Presents
MONDOVINO
A Film By Jonathan Nossiter
Distributor Contact:Press ContactNY:Press Contact LA
THINKFilmSophie Gluck/Emma GriffithsFredell Pogodin/Cindy Joung
Amanda Sherwin/Lauren Silk/David FenkelSophie Gluck & Assoc.Fredell Pogodin & Assoc
P (646) 293-9400P (212) 595-2432P (323)
Languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Format: 1:85/Color- Dolby SR -
RUNNING TIME: 135 minutes
Rated: PG-13
CHARACTERS
(IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)
YVONNE HEGOBURU
Winemaker, Jurançon, France
BATTISTA & LINA COLUMBU
Winemakers, Sardinia, Italy
MICHEL ROLLAND
Wine consultant, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France
AIMÉ GUIBERT
Winemaker, “Mas de Daumas-Gassac” Aniane, France
MONDAVI FAMILY
Shareholders, Robert Mondavi Winery, Napa, California, USA
Robert, father, founder – Margrit, his 2nd wife – Michael, eldest son, former CEO
Tim, youngest son, former co-CEO, technical director
DE MONTILLE FAMILY
Winemakers, Volnay, Burgundy, France
Hubert, father – Étienne, son - Alix, daughter, former vinificatrice in a Boisset subsidiary
PATRICK LÉON
Co-CEO and technical director Château Mouton-Rothschild, Bordeaux, France
XAVIER DE EIZAGUIRRE
Co-CEO, marketing director Château Mouton-Rothschild, Bordeaux, France
NEAL ROSENTHAL
Wine importer, New York City, USA
MICHAEL BROADBENT
Wine director, Christie’s, London, England
JEAN-LUC THUNEVIN
Founder of Château Valandraud, St-Emilion, France
JEAN-CHARLES BOISSET
Director, Groupe Boisset Nuits-St-George, France
BERNARD MAGREZ
CEO, William Pitters, Bordeaux, France
FRESCOBALDI FAMILY
Owners, Frescobaldi Spa, Florence, Italy
Marchioness Bona – Marquis Vittorio, her husband CEO
Marquis Dino, Vittorio’s brother, author of family history “Privilège de la Naissance”
ANTINORI FAMILY
Owners, Antinori Srl, Florence, Italy
Piero, CEO, family business Albiera & Allegra Piero’s daughters, marketing
Lodovico, his brother, founder of Domaine Ornellaia.
SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
Manager, “Village d’Il Borro,” Il Borro, Tuscany, Italy
JAMES SUCKLING
Critic “Wine Spectator Magazine,” Il Borro, Tuscany, Italy
MASSIMO & PATRIZIA VINCI
Wine shop owners, Volterra, Tuscany, Italy
ISANETTE BIANCHETTI & INALDO TEDESCO
Winemakers, Pernambuco, Brazil
ETCHART FAMILY
Vineyard owners, Domaine San Pedro de Yacochuya, Cafayate, Argentina
Arnaldo x3 = father, son & grandson and Marco, youngest son
ANTONIO CABEZAS
Winemaker, Cafayate, Argentina
CREW
Directing, Photography, Editing
Jonathan Nossiter
Associate Producer, Sound, 2nd Camera
Juan Pittaluga
Assistant & Co-Camera Operator
Stephanie Pommez
Assistant Director
Laurent Gorse
A Production of
Goatworks Films & Les Films de la Croisade
CREW
(continued)
Producer
Jonathan Nossiter & Emmanuel Giraud
Co-Producers
Michel Saint Jean, Diaphana Films, Ricardo Prive
Associate Producer
Tommaso Vergallo
Line Producer
Catherine Hannoun
Production Manager
Francois Drouot
Post Production
Digimage (Angelo Cosimano, Juan Eveno)
Sound Mixer
Nostradine Benguezzou
Colorist
Guillaume Lips
MONDOVINO
ABOUT THE STORY
Set in seven countries across three continents, MONDOVINO weaves together the family succession saga ofNapaValley power brokers with the bitter rivalry of two aristocratic Florentine dynasties, and the inter-generational struggle ofa Burgundian family trying to preserve its few acres of vineyards. It also connectsthese stories--and several others-- to the exploits of a gleeful "flying winemaker" from Bordeaux who preaches the gospel of modernity and globalization from the hills of Tuscany to the pampas of Argentina.
