Interview: Carolina Cavalli – Amanda

A refreshing new voice on the Italian cinema scene popped up in the Orizzonti section (Venice Film Festival’s parallel section to the comp) in 2022 and ever since has found more film festival circuit play and has crossed over into theatrical release playdates in multiple territories. With the zesty, dry-wit humoured and precisely stylized composition, the narcissistically delightful Amanda is an impressive debut feature by Carolina Cavalli who looks at the maladroit of the bourgeoisie, finds amuse bouche quirks in sibling rivalry and takes a deep dive into a Gen Z that is defendablely infuriating but its anti-hero protagonist a la Max Fischer (played with a ferociousness and exactitude by Benedetta Porcaroli) is bad-ass in her own mischievous and misconstrued ways. In our sit down in Toronto (selected in TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema section) we discussed about the building of this bourgeoisie set world, the idea of a character’s uniform and the notion of lineage. Oscilloscope releases Amanda in New York City and Los Angeles this weekend.