About | The Espadrillo Fortune is a 2017 adventure comedy written and directed by Luis Ventura and stars Harry Leonard Feltham, Kate James, Danny D’Anzieri, Lucinda Farrelle and Alexander Davies with an original motion picture soundtrack by Pablo Croissier.

Synopsis | An outlaw with a mysterious past must race against a shady treasure hunter to unearth a long lost Spanish shipwreck rumored to have sunk in one of the idyllic bays on the southern Sardinian coastline.

Preproduction

The Espadrillo Fortune began production at the end of September 2015 after the the production team came up with the idea of a micro-budget guerila-style feature film while on a retreat in southern Sardinia following the release of Tetro Rouge earlier that year.

Taking inspiration from the surroundings, the script was written with the limited budget and resources in mind, taking advantage of the locations and hospitality of the locals. With a completed script the team launched an online audition for the cast.

Production

Given the limited budget the 88 page script was scheduled for 18 days of principal photography. Filming was predominantly outdoors along the coastline and shore with a few sequences set in mountains and forests further inland. For interiors regional businesses aided the production by allowing the filmmakers to shoot in or around their establishments.

When a last-minute casting change forced production to restart and a surprise storm shut down filming for another three days, the film was eventually shot in 12 days. The production made use of a light weight digital cinema camera (Red Epic) with two Zeiss lenses and additional aerial and underwater footage was captured on a GoPro.

Production

Due to the run-and-gun nature of the film a typical production day involved the entire cast and crew travelling together. All make up and costume was done before 6am at the Villa before the team headed out to the location where anywhere between three and six scenes would be shot before returning in the evening.

As cast members arrived in Sardinia successively throughout the 18-day production period some scenes had to be shot multiple times - sometimes shooting one characters angle a week before getting the reverse, when the second actor arrived on set.

Postproduction & Release

After principal photography wrapped the crew stayed in Sardinia where a rough cut was assembled before moving on to Rome. With the picture locked the cast was flown in once again for ADR and Pablo Croissier started working on an original motion picture soundtrack from his studio in LA.

The final touches and further ADR was completed back in Switzerland in 2016 where color grading and the sound mix took place.

Luis took the film to the Marche du Film at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 2017. After a successful screening at the Palais de Festival an international distribution partner was found and the film was subsequently release in various territories around the world on TV and a number streaming platforms.

Thanks to the effort of countless contributors including a passionate crew, engaged cast and a network of talented musicians the film was produced from start to finish for under $15’000.