Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams tells the story of Salvatore Ferragamo’s beginnings, starring Luca Guadagnino. Unveiling how the modest Italian shoemaker rose to fame in Hollywood as a master of comfort and design, a new teaser for the documentary teases us with The picture, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, is anticipated to debut later this year from Sony Pictures Classics.
The video introduces the idea of Ferragamo’s shoe business — a comfort — by showcasing several shoes he designed for Marilyn Monroe before fully introducing him to viewers.
When he was just 12 years old, Ferragamo opened his first shoe business, working for a well-known Italian design house. In 1915, at the age of 16, he emigrated to the United States and became a pioneer in the early days of cinema in Hollywood. It was when he was living in Santa Barbara that he began designing trendy shoes for a variety of cinema stars such as Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford, which he would continue doing throughout his life. Throughout the rest of the clip, we see Ferragamo’s ongoing influence on fashion and the film industry. Scorsese makes a brief cameo to discuss how Ferragamo’s work got linked to Hollywood, establishing a high-profile fashion brand that defined celebrities.
Also in attendance are a number of industry insiders who comment on the fact that Ferragamo’s designs remain unique even now, demonstrating just how far ahead of his time he was. They are defined as “passion with a comfort” by their maker. PES created stop-motion animation for a shoe ballet and Scorsese, Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin provided commentary, as did Variety film critic Todd McCarthy, Ferragamo’s wife Wanda Ferragamo, and their children.
Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams was made possible by a century-old archive of footage, the description of Ferragamo’s 1955 portrayal by The Shape of Water star Michael Stuhlbarg, and stop-motion animation for The film also focuses on Ferragamo’s relationship with Wanda, which lasted until his death in 1960, in addition to his work. Aside from a co-creation of the television series We Are Who We Are and a number of short films, Guadagnino has kept himself busy since completing the picture. In the time it took for the Ferragamo documentary to be released to the wider public, he has already finished his second film, Bones and All, and is currently in post-production on Challengers. Although Call Me by Your Name got him an Oscar nomination and many BAFTA nominations, he’s most recognised for that film.
Set to be released later this year is “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams.”