For thousands of years, wine has been a symbol of Western civilization. But, never has the fight for its soul been as desperate and defining as it is today. Never has so much pride--and money--been at stake. And, never have the battle lines been so clearly drawn between old world and new, between simple peasants and billionaires, and between the local and artisanal styles of wine production and the multinational and mass-produced ones. With wine sold at local supermarkets throughout the world, one can certainly argue that a greater number of consumers have a greater taste for wine than ever before. What that wine tastes like is another matter....
The ultimate film about wine and wine culture, MONDOVINO was filmed by award-winning director and sometime sommelier Jonathan Nossiter in five languages over a three-year period. Juxtaposing mom-and-pop wine growers with conglomerates, Nossiter intertwines mutiple family dramas--some of which play like soap operas--and uncovers a complex tapestry of conflicts, conspiracies, and alliances that all stem from the production, distribution, and consumption of one of the oldest and most respected luxuries remaining.
MONDOVINO gives voice to those who create, critique, and do commerce in wine, offering up a surprisingly prismatic, varied, and sometimes controversial glimpse into something everyone enjoys but few people know much about.
MONDOVINO
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
True to its title, MONDOVINO takesus on a journeythrough the "world of wine."An epicadventure that is at once an exploration and a celebration of this endlessly fascinating and increasingly popularcommodity, the film represents a labor of love for award-wining director Jonathan Nossiter, who is also a trainedsommelier, wine writer, and oenophile extraordinaire. Combining an insider's knowledge with an artist's eye, Nossiter trains his camera on wine growers and makers of every shape and size, as well as on the numerous aficionados, amateurs, devotees, dilettantes, creators, and critics who live for, and make their living from, wine.
Only the fourth documentary to be presented inCompetition at the Cannes Film Festival, MONDOVINO went on to become both a critical and commercial success in France, wherewine culturehas been firmly established for centuries. It also caused some serious ripples within that culture, precisely because it opens up, for the very first time, a universe that has heretoforebeen closely guarded and shrouded in mystery and myth.Nossiter's chief discovery is that the world of wine isundergoing crucial, controversial and, to some, cataclysmic changes. MONDOVINO capturesall the subtledrama-- and comedy-- thatoccur when tradition collides with transition.
Whether interviewing a widow who plantedher modest vineyard in memory of her late husband, or a magnate who controls wine production on three continents, whether chatting with an Argentine peasant whose wine sells for underone dollar a bottle, or a Florentine aristocratwhose dynasty dates back to the 11th century, the polyglot filmmaker is at once polite yetprobing,both guest and gadfly, speaking to each subject in his or herown language, both literally and figuratively.The result is a passionate and provocative portrait of a world that is at once completely different from,yet surprisingly similar to, one thatyou or I mightinhabit. For, as Nossiter puts it, "where goes wine, goes the world."
Nossiter's love affair with wine began at an early age, pre-dating his involvement with the arts. "I became interested in it when I first worked as a waiter in Paris at the age of 15," he recalls. "Later, I got a degree as a sommelier in New York, where I made wine lists for a number of restaurants." Because his father, Bernard Nossiter, was a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post and the New York Times, he grew up in France, Italy, Greece, and India, as well as in the United States. "Early on," he says, "I saw how my father got the feel for a given country just by talking to all kinds of unlikely people. Having met winegrowers from around the world over the last twenty years, I've come to realize that somehow this singular world is weirdly representative of the world at large. The reason is simple: wine is more like people, in its infinite complexity, than anything else on the planet."
