Prison kitchen documentary comes to St. Pete

A letter sent from a Michigan prison to a restaurant critic eventually became an award-winning documentary. On Sept. 15, several of the people who lived that story will bring it to St. Petersburg.

The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival will host a free screening of Coldwater Kitchen, a 90-minute documentary following a gourmet culinary training program inside Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan.

The story began when Ernest Davis, an incarcerated man who had spent years in the culinary program, wrote to Detroit Free Press restaurant critic Mark Kurlyandchik.

Davis wanted Kurlyandchik to see what was happening inside the prison kitchen.

Kurlyandchik eventually accepted an invitation to a culinary symposium at the prison, where incarcerated cooks demonstrated their skills. He wrote about the program and approached Detroit Free Press filmmaker Brian Kaufman about turning the story into a documentary.

Kurlyandchik and Kaufman became the film’s co-directors.

At the center of the film is chef Jimmy Lee Hill, who has spent more than three decades teaching incarcerated men skills that extend well beyond institutional food preparation. Students learn fine dining, catering, food safety, presentation and professional cooking techniques.

The program also places unusual responsibility in their hands. Hill’s students work with professional kitchen equipment, including knives, in a prison environment built around controlling access to potentially dangerous objects. Kaufman has described that trust as part of the program itself, giving participants responsibility that many have gone years without experiencing.

The film follows Hill and three men in the program as they confront different futures.

Davis entered prison after receiving a life sentence as a teenager. Bradley Leonard had worked in high-end restaurants while struggling with heroin addiction. Dink Dawson learned professional cooking while serving seven years for drug dealing and hoped to build a culinary career after his release.

Dawson eventually did. He returned to Detroit and pursued restaurant work, providing the film with a view of what happens when prison training meets the practical difficulties of reentry.

Coldwater Kitchen premiered at DOC NYC in 2022 and won the 2023 James Beard Media Award in the documentary/docuseries visual media category. The film was later selected for the 2025 American Film Showcase, a U.S. film diplomacy program that brings American films and filmmakers to international audiences.

Its life has also extended beyond film festivals. Hill and former participants have appeared at screenings and food events around the country, including a James Beard Foundation event in New York. The events pair the film with conversations about incarceration, employment and the role that professional skills can play after release.

The St. Petersburg screening continues that approach.

Hill and Dawson will participate in a discussion following the film with executive producer Desiré Vincent Levy. St. Petersburg chef Marques Clark of Yes Chef Village will join them to provide a local perspective on incarceration, food and rebuilding a life afterward.

“Stories have the power to transform our thinking, spark new ideas and connections, and inspire us to act boldly in service of our shared humanity and values,” Foundation President and CEO Dr. Kanika Tomalin said in a prepared statement.

The Foundation’s partnership with the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival also connects the film to an organization that has used food as an entry point into discussions about health, culture and economic opportunity in St. Petersburg.

The screening runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15 at the Foundation’s Center for Health Equity, 2333 34th St. S. Doors open at 5 p.m. for food and networking. Organizers ask attendees to arrive by 5:50 p.m. for the screening.

Admission is free, but registration is required.