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Rudy Kurniawan created a bull market in wine by paying huge sums for rare bottles that turned out to be fakes. This documentary tells his story

You can’t con an honest man, goes the old saying, and you can’t sell fake vintage wine to billionaires who aren’t pathetically desperate to prove how cultured they are. This highly entertaining documentary tells the strange story of Rudy Kurniawan, a young man from Indonesia who in the early 2000s electrified the sedate world of Us wine investment by paying colossal sums at auction for rare bottles. He schmoozed the top players in wine, dazzled them with his apparent wealth. Everyone wanted to be Rudy’s friend. Then, riding the crest of his self-created bull-market wave, he began selling his stock at a vast profit. But French wine producer Laurent Ponsot noticed something iffy about some of the bottles, and the...

Documentary-maker Jonathan Nossiter revives the debate he started 10 years ago as he talks to the passionate revolutionaries among Italy’s wine-growers

More than 10 years ago, Jonathan Nossiter’s documentary Mondovino introduced many (including me) to an ongoing debate in the world of viticulture, which resonated in agriculture, and culture generally. Is wine being insidiously standardised? And made flavourless and joyless, like the food we eat? Now Nossiter returns to the subject with a film that is more emphatically about the rebels and refuseniks. He talks to passionate independent winegrowers in Italy, low-tech revolutionaries who are working outside the soulless system; their wines don’t conform, sometimes priced radically low. All this revives the debate about identity and terroir from the first film; you could compare it to Britain’s real ale movement. One producer complains that the certification system is creating a world in which everything is Macdonaldizzato – homogenised, like burgers.

After a couple of years’ absence publicist/ producer, Richard Lormand is returning to Toronto with a satchel full of films. Check these out because when he chooses films, he chooses them well.

"Phoenix"

Christian Petzold

Disfigured Holocaust survivor Nina, now unrecognizable after facial reconstruction, returns to find out if her husband really loves her or actually betrayed her...

Starring "Barbara" leads Nina Hoss and Ronald Zehrfeld. Romance and reconstruction in post World War II Germany from the critically

acclaimed director of "Barbara" (Berlinale 2012 Best Director) and "Yella" (Berlinale 2007 Best Actress – Nina Hoss)

Present: Christian Petzold (director), Nina Hoss (actress), Florian Koerner von Gustorf (producer)

World Sales: The Match Factory

Fri 5 – 18:00 (Public 1 – Elgin/Visa Screening Room)

Sat 6 – 11:30 (Public 2 – Elgin/Visa Screening Room)

Sat 6 – 12:30 (Press/Industry 1 – Scotiabank 2)

Tue 9 - 14:00 (Press/Industry 2 - Scotiabank 14)

Fri 12 - 14:15 (Press/Industry 3 - Scotiabank 7

"Itsi Bitsi"

Ole Christian Madsen

In the soul-searching psychedelic 60s, a rebellious young man desperately tries to win a beautiful woman’s love by transforming from poet to writer, nomad to junkie and eventually rock star...

The new film by Ole Christian Madsen, acclaimed director of "Superclásico," "Flame and Citron" and "Prague."

Present: Ole Christian Madsen (director), Joachim Fjelstrup (actor), Marie Tourell Søderberg (actress), Lars Lars Bredo Rahbek (producer)

World Sales: The Match Factory

Sat 6 – 8:30 (Press/Industry 1 – Scotiabank 9)

Sat 6 – 17:15 (Public 1 – Scotiabank 4)

Sun 7 – 9:30 (Public 2 – Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)

Tue 9 - 17:30 (Press/Industry 2 - Scotiabank 7)

Fri 12 – 17:00 (Public 3 – Isabel Bader)

"1001 Grams"

Bent Hamer

Urbane urbanite Marie is a thirty-something scientist whose life is rigorously controlled. When she attends a seminar in Paris on the actual weight of a kilo, it is her own measurement of disappointment, grief and, not least, love, that ends up on the scale. As she explores her new possibilities, everything seems to unfurl magically, beautiful.

Featuring Ane Dahl Torp (Pioneer, Cold Lunch) in a charmingly offbeat comedy from Norwegian master Bent Hamer ("Kitchen Stories," "O'Horten"). A co-production: Norway (BulBul), France (Slot Machine), Germany (Pandora)

Present: Bent Hamer (director), Ane Dahl Torp (actress), Marianne Slot (producer)

World Sales: Les Films du Losangne

Fri 5 – 14:00 (Press/Industry 1 – Scotiabank 3)

Sun 7 – 19:15 (Public 1 – Tiff Bell Lightbox 1)

Tue 9 - 9:30 (Press/Industry 2 - Scotiabank 4)

Tue 9 – 14:45 (Public 2 – Scotiabank 2)

Sun 14 – 19:00 (Public 3 – Tiff Bell Lightbox 1)

"Tigers"

Danis Tanovic

Devastated when he discovers the effects of the infant formula he’s peddling, a young salesman takes on a multinational corporation, in this based-on-fact drama from Academy Award-winning director Danis Tanovic ("No Man's Land").

