Directed by D.M. Night Maire
‘Chateau Sauvignon: terroir’ follows the isolated adolescent son of a storied vintner family who finds himself torn between obeying his father’s callous restrictions and preventing his ailing mother from deteriorating further. When a doting woman and her indifferent son arrive seeking a tasting and tour of the winery, Nicolas sees an opportunity to help care for his mother, as well as prove his worth to his choleric father. However, his wayward plan quickly takes a turn for the worse, and his missteps puts his family’s secretive murderous ways in peril of being unearthed.
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Director Biography – D.M. Night Maire
Cosmopolitan in nature, David M. ‘Night’ Maire is a creative independent filmmaker – Writer, Director, Producer – who’s gritty, character-driven films have received endorsements and worldwide acclaim. With a decade of industry experience pitching, collaborating and consulting on projects of fluctuating scopes, from shoestring microbudget music videos to nine-figure studio blockbusters, David has carved himself a niche within the genre-based film circuit.
A bilingual International Baccalaureate diploma recipient, and alumnus of the prestigious New York University: Tisch School of the Arts, ‘Night’ Maire earned his B.A. with honors in Film & T.V. with a focus on Directing, and Minors in Psychology and Producing for Film & T.V. This native Alpine’s passion for directing led him to then pursue a Masters in Directing at the School of Visual Arts under famed music video and commercial director Bob Giraldi. Since, he’s been invited on a number of occasions to return as a Guest Lecturer to talk on an array of production topics to the program’s graduate students.
David Co-Founded and helmed AireBedd, a perspicacious production company banner under which he garnered hundreds of laurels and awards for his various short films, premiered music videos on MTV and Glamour, and produced content for Moët Hennessy . Louis Vuitton, Red Bull and the Leslie-Lohman Museum, amongst others. His cultivated persona and visual aesthetic have also precipitated invitations to Program and Judge diverse film festivals across the United States, including Shriekfest Horror Film Festival and the PA Indie Shorts Film Festival.
Director Statement
Welcome,
Over the past few years, my focus has been Producing, primarily short form content of all genres, and for all platforms. Yet, my passion remains Directing, sustained predominantly by the tremendous worldwide festival success and niche critical acclaim of my Master’s thesis short film “Chateau Sauvignon: terroir” (see the ‘Screener’ & ‘Reviews’ on pages 25 & 27), a gruesome coming-of-age slasher story about Nicolas, a disobedient vintner’s son who simply wishes to care for his ailing mother.
This short doubles as both a directorial calling card and a proof of concept in terms of plot, character and visual aesthetic for a larger feature project. Rather than follow a group of victims into a winery from hell, the hook of this slasher story is in keeping the lens on the executioners, Nicolas and his family. Think “Frontier(s)” (2007) meets “We Are What We Are” (2013). Similarly to Haneke’s psychological thrillers, this story seeks to explore the unease of human monsters, but adds a heavy dose of visceral Cronenbergian body horror.
Regarding the movie’s stylistic sensibilities, think “The VVitch” (2015) meets “The Revenant” (2015). Cinematically, this Gothic horror relies heavily on available natural light, and single light sources to create dramatically compositional scenes of chiaroscuro. All coupled with long camera moves and takes to eschew a sense of discomfort, tension, suspense. In drawing influence from the New French Extremity Horror wave as well as their American Splat Pack counterparts, all of these elements amass as a powerfully twisted tale, particularly when webbed into a macabre setting with a backwards, self-reliant family of psychopaths…
Thank you kindly for offering us an opportunity to bring our story to your like-minded genre fans. I highly appreciate your consideration in being shared this morbid tale and look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Have a bloody good day.
Festival for HORROR 
