Luca Guadagnino surveys the life and work of luxe Italian footwear designer Salvatore Ferragamo in “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams,” which opens at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center Dec. 2. “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams” tells the story of Salvatore Ferragamo who grew up poor in Bonito, Italy, and began his career as a shoemaker before he was barely a teenager.

Immigrating to America in 1915 at the age of 16, his work would soon help invent the glamour of Hollywood’s silent era as he created shoes for iconic films including “The Thief of Bagdad” and “The Ten Commandments,” and for stars including Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, many of whom became his friends.