Nossiter also points out that there is a basic link betweenthe winemaker and the filmmaker, one that instantly drew him to the subject and enabled him to render itwith special acuity. "A winegrower is at once a farmer, a businessman, and an artist. His attachment to the earth is simple and humbling, dependent as he is on the cruel whims of nature. But, at the same that he works the land, the wine that he fashions is linked to the greatest cultural ambitions--and pretensions--of his time. Like an artist, he tries to give pleasure and provoke exchanges between people.MONDOVINO could be a film about filmmaking as much as it is about winemaking, and I felt I had an unusual knowledge of a world of dreams and fantasies that increasingly uses marketing and lies of other kinds to trick people into buying counterfeit and toxic goods. (I'm talking about wine, not Hollywood!)"
This highly personalidentification with his subject, whereby wine becomes Nossiter's metaphor for allcreative pursuits and, indeed, for humanity itself,informs every aspect of MONDOVINO. "I set off with a friend of mine, the Uruguayan filmmaker Juan Pittaluga, to do a casting of winegrowers from different regions," says Nossiter. "As Juan and I began to talk to winemakers in Burgundy, we were both struck by the intensity of father-son relationships and how that intensity expressed itself in love and tension, in the production of something tangible. Naturally, we began to think of our dads, both of whom died quite young but having left behind powerful expressions of their love and their engagement with the world around them."
“The notion of personal transmission from generation to generation," he continues, "of what gets passed on and what dies away...or is lost... or is consciously rejected, became, for me, the grail of this adventure." Citing this "outrageous, soap opera side of the world of wine,"andthe dynastic sagas that took him"from the palaces of legendary Florentine princes, across the mausoleums of California moguls, to adobe huts of Argentine peasants,"Nossiterjokingly calls his film, "'Dallas' among the vines."
"During the shoot," he continues, "I realized it was like being in some kind of Dickens or Balzac novel. I tried to adapt how I directed to reflect this. There was such an enormous range of people from all cultures and social, economic, and ideological backgrounds, with all the pretensions and humble aspirations that the post-industrial world can offer. Because of the vividness of these people, I often felt likeI was working with an international cast of great actors."
If he was tomine all the emotion depthand internecine intrigue in hismaterial, Nossiterneeded to gainunlimited access to both his subjects -- or "actors" as he calls them --and their domains. "I loved the idea of sharing with the viewer the thrill of seeing these private lives that had the intensity of fiction," he says. "Maybe because the wine world is so inconsequential in real terms -- wine is not a question of life and death-- I had suchunusual access to its leaders and power brokers," he observes. "I would have loved to do a film about the world of pharmaceuticals and the effects of pharmaceuticals across the world, but I'm pretty sure thatI wouldn't have gotten access to the right people. It wouldbe a film shot entirely from the outside, and you'd never understand the human dimension. Wine, however, is irrelevant in the larger scheme of things, in economic and political terms. As a result, I was ableto film with unusual intimacy the emotions and psychology of those who wield power and influence."
Being a highly trained wine professional, as well as an acclaimed director and documentarian,aided Nossiter immeasurably in gaining access. Being fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as in English, also proved invaluable. But, Nossiter notes that he was warmlywelcomed "even by those who didn't share my ideas. There's a natural conviviality in the world of wine," he continues. "Even those people who produce wine for the least idealisticreasons find it difficult to resist the natural seduction that comes out of the bottle. There really is a magic that occurs in the natural transformation of grapes into wine. And, even though it's true that the world of wine has been veiled for too long by a kind of 'omerta,' or vow of silence, anyone who drinks or makes wine is instinctively gregarious."
Also, Nossiter was careful to use, but never abuse,his knowledge of viticulture.In every situation he is able to ask the right questions, but scrupulously avoidsmanipulating his subjects in order to get the right, or wrong, answers. His approach is not that of an "expert', despite his expertise, but rather thatof "a discoverer." As he explains it, "I've always tried to avoid the snobbery of wine connoisseurship...all that ridiculous jargon about the 'aromas of pear blossom or...the scent of my grandmother's lace underwear...' Unfortunately, wine has become associated with all of the most exclusive aspects of a certain lifestyle. Especially in places that are not traditional winegrowing cultures like the U.S., England, and the Far East, wine has become a kind of symbol of elitism and pretension. I've always tried to fight against that."
