The Wine of Summer
by Maria Matteoli
One of the best days of my life took place on a narrow cobblestone street in Barcelona, as I stood there in a pair of oversized headphones and witnessed my film come to life, as Golden Globe-nominee (and famed Brazilian actress) Sonia Braga sauntered down the street with an armload of flowers.
I had completed my script about 14 months prior, writing the entire feature in a handful of wine-fueled weekends (heh!) in Northern California. The whole process from writing, to funding, to casting was so miraculously fast that I assumed our post-production and distribution journey would be as well. Six weeks after I finished production, I got married (I'm a little bit crazy!), shortly after that I was pregnant with my little boy, and suddenly it felt like the wheels on this speeding film machine had come screeching to a halt.
When my baby was six weeks old, I got a call regarding interest from a newly formed team of sales agents who wanted to take my film to market with them at Cannes. Shortly after that, we started the very long negation process with my distributor, and two years after completing my film, we were invited to have our world premier in Porto, Portugal at the Douro Film Festival.
Since then, we had our big red carpet event in Beverly Hills for the US premier, a tiny theatrical run, and finally (my son is now four and a half!) The Wine of Summer is on Amazon Prime.
Me directing Sonia Braga on set in Barcelona
Beverly Hills premier, (I am center with some of my cast, including from left to right Tom Conlon, Bob Wells, Ron Zane, Ethan Peck, Kelsey Asbille, Mimi Gianopulos, Jonathan Mellor).
I am so grateful I did not know how long this journey would be or how many bumps I would have encountered along the way, because this process has been epic and amazing, and I have learned so very much. I wouldn't trade it for anything, as there is nothing more satisfying as a writer than to see the words I wrote come to life on a big screen with an audience laughing and crying and following along.
Beverly Hills premier, (I am center with some of my cast, including from left to right Tom Conlon, Bob Wells, Ron Zane, Ethan Peck, Kelsey Asbille, Mimi Gianopulos, Jonathan Mellor
