** Please note: all films listed below relate to the 2012 offering. The 2013 offering will be announced in the new year.
Our mini, onsite, pop-up, wine cinema will be showing a selection of films by independent filmmakers that each explore natural wine in some shape or form.
The screening times for Sunday and Monday are given below and keep your eyes pealed as many of the producers you'll meet at RAW feature in one or other of the films being shown.
You are more than welcome to stop by, watch a little then head off and taste again.
10:30 - 12:00 The Spirit of Wine (L'Esprit du Vin)
A film by Olympe & Yvon Minvieille
Running time: 90 mins
In a world where imbalances in nature abound: global warming, tsunamis, mad cow pandemic, the follies of agrochemicals, pesticide abuse, health risks ... biodynamic winemakers offer a solution. Not only do they express, through their work and their product, a different vision of what is possible today, but they also offer a glimpse of the possible world of the future, a world in which humanity rebuilds the concept of a shared existence. And what better place to start than by considering the question: 'how to feed oneself today without harming the planet?'
Visit the film's official website
12:00 - 13:30 La Clef des Terroirs
A film by Guillaume Bodin
Running time: 82 mins
French with English subtitles
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Austrian philosopher and social thinker Rudolf Steiner questions the future of agriculture. To him, the traditional system is doomed to failure and can only lead to the decline in the quality of products.
In answer to a question about plant diseases, Rudolf Steiner explained that in reality it was not the plant first, but the environment and more particularly the soil, which could become sick. The origin of the plants' alleged diseases were to be found in the state of the soil and the environment. He formalised his thoughts in an agricultural methodology that became known as biodynamics, which as Steiner put it, ensures " the health of soil and plants to provide healthy food for animals and men".
The world of wine has rapidly come to understand the importance of this type of agriculture, which reflects each individual site, through a self-sustaining "farm organism" that functions in total harmony with nature. A concept that is difficult to comprehend in our era of fast food and corporate farming. This film explains how biodynamic farming works: from the vineyard to the wine.
Visit the film's official website
13:30 - 14:30 THAT CRAZY FRENCH WOMAN... in Georgia
A film by Deborah Lambert & Janine Finlay
Running time: 47 mins
"One for the wine buffs"*** Daily Mail
"A great flick. Really fabulous" Alice Feiring
THAT CRAZY FRENCH WOMAN (Isabelle Legeron MW) hits the ex-Soviet Republic of Georgia, where believe it or not wine is thought to have been born some 8000 years. As the birthplace of her bread and butter, Isabelle decides it should be on any self-respecting wine lovers checklist of 'places to visit before I die' so off she trots.
Isabelle discovers an extraordinary country for whom wine is intrinsic to the national psyche - even the alphabet is said to be based on the squiggles of the vine. She unearths a wine heritage that predates both the Ancient Egyptians and the Phoenicians and remarkably is still alive today.
But with the advent of industrialised winemaking and the standardisation of taste, georgia is at a tipping point as locals turn to making wine the western way. As ancient techniques give way to international winemaking gadgetry, will the ancient Georgian art of making wine be lost forever?
To order a copy of the film click here
14:30 - 15:30 Wine from Here
A film by Martin Carel
Running time: 60 mins
"Wine From Here" is about the budding natural wine movement in California. Through lively and in-depth interviews with natural wine producers in their own working environment, the vineyard and the winery, the film reveals the passion and the techniques that distinguish these natural wine producers from other wine producers, emphasizing the importance of organic and sustainable farming, the use of native yeasts during the fermentation of the grapes, and the restrained use of sulfur.
Ultimately, "Wine From Here" captures the values of a new generation of wine drinkers who care about authenticity and the environment. The film is the story of this generation’s favorite winemakers who are today pioneering a new trend in California‘s wine industry.
Visit the film's official website
Follow the directors on Twitter
15:30 - 17:00 Senza Trucco
A film by Giuglia Graglia & Marco Fiumara
Running time: 78 mins
Italian with English subtitles
Four women, four seasons, one grape harvest. Four producers of organic wine work in their vineyards and share their life stories as they work. We meet each of them in a different season, at a different stage of production, in their vineyards and wine cellars. These are the best moments for getting to know them because they are often alone, one to one with nature, or with their most cherished helpers.
Then the harvest season comes for all of them: the race to pick the grapes at their peak, the to and fro of the tractors and the farm labourers, the perfume of the crushed grapes, which presages the quality of the must and wine to come.
Visit the film's official website (in italian only)
To order a DVD: email the producers directly