The workers are the stars of this documentary, screening at the Nick on May 13. (Charlie Gessell)
She has paid $2,000 for Grape Camp, a three-day getaway for tourists who want to learn how to pick grapes in the vineyards. She has perfect salon hair, neatly plucked eyebrows half hidden by sunglasses, and the relaxed demeanor of, well, someone who can afford to spend $2,000 on Grape Camp. While Mexican laborers work the vineyards behind her, she speaks to the camera.
“We’ve talked a lot over the last couple days about how happy everybody is,” she says, earnestly. “How happy people are. And you sort of see why. It’s a beautiful way to live.”
It’s a nice thought.
In Harvest, the new documentary by filmmaker and journalist John Beck screening May 13 at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, vineyard workers do backbreaking work, hustle to fill bins in the dead of night, pick overtime to beat the rains, live in fear of deportation and are expected to smile when the tourist buses come rolling through. Read the rest.
