‘The Delicacy’ Launching on SommTV

After The Delicacy’s double sell-out world premieres at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January, director Jason Wise planned to release his documentary about Santa Barbara sea urchin in theaters across the country. The pandemic cut those dreams short, at least for now, so he’s doing the next smartest thing: releasing the film on May 7 via SommTV, the digital subscription channel featuring food, wine, beer, and spirits programming that Wise, who also directed the Somm wine doc series, has been developing for more than a year. 

“Most people are grasping for content right now, but we have a lot and are stretched pretty thin getting it all out,” said Wise. “Delicacy is our first major exclusive film that will go to SommTV, but it’s the first in a long line of things that we have coming that takes food in a serious direction.”

The release will be bolstered by extra context, including deleted scenes; demos on how to prepare uni and abalone; a short oyster doc; and commentary tracks by Wise, urchin diver Stephanie Mutz, and renowned composer Trevor Morris, a Hope Ranch resident. See our original feature about the film at independent.com/delicacy. 

SommTV, which functions just like Hulu or Netflix, costs $10 a month or $75 a year, but there is a free, weeklong trial available now. See SommTV.com.