Red Obsession award win opens door to UK release
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Red Obsession, the feature documentary on wealthy Chinese consumers' blossoming taste for top Bordeaux wines, has moved a step closer to release in the UK and France after winning two Australian Academy awards.
Red Obsession beat three rivals to win best feature length documentary at last week’s Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, held in Sydney.
The event, attended by 1,300 guests including actress Cate Blanchett, also marked a personal triumph for Red Obsession co-directors Warwick Ross and David Roach, with the film also scooping best direction in a documentary.
‘The whole team is thrilled,’ Ross told decanter.com.
Red Obsession is shortly to be released in Japan and South America, following stints in Australia, North America and Scandinavia, and Ross is now hopeful the awards will open doors in the UK and France.
‘Ironically, the UK and France have been the toughest markets to secure distribution. But since the awards, we are now fielding interest from distributors there,’ he said.
More generally, he added, ‘After being selected to screen at many significant film festivals around the world, including Berlin and Tribeca, these awards have been a wonderful acknowledgement of the efforts of the whole production team.’
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Narrated by Russell Crowe and produced by Andrew Caillard MW, Red Obsession begins by cutting to the heart of Bordeaux wine’s inner sanctum, providing sweeping views of vineyards.
It then cuts to the flash lifestyles of China and Hong Kong‘s emerging elites around the time of 2009 and 2010, focusing on one businessman who has made his fortune from sex toys. Its scope follows the strong prices for certain chateaux, and particularly Lafite, but it also encompasses the beginning of the subsequent price slide around mid-2011.
Read Jane Anson’s full review of Red Obsession on decanter.com, here.
Written by Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.
He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.
Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.
Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.