“Bitter Grapes” is an investigative documentary about the South African wine industry. The program finds that, 22 years after the fall of Apartheid, conditions for farm workers in South Africa are abysmal. Workers in the flourishing wine country, the Western Cape – toiling 9-12 hours a day for as low as € 3,5 -- are denied the most basic rights, according to the industry itself. Unions are denied access to their members, while worker housing is falling apart.
Meanwhile, tourists and wine experts tour the vineyards on wine safaris and wine tasting tours – living in lush and restored houses once inhabited by the workers. The workers head to townships where they live without running water, sanitation and electricity – in cardboard houses and tin sheet roofs.
“Bitter Grapes” is made by acclaimed Danish director Tom Heinemann – twice awarded “Outstanding Investigative Journalist” in his native Denmark.