Featuring Bollywood star Emraan Hashmi ("Once Upon a Time in Mumbai"). A co-production: India (Cinemorphic Pvt Ltd & Sikhya Entertainment), France (Asap Films)

Present: Danis Tanovic (director), Emraan Hashmi (actor), Geetanjali (actress), Khalid Abdalla (actor), Prashita Chaudhary (producer), Guneet Monga (producer), Cédomir Kolar (producer), Andy Paterson (producer, co-writer), Achin Jain (executive producer)

World Sales: The Match Factory

Sun 7 – 14:00 (Press/Industry 1 – Scotiabank 10)

Mon 8 – 21:45 (Public 1 – Scotiabank 1)

Wed 10 - 21:15 (Press/Industry 2 - Scotiabank 7)

Wed 10 – 21:30 (Public 2 – Scotiabank 3)

Sat 13 – 17:00 (Public 3 – Tiff Bell Lightbox 1

"Natural Resistance"

Jonathan Nossiter

Four Italian winegrowers of a rapidly spreading European natural wine revolution have encountered fierce resistance. Not everyone believes in their struggle for an ecologically progressive, economically just and historically rich expression of Italian

agriculture…

10 years after "Mondovino" world acclaimed director Jonathan Nossiter offers a model of charmed and joyous ecological and cinematic resistance against the new world economic order.

Present: Jonathan Nossiter (director)

Sat 6 – 11:15 (Press/Industry 1 – Scotiabank 7),

Mon 8 – 19:00 (Public 1 – Tiff Bell Lightbox 3)

Tue 9 – 19:00 (Public 2 – Jackman Hall)

Thu 11 – 17:45 (Public 3 – Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)...

The Toronto International Film Festival is known for its Oscar bait prestige dramas, major Hollywood studio releases, a focus (appropriately) on Canadian film and, to a lesser extent, its Midnight Madness program. One thing it doesn't have a strong reputation for is documentaries. That's why it's no surprise that only six of the initial 15 documentaries announced for the 2014 festival this morning are world premieres. Even with a 25th anniversary screening of Michael Moore's "Roger & Me" on deck, this year's documentary slate appears weak. Joshua Oppenheimer will screen his Indonesian genocide doc "The Look of Silence," Ethan Hawke has his nonfiction directing debut "Seymour: An Introduction" and Cannes favorite "Red Army" will be on hand, but all of those films debuted or will debut somewhere else first. Intriguing new docs include "Tales of the Grim Sleeper," about a serial killer's 25-year run in Southern California; "Sunshine Superman," about Base jumping...

This world is indeed a dangerous place and according to Tiff Doc programmer Thom Powers’ it might just be the docu filmmakers and subjects who are truly the “rebels, resisters and risk-takers” of the festival. While there might be a couple of more docu items in store along with a look back at Michael Moore’s Roger & Me, both Toronto, and Telluride auds will be in for treats with the Cannes invited Gabe Polsky’s Red Army and Venice Film Festival competing The Look of Silence (see pic above) from Joshua Oppenheimer (which is easily our most anticipated doc of the year) and Robert Kenner’s Merchants of Doubt — about the greediest folk there are: the spinsters (prediction: look for Kenner to be invited on Real Time with Bill Maher). Other hot commodities include World Premiere status latest from the Laura Nix & The Yes Men (The Yes Men Are Revolting...

Director Jonathan Nossiter's "Rio Sex Comedy" is headed to digital entertainment company, FilmBuff. The feature, starring Bill Pullman, Charlotte Rampling, Irene Jacob and Fisher Stevens, will launch via cable and broadband video-on-demand August 30th. Full release follows: The latest feature film by acclaimed auteur Jonathan Nossiter ("Mondovino" and Sundance Grand Prize Winner "Sunday"), "Rio Sex Comedy," will make its way to American audiences through an innovative distribution strategy with the ...

Musician Maynard James Keenan is out to transform Arizona into a wine Mecca in this hilarious new documentary

Musician Maynard James Keenan is a notoriously elusive and very private guy. He's also a very hard interview. And he hates being on camera. Which begs the question, "Why would he want to make a documentary about himself?" Directors Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke provide that answer with their hilarious and heartfelt plunge into the Tool frontman's personal life Blood Into Wine. For Keenan, it's all about the art of fermentation. This explorative documentary traces Maynard as he leaves Los Angeles for a small ghost town in Arizona, where he plans to transform the world of wine into something new, unique, and riotously delicious.

A wine enthusiast, Keenan has long dreamed of creating a new world class wine region within the barren Verde Valley alongside his mentor Eric Glomski, a former David Bruce...

NEW YORK -- Indie distributor ThinkFilm has swallowed North American rights to Mondovino, helmer Jonathan Nossiter's epic exploration of the modern wine world, which made waves on the Cote d'Azur as an In Competition title at Cannes last month. The buy marks ThinkFilm's second Cannes pickup after acquiring the Un Certain Regard entry Kontroll (HR 5/18). While Mondovino created big buzz at Cannes, the documentary's nearly three-hour running time had some buyers spooked. Nossiter will now cut down the feature, with ThinkFilm prepping a "re-edited finished form on the fall film festival circuit," while the helmer creates a Mondovino 10-part miniseries as well.