Director’s Note

The massive white and rippled walls of The Broad Museum tower above me. I’m standing beside Timothy Hollingsworth, a man who––if you follow the pulse of the elites in culinary world––needs little introduction.

Hollingsworth represented the US at the Bocuse d’Or world championship in 2008, and then rose to become Chef de Cuisine at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry in Napa Valley, California. He is no ordinary chef. And now, for the next culinary act in his career, he will open Otium––an elegant and approachable representation of his cuisine in collaboration with The Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles.

As I stand beside Hollingsworth, overlooking the buildout of his restaurant on Bunker Hill, his demeanor is calm and relatively quiet. I, on the other hand, have a multitude of questions––all ready to fire away in an effort to better understand what it takes to open a restaurant. But at that moment, no question piques my curiosity more than simply: What is going through his head?

My team and I set out to answer that very question through cinematography; a human portrayal of a chef on the cusp of a new beginning. Along the way, we began to understand the network of relationships that intersect in a restaurant, many that often remain in the shadows: from the fish purveyor at International Marine Products, to Naoko Moore, an artisan responsible for supplying Hollingsworth with Japanese donabes––a smoking vessel fueled by coals and wood chips. Each character is a cog in an interconnected world that is carefully cultivated, cared for and protected, before becoming a fully matured dining destination.

As of this release, Otium is well underway in its build-out, with its launch looming in the coming weeks. And so I present to you, Otium: Chapter One; a current moment in time of a chef ready to embark on his next journey.

Upon the opening of the restaurant, we’ll check back in with Hollingsworth, cameras in hand, to continue sharing the story that he is creating for himself in Los Angeles.

—Antonio Diaz
Film Director

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A Life & Thyme Production in collaboration with Sprout LA.