Master of Wine Andrew Caillard is the Associate Producer of a new documentary, Blind Ambition. The film won the Audience Award at Tribeca Film Festival and Sydney Film Festival in 2020 and tells the story of four Zimbabwean refugees who take on the best of the wine world in France.
Team Zimbabwe - Joseph Dhafana, Marlvin Gwese, Tinashe Nyamudoka, Pardon Taguzu - escape starvation and tyranny in their homeland of Zimbabwe, before going on to become South Africa's top sommeliers. Driven by relentless optimism, a passion for their craft and unshakeable national pride, the four join to form Zimbabwe’s first ever wine tasting team and set their sights on the coveted title of World Wine Tasting Champions.
From the moment the team arrives in France to compete, Team Zimbabwe turns the wine tasting establishment of privilege and tradition on its head.
Blind Ambition is directed by Warwick Ross and Rob Coe. They had learned about the wine industry when they directed Red Obsession - Mr Caillard's first foray into feature filmmaking as an Associate Producer.
The filmmakers say, "When Jancis Robinson, one of the world’s foremost wine authorities, alerted us to the extraordinary rise of four Zimbabwean refugees who were fast becoming South Africa’s top sommeliers, we were immediately drawn to their story. Having made feature documentary Red Obsession four years earlier, we knew the wine establishment to be Europe-centric, exclusive, and overwhelmingly white.
"Zimbabwe is a country with next to no wine production or wine consumption. So how was it that these four men, who had never even tasted wine before escaping from Robert Mugabe’s brutal regime, were now the head sommeliers at the four best restaurants in Cape Town?
"Even more remarkable was that they were in the process of forming a team to compete against 24 other countries at the World Wine Tasting Championships in France. The first black team ever to do so. Team Zimbabwe."
Releasing in cinemas around Australia on Thursday, 3 March, wine lovers will love this film.
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