About | Tetro Rouge is a 2015 science-fiction adventure film written and directed by Luis M Ventura and stars Alice Henley, Adam Lannon, Alexander Davies and Alan Thorpe. Shot in France and Switzerland from July to September 2014 the film features an original motion picture soundtrack by Pablo Croissier and released theatrically on March 26th, 2015.

Synopsis | Tetro Rouge is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction adventure following Skye, a young woman who finds herself in the possession of a mysterious map given to her by her late father. Set a year after the sudden disappearance of earth's magnetic field has left the planet without electricity the story chronicles Skye's journey to find humanity's last hope of survival.

Development

Early concepts of Tetro Rouge date back to the summer of 2011 when, during production of A Confident Man, Luis first began putting together the idea of a post-apocalyptic setting, where in absence of humanity, nature would thrive. The project was slow to develop with the release of A Confident Man (2012) and the subsequent festival run of Midnight City (2013) taking most of the focus from 2011 to 2013.

Tetro was again pushed back at the end of 2013 in an effort to produce Luis’ comedy script Finding Brooklyn. The film was cast and ready to shoot later that summer when a key location fell through. With the ensuing shuffle to reorganise causing some downtime Luis and his team decided to produce a 10-page proof of concept for Tetro Rouge in case a suitable alternative location for Brooklyn could not be secured.

Preproduction

This Tetro short film, featuring scenes that would end up in the theatrical release, was put together quickly and shot during six days in May of 2014, with the fate of Brooklyn still unclear. As summer inched closer and with Finding Brooklyn still missing its key location Redstone Productions decided to scrap the comedy and green light a feature-length version of Tetro Rouge to be shot that Summer.

Now, with only six weeks of preproduction and the lack of a finished script the production team had to double their efforts. Working from a treatment of all scenes and story beats the film was cast, prepped and scheduled for an eight-week production between France and Switzerland. Cameras started rolling in the Loire Valley on July 17th of 2014.

Production

Production began with a two week stint in France where most of the flashback sequences for the film were shot. With a majority of the scenes taking place near infrastructure and set predominantly in the later part of the day the team had ample time to ensure a smooth production. As all of the scenes to be shot during this first leg had been written prior to departing Switzerland the creative team were able to concentrate on execution.

Upon returning to Switzerland on August 1st however, the production was complicated by remote locations and an incomplete script. Typical filming days would involve multiple scenes and location changes and concluded with Luis working on the script at night. The Switzerland-sequences also proved logistically difficult featuring various vehicles, complex terrains and adverse weather.

Postproduction & Release

A release window for April 2015 was set early on during the post production process adding pressure to an already turbulent production. Creative differences saw the departure of the films initial composer before Pablo Croissier joined the team and the late request for a German dub caused further complications.

The team was able to finish and deliver the film in time for a national release on March 26th, 2015 screening in cinemas around Switzerland in english and german, enjoying a four week theatrical run.