Three brothers wish to honour their dying father by fulfilling his dream. But there’s one major snag, the dream is insane, and entails crossing the Atlantic Ocean on two floating cars without any sailing experience.
This is the premise of Jesus Garcès Lambert’s new documentary feature project Ocean Drive, pitched at MIA 2023 and produced by industry veteran Alessandro Lostia for Indigo Stories, the unscripted division of Rome-based Indigo Film (the outfit behind many of Paolo Sorrentino’s hits, including the Academy Award winner The Great Beauty).
Indigo Stories focuses on producing high-quality multimedia productions for the Italian and international market. Some of their recent non-fiction projects include Dante. Escape from the Underworld (commissioned by Sky and voiced over by Toni Servillo); Lambert’s own Kobe. An Italian story (the never-seen-before story of late basketball champion Kobe Bryant’s childhood in Italy, commissioned by Amazon Prime Video); Manhunt. Cesare Battisti, Life of a Fugitive(commissioned by RAI), a project about the life on the run of one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, and Alex Schwazer. Running for my Truth, a Netflix Original exploring the controversial doping case involving the titular Olympic champion.
Indigo’s new effort Ocean Drive is penned by the director himself with Lamberto Ciabatti and Daniele Rielli. Budgeted at €952,000, the “adventurous, inspiring coming-of-age doc” is set between Italy, France and Spain.
The story kicks off when reckless adventurer and overbearing father Giorgio Amoretti is diagnosed with a terminal illness. His sons propose renting a house in the mountains where they can all spend what little time they have left together. “No freaking way!” Giorgio objects. It’s his last chance to realise the dream of a lifetime: to cross the Atlantic Ocean on two floating cars. The children are persuaded and they join the great adventure.
Due to worsening illness, the father gives up on the idea, but with the rest of the family, follows his sons’ crazy journey from home. Setting sail from the Canary Islands, the Amoretti lads face sharks and storms while feeding only on fish and plankton. After 119 days and 5,000 km, they land exhausted but victorious in Martinique.
Before embarking on the making of Ocean Drive, Jesus Garcès Lambert helmed some of the most successful documentaries filmed in Italy. His films have been broadcast in prime time in more than 160 countries, reaching over 170 million viewers. His body of work has been produced and commissioned by major international players such as Amazon Prime Video, National Geographic, ARTE, ZDF, Sky, History Channel, BBC, CBS, RTVE, TF1, SVT, SBS, RAI and DR.
“Some of the most important choices I made were to oppose what my father wanted, unlike the Amoretti who risked their lives to fulfil their father’s dream in a total act of trust. Initially, this intrigued me a lot, but I couldn’t understand why. It was pure instinct. But it all became clear when I went to the protagonists’ stone house. Being with them means letting go of prejudices and opening the mind to a series of incredible possibilities, like the adventure they undertook,” Lambert tells Business Doc Europe.
“At a time when the mass media push us to be afraid of everything, especially dreaming, I believe that the audience needs to experience what it means to choose to surrender to fate, to trust, and to fulfil a dream, alongside the protagonists. In the footage captured by the boys, there is life, joy, and light in their eyes; they are alive. The footage tells the story honestly and without filters of how two boys became men by crossing the ocean,” he continues.
At MIA, the creative team is looking for co-production partners, financiers and broadcasters. The project is fully developed with shooting set to commence next spring and editing planned over the summer. Release is tentatively slated for autumn 2024.
“The project wants to tell the story of the search for freedom, the realisation of a dream, the transformation of boys into men. We live in a time when utopia and imagination have become something to be ashamed of. It will be a tribute to a visionary father who will become an existential archetype for the audience. We are confident that at MIA we will find partners who will fall in love with this project and who will see in it the beauty of sending a message to the new generations,” says producer Alessandro Lostia.
When asked about the main obstacles he expects to face along the way, the producer answers: “Obstacles? Only the budget! But if two guys crossed the Atlantic Ocean in two floating cars, finding the money will be much easier.”
