Interview: Marie Amachoukeli – Àma Gloria

Dialling into a unique relationship dynamic that isn’t portrayed in cinema, Marie Amachoukeli, who won the Camera d’Or award at the 2014 edition of the Cannes Film Festival for Party Girl (co-directed and written with Claire Burger and Samuel Theis) moved into her solo directorial outing with a story that was always there… Titled Àma Gloria and receiving its world premiere in the Critics’ Week section in Cannes in 2023, it made its Sundance debut as one of four Spotlight section films this past January — and introduced audiences to the diminutive but towering performance from Cléo – a little six-year old child dealing with her own interpersonal issues and heartbreak. I got to speak to the filmmaker in Park City and learned about the realities of working on days with limited shooting, how two non actresses worked together as a team, the choice to sport a pair of glassed for the film’s star and we got into her curiosity with animation (which might be the filmmaker’s next project).