Harvest Documentary Film Launches Sept. 14 in Sebastopol

When people make movies about wine, especially the promotional ones, they're very romantic, and oh so groomed. Long shots of vineyards, rustic shots of boots, guys talking about family - you might think they were running for political office. Or something.

Predictably yawnworthy.

Not so Harvest, a new documentary by John Beck filming at five wineries in Sonoma County, takes to the stage this weekend in Sebastopol (followed by more North Bay area screenings), with a very high energy look and feel.


The trailer shows the hail and hearty workers who do a lot of intense work each fall. (Question: are they listening to heavy metal like the soundtrack in the movie?)

Beck is quoted in the Press Democrat as saying he became inspired to do the film after doing a promotional video for several Sonoma County wineries on harvest in 2011:

“I had never seen a night harvest before,” Beck said. “It was 2 in the morning, and the whole vineyard was lit up like a UFO landing. It was very dramatic..."

The filmmaker will appear at the Friday and Saturday screenings in Sebastopol and at the other local screenings in Santa Rosa and Healdsburg the following weekends.

See the trailer for an inside look at a "real world" side of winemaking.

Read more in the Press Democrat article here.