‘Burgundy’ Cheers Moviegoers With Tale Of Old School Values And Grand Cru Wine – Telluride Film Festival — SkimNews
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- "Burgundy", directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, held its North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, where it played at the Sheridan Theater to moviegoers who praised its focus on tradition.
- The documentary centers on characters in France's Burgundy region, including shirtless 20-year-old apprentice Enzo Ferraroli, patriarch Bertrand Devilliard, a female apprentice sommelier, and a divorced wine critic who was born in the 1971 vintage.
- Much of the film's action unfolds at a 3-star Michelin restaurant under a maitre d'hotel so detail-obsessed he spots place settings millimeters out of alignment from across the room.
- Dweck and Kershaw previously explored Italy's Piedmont region in the Oscar-shortlisted "The Truffle Hunters" and Argentina's horsemen in the black-and-white "Gaucho Gaucho", continuing their run of portraits of people "out of time" who preserve long-held traditions.
- Festivalgoer Henry Mitchell told Deadline the film recalled his own fine-dining background, while Patrick and Patricia Pringle — Burgundy-region visitors — said the movie accurately captures the entrenched families and class dynamics of the area, drawing a contrast to Enzo's humbler Jura origins.
- The film world-premiered at Venice, and after Telluride will continue to Deauville, San Sebastián, Zurich, the Aspen Film Festival, and the Mill Valley Film Festival in Northern California, within an hour of Napa and Sonoma.
Why it matters: For festival programmers and wine-country cinephiles, "Burgundy" extends Dweck and Kershaw's track record of turning obscure craft traditions into award-contending documentaries, with "The Truffle Hunters" already reaching Oscar shortlisting. The film's class-conscious portrait of entrenched Burgundy families versus a Jura upstart gives it a socially observant edge beyond pure food-and-wine spectacle.
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