If you’re a lover of wine, chances are you’ll be drawn to, or at least intrigued by, movies that prominently feature wines. Fortunately, there are a large number of films which revolve around wine and wine tasting. It is perhaps understandable that wine has become such an influential topic for movie makers, because there is…
In the Austin-shot drama Deep in the Heart written by Brian A. Hoffman, Jon Gries (left) portrays Texas businessman and philanthropist Richard Wallrath. This warts-and-all biography details Wallrath’s struggles with alcohol, his estranged relationship with his family, his rocky road to success, and his faith in God. Deep in the Heart received its world premiere Oct. 23 at the…
The 18th Austin Film Festival is almost here. To help celebrate all the locally connected movies at this year’s fest, we’ve reached out to a number of filmmakers to find out about their Austin and Texas-tied films screening at AFF, and to hear about what they’re looking forward to doing during the festival. Deep In…
Twenty-three U.S. and world premieres are on tap for the 2011 Austin Film Festival & Conference. Today’s list includes 60 titles from various genres. Highlights such as James Franco’s “Sal,” the latest by Jay and Mark Duplass, “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms, “The Descendants” starring George Clooney, “Shame” starring…
The mockumentary Corked! was screened at the Sonoma Film Festival earlier this year and will be shown in San Jose next week. There are plans to screen it in San Francisco and other cities around the world, including a possible New York screening, but no dates have been set as yet. “We’re talking about [New York dates],”…
Corked!, a comedic look at the Northern California wine community, will run at Camera 3 Cinemas in San Jose from July 27 through July 30, 2009. Written and directed by Sonoma wine industry insiders Ross Clendenen and Paul Hawley, and produced by Brian A. Hoffman, the film premiered at the Sonoma Valley Festival to rave…
by ERIC GOLUB I had the pleasure of seeing an independent film named “Corked,” a movie that satirizes the pomposity and smugness of the culture of Sonoma Wine Country. As somebody who does not drink alcohol, does not go to independent films, and does not drive my car outside the West side of Los Angeles (it’s…
The wine industry mockumentary “Corked” seems destined to be paired with last year’s scruffy indie charmer “Bottle Shock” in a kind of buy-one, get-one-for-a-penny deal. Both are low-budget efforts, awkward in places but tasty and easy enough to swallow, coming as they do from places of heightened truth. Written and directed by Ross Clendenen and…
BY DAVID TEMPLETON Winery owners are rich, self-important snobs with no established connection to reality. They hire relatives to run their wineries whether those relatives know anything about wine or not. Wine country tourists are boorish inebriates who think grape-picking is glamorous. Wine-industry marketing executives think that successful winemaking is all about sitting down and thinking…