'Knife Skills,' Documentary About Edwins Restaurant, Nominated For Oscar

A documentary about the Shaker Square restaurant that employs people who’ve left prison has been nominated for an Academy Award.

Knife Skills, a 40-minute film about the 2013 opening of Edwins Leadership and Restaurant Institute, joined four other nominees in the short-subject documentary category announced today.

“In 40 minutes, it doesn’t feel like 40 minutes, he threads the truths of what it means to come home, he captures a side of it for food,” Edwins founder Brandon Chrostowski said of filmmaker Thomas Lennon. “When I’m at these screenings, people are laughing, people are crying.”

Chrostowski said he’s not sure whether he would go to the Oscars in person if able. 

“Yeah, I’m not a big Hollywood guy,” he said. “And I would truly want to spend it with the people who matter most, and that’s family, that’s men and women here at Edwins . As long as I’m with this group, I’m content.”