Restaurant kitchens are a pressurized stew of brutal hours, high stress and sleep deprivation. Acting out goes with the territory and anyone lower on the totem pole is fair game. But the familiar macho posturing of celebrity chefs has reached tipping point. Now with an influx of women at the helm of restaurants, and a younger generation unwilling to submit to the brutal conditions once considered the norm, the rules of 'kitchen culture' as we know them are being rewritten. The Heat takes viewers behind the scenes to meet pioneers who broke through the glass ceiling, including Michelin-starred chefs Anne Sophie Pic (a.k.a. the 'Queen of French Cuisine') from Maison Pic in Valence, France; beloved UK star Angela Hartnett (and Gordon Ramsay's former protégé) from Murano; and award-winning New York chef Anita Lo (who closed her iconic New York restaurant Annisa after 17 years).

BIOGRAPHY

Maya Gallus is an award winning filmmaker honoured in 2017 at the Hot Docs International Film Festival with a "Focus On" retrospective. As a writer, and director, she is known for work that explores the "female outlook" (through a non-binary gender spectrum), often throwing light on frequently marginalized subjects and people. Her recent documentaries include Dish: Waitressing and the Art of Service (2010), The Mystery of Mazo de la Roche (2012) and Derby Crazy Love (2014).