Variety has been given exclusive access to a first-look clip for “Amanda,” Carolina Cavalli’s quirky Italian-cool film in Venice Horizons, starring Benedetta Porcaroli (star of Netflix series “Baby”), and featuring Italian heavyweight Giovanna Mezzogiorno, and Italian “X-Factor” winner Michele Bravi.
The film, which is reminiscent of early Wes Anderson, premieres at Venice on Monday, then goes to Toronto – it’s the only Italian film to play both fests this year. Charades is handling international sales. I Wonder is distributing in Italy.
The film centers on Amanda, 24, who lives mostly isolated and has never had any friends, even if it’s the thing she wants the most. When she discovers that as toddlers her and Rebecca used to spend a lot of time together, Amanda chooses her new mission: to convince her that they are still best friends.
In her director’s statement, Cavalli says: “I noticed that the film often yearns for the melancholy, ironic and understated; these three together, in fact, are characteristics that I greatly admire. It’s clear that imagination has limits when it needs to be represented: reality, one’s own abilities. However, I have never pandered to these problems, and I am happy about that.
“Indeed, I don’t have a great relationship with time or geography, even when not explicit, and in the same way, all the characters in ‘Amanda’ are also always ahead of time and have no sense of direction.
“Given the choice, I feel more comfortable working with light that doesn’t really reveal what time it is, and with non-places.”
In 2017, Cavalli won the San Francisco Film Society Rainin Filmmaking Grant as co-screenplay writer for the film “Fremont,” directed by Babak Jalali.
In 2018, she won the Solinas Experimenta Serie award and shot the pilot “Mi hanno sputato nel milkshake” for Rai Fiction, Solinas Award and Tapeless Film as screenplay writer and co-director.
Since 2018, she has been working as a staff writer and co-screenplay writer for TV series and independent feature films, supported by Mibact, MEDIA/Creative Europe Grant, and the Rai Cinema Development Fund.
In the fall, she will release her first novel, “Metropolitania,” with Fandango.
“Amanda” is a production by Elsinore Film, Wildside and Tenderstories. The producers are Annamaria Morelli, Antonio Celsi, Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Gangarossa, Moreno Zani and Malcolm Pagani.