"WheneverI make a wine list for a restaurant and train the staff, I insist that they describe the wine in theirown terms, from their own gut reactions," he continues. Once again likening wine to film he says, "you shouldn't fake your way through a bottle of wine any more than an actor should fake his emotions. Even the most inexperienced drinker-- or spectator-- can immediately spot a phony approach. For the film, I wanted to get as close as I could to a general spectator's point of view, to people who couldn't give a damn about wine, but who are sensitive to simple, everyday pleasures that are somehow essential to our basic enjoyment of life."
"I went at this subject matter in the same way I tried to make my other films," he continues, "without making any distinction between 'fiction' and 'documentary.' In the fiction films I've done, I've always tried to provoke the actors into a vital exchange with the environment in which we shot, from David Suchet with the homeless shelter in Queens, where we shot SUNDAY, to Stellan Skarsgard with a herd of goats in the Greek mountains, in SIGNS AND WONDERS. With MONDOVINO I tried to prod these non-actors to the fullest, most vivid expression possible of who they actually are. It was like working with actorstowards the same goal, butby opposite means.”
“My previous experience shooting feature films in 35mm gave me the necessary discipline and craft to fully exploit the freedom and spontaneity of the new lightweight digital technology,” Nossiter continues.” It was a conscious decision on my part to shoot with two friends, the Urugayan director, Juan Pittaluga, and the Caribbean-Brazilian photographer, Stephanie Pommez. I think the energy of three curious friends showing up with a discreet camera as opposed to a self-conscious film crew, with defined objectives and working parameters, allowed for an unusually human exchange between camera and subject. I feel like the camera itself became an extension of who I am and of what and how I perceived the worlds that I encountered.”
All of MONDOVINO was, in fact, filmed with a single digital camera that constantly roams and moves along with its subjects, often wandering away to explore their surroundings, before returning—a most unusual style for a film containing the sort of extensive interview material that is customarily filmed in stationary, “talking heads” style. Addressing this, Nossiter says, “I went to the movie theater in Paris where the film opened. I met the projectionist coming out, and she said, ’you know, I’ve seen your film four or five times now. The first time I saw it I wasn’t sure I liked the way it was shot. The camera’s always moving, and I wondered why. The second or third time, I realized that the camera was responding the way a person thinks.’ I loved that,” he says.
Adopting the point of view of the filmmaker and his “curious friends,” the constantly probing style becomes the cinematic equivalent of curiosity itself, recording every sensation and atmospheric detail that a given character might be surrounded by, or that a canny observer might notice. “I’ve always operated the camera a lot in the films I’ve made,” he concludes, “but never with so much sense of intimacy and joy of discovery. Even if the camera seems like it had a little too much to drink at times. I’m all for clear-headed engagement, but I’d hate to imagine a world without a little drunkenness!”
The intimate an unadorned shooting style employed by Nossiter allows him to get closer to his characters, and to their individual and widely divergent truths. And, across the seven countries and three continents where MONDOVINO was made, the characters ultimately differentiate and come to represent opposing viewpoints about the future of wine and, indeed, the future of the world. Some (including Nossiter himself) believe that in this age of economic globalization, it is a struggle to produce anything—whether it be a film OR a bottle of wine—that has its own unique character in an increasingly bland and homogeneous world. Others believe that the more people who drink wine, the better, even if the wine they drink all tastes the same, and even if it all tastes bad.
As Nossiter observes, “whatever you think about each person as a character is exactly what you’ll think about his wines. If you respond to Michel Rolland, [the ‘flying winemaker’ who consults for hundreds of domaines in 12 different countries,] you’ll like his wines. If you respond to Hubert de Montille, [whose artisanal Burgundy wines are often described as ‘assertive,’] you’ll like his wine. If you like them both, you’ll like both their wines.”