“The Pursuit of Beauty”. This is the title of the documentary, produced entirely by San Marzano and is a new experiment in communication in the world of wine: San Marzano spreads a story through social media using cinema techniques.
Set in Vietnam, a country that is very fond of San Marzano wines, the video tells of a journey along two non-parallel paths. The first video, in San Marzano, is a stage of a longer journey that over the years has led to meeting the world’s best chefs, involving them in various events based on sharing of cultures and cultural exchange, such as the “NoMenu” and “WorldMenu” events. The second is that of Luke Nguyen, chef ambassador of San Marzano, an Australian of Vietnamese origin who returned to his parents’ country of origin to discover, or rediscover it. Chef Nguyen, as well as owning several restaurants in Australia, is also a well-known television personality, who has won awards for his cooking and food travel programmes. Author of several cookbooks, he has participated in several editions of Masterchef Australia as a special guest and hosted the first edition of Masterchef Vietnam.
Why Vietnam? We wanted to move the place of the narration thousands of kilometres from San Marzano and Puglia, to arrive in an area that, despite the geographical distance and net of all the obvious cultural differences, becomes an expression of shared universal values and of the union between land, wine and flavours. A country that strongly claims its own specificity sets the scene and co-stars alongside San Marzano wine and the ambassador chef. The wine-territory binomial is therefore translated, reinterpreted to create new links that are discovered as we go along, in search of beauty, in a place that is rediscovering itself, a Nation that wants to make itself known, to grow and show the world its cultural potential.
For once, therefore, through wine we liked to narrate not the country of origin but the country of destination; almost of choice. We liked to change perspective, to shift the focus to the new suggestions which enhance the wine itself, in our eyes, in a different context.
During the documentary’s journey, the crew was accompanied and followed by representatives of the Vietnamese government, which supported the project from the outset with organisational and logistical support, becoming a de facto partner in the initiative.
The release of the 7-minute documentary was preceded by the publication of several teasers and a short 60-second film that set the stage and condensed the main themes into clips. The clips will be released in stages from 27th January on the sanmarzanowines.com website and on San Marzano’s official Facebook and Instagram pages and YouTube channel, until Sunday 16th February, when the full version of “The Pursuit of Beauty” will be released.