A wine film?

It's 7 years down the line... and we are very excited to release “Epileptic Inspiration” - the BLANKBOTTLE documentary. 3 episodes over the next 3 weeks. This is not just a wine documentary, but a deeply personal 31-minute story of my life and my family’s life within BLANKBOTTLE.


How this movie came about is a long story. Click on the YouTube link or if you are at work and don't want your boss to know you are on YouTube, read below..
 

In preparation for the launch of Episode 1 next week Thursday, you can off-course buy some popcorn, but in this case I suggest you email Aneen@blankbottle.co.za and order a mixed case of 3 vintages of Epileptic Inspiration (2 bottles 2021, 2 bottles 2022, 2 bottles 2023) - R 1,440. Then pour yourself a glass, sit back, and decide if you agree with the French…
 
 
About 8 years ago my wife, Aneen, logged me out of social media (*disclaimer… it was my request as I could feel the force sucking me in).  Since then I’ve stuck to my guns… until today.

In 2018, I was surfing my local spot with a guy called Theo-Donald Steward. He approached me and said: “Pieter, I would love to make a wine film”. Ever the fan of fun and stories, I said “Cool, sounds fantastic, I’m IN!”

 

We started filming and finally 2 years later (following the flow of the vineyard seasons) the film was complete - a 31 minute documentary. The film is called “Epileptic Inspiration” and turned out to be more than just a wine documentary, but a deeply personal story about my life and my family’s life within BLANKBOTTLE. 

Theo-Donald decided to enter it into a film festival in France, and imagine our surprise when we got selected into the top 50 films and were invited to the event in Marseille. 

We flew over, had a GREAT time, and actually ended up winning one of the categories called the “Coup de Cœur” (Blow to the Heart in French). They even handed us our trophy at a ceremony in parliament in Paris later that year (not quite the Oscars, but for a pleb like me it might as well have been).

When we got back to SA we got flown out to Los Angeles by this film company who wanted to buy the film. Arriving there we got handed an orange jeep to drive for 10 days, whilst we had screenings of the film. One in Sunset Boulevard, one in Beverly Hills. Crazy times. The reaction was fantastic, but when we arrived back home…. BOOM. COVID struck. Nothing happened.

Since then, the film has just been lying there (waiting). So we then thought: why don’t we just release it?! 

We chopped the film up into 3 episodes and the plan is now to release one episode on each Thursday of the following 3 weeks (via our Youtube channel, newsletter and socials) starting 7 August. The second one lands a week later (14 Aug) and the last one on 21 August. 

So pour yourself a glass of Epileptic Inspiration, sit back, and decide if you agree with the French…

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