celebrated Living Camera series for Time-Life in the early 1960s.

In 1967, he made the classic “Don’t Look Back,” a memorable account of Bob Dylan’s last acoustic concert tour in England. Pennebaker continued to capture the musical moment in subsequent films, including “Monterey Pop,” “Keep On Rockin’,” “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” and “Company: Original Cast Album.” He began his collaboration with his partner and future wife, Chris Hegedus, in 1976, co-directing such acclaimed films as “Moon Over Broadway” (1998) and “The War Room” (1993), which received an Academy Award® nomination and won the National Board of Review’s D.W. Griffith Award for Best Documentary. Pennebaker was executive producer of “Startup.com” and “Al Franken: God Spoke,” both directed by Hegedus. His many professional honors include the IFP’s Gotham Award.

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