The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry — for both a young 19th century winemaker, the star of Nick Ball’s The Untold Tale of Isabelle Simi, and for Ball himself.

See, the project first crossed Ball’s desk before the coronavirus pandemic. Simi Wines came to the acclaimed commercial director, and asked him to unfurl the narrative of Isabelle Simi, who inherited a giant Californian winery and overcame significant hardship to turn it into a bustling business.

But then, with pre-production already underway, disaster struck. The pandemic curtailed the plans, and Ball shelved the project, assuming it would never see the light of day.

It was only thanks to the passion of the Creative Director of Venables Bell, Gus Johnston, that The Untold Tale of Isabelle Simi could come to life. It was he who spearheaded the production through to its second incarnation – and gave Ball the space to craft a loving, intimate short film about Isabelle and her journey.

Indeed, the delay of the pandemic provided a unique opportunity for Ball, on that he says has translated into the work you see on the screen.

“This job was certainly special though as most of the heads of department traveled into Chile from Argentina or Europe … and that meant a forced 10 day quarantine at the hotel in Santiago,” Ball said in an interview with OnePointFour.

“It was a strange sort of quarantine in that we could all socialise with each other as we were all in the same ‘bubble’ which meant we could prep the job with access to the full crew for much longer than normal. So it felt like we were prepping a film in all honesty, and I think that shows in the work.”

Read the full interview here.