L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano A fter premiering a t t h e 7 9 t h Venice Film Fes- tival and inter- nationally at the 47th Toronto Film Festival l a s t y e a r , t h e movie Amanda finally had its USA release. Written and directed by Italian Carolina Cavalli, the film was a criti- cal success and it was one of the few Italian debut features ever distributed at interna- tional level. Born in Milan and raised between Italy and Paris, France, Cavalli was the recipient of the San Francisco Film Society Kenneth Rainin F o u n d a t i o n F i l m m a k i n g Grants in 2017 and, the fol- lowing year, she won the Ital- ian screenwriting award Pre- mio Solinas. After its premiere in New York City, Amanda hit Los Angeles where we met Caroli- na on occasion of the Laemm- le Royal Theater screening. C a r o l i n a , w h e n y o u were writing this movie, what came first, was it t h e c h a r a c t e r o r t h e story? The character came first. I was writing alone so I didn't h a v e t o p l a n t h e p l o t i n advance, which for me was very nice. At a certain point, the character just came out and started to move and do t h i n g s . B u t s h e n e e d e d a friend. And when she was ready to find a friend, she wanted a horse: and that's how the plot came about. The tone of the movie is so specific: I was won- dering if that was your p l a n a l l a l o n g w h i l e directing... I wondered that as well w h i l e o n s e t : " H o w c o m e everybody is acting in the same way?" I think it really s t a r t s f r o m t h e d i a l o g u e because when you under- stand the dialogue, you then understand the humor in it. I think that's the way the actors probably felt like acting - and some of them were not even actors. So, it was very awk- ward sometimes but I was very happy with the results. A l s o , a l l t h e a c t o r s a n d actresses in the film are a bit like their characters, they brought a lot of who they are into the film. They worked together very well. I mean, I don't know how it is on sets usually because it's my first set, but for me, it was like it worked very well. The group had chemistry. It's pretty amazing how well you have directed your first movie. How was it? It's a pity you cannot have a s e c o n d f i r s t e x p e r i e n c e because it was so interesting: you learn everything in the process. Now I feel I expect so much from myself already: I know things I want to avoid, others I don't want to try, and others I'm too lazy to try. And i t ' s v e r y b a d . S o , I r e a l l y e n j o y e d m a k i n g t h e f i r s t movie because I didn't know what was going to happen next. How was it to have Gio- vanna Mezzogiorno on board? She's the only actress I did- n ' t h a v e t o a u d i t i o n w i t h because it felt so strange, she is so famous in Italy, it wasn't necessary. I really, really wanted to work with her. What about the lead a c t o r , B e n e d e t t a P o r - caroli? She's already a well-known actress in Italy, even if she's very young. When she came for the audition it was such a relief, because the character of Amanda is in every frame, in every scene. So if we didn't find the perfect Amanda, it would have been a bit of a problem. I felt that we under- stood the character in the s a m e w a y . A n d t h i s w a s amazing because sometimes there are nuances in the per- sonality of a character that you cannot really explain as a f i r s t - t i m e d i r e c t o r . B u t because we had the same vision of the character, it was simpler, and such a big relief She has this melancholy in her eyes... Can you tell us some- thing about the editing process? My editor was Iranian- b o r n a n d L o n d o n - b a s e d director Babak Jalali, who is also my best friend. We wrote another film together, Fre- mont, that he directed. It was very nice to edit with him because when you edit you're basically in a dark room for hours and hours every day. So I think you have to choose someone you get along with and you can be yourself with, Now he's like a superstar, he is doing a lot of cool things: his movie Fremont was at the Sundance Film Festival and will be released in the US on August 28th. You co-wrote Fremont a n d y o u w r o t e m o s t o f A m a n d a . W h a t a r e your writing habits like? Very simple. I open my computer in the morning, I prefer to write by myself and to write at home. I drink a lot of coffee and since I stopped smoking, I eat a lot. I h e a r d s o m e o n e define your film as the Italian version of a Wes Anderson film. Maybe y o u d o n ' t l i k e w h e n someone compares your stuff to someone else's, but was there any film or director that motivated you or inspired you? Actually, it doesn't bother me because when they com- pare your film to other direc- tors, usually it's great direc- tors. So it's always directors that are better than me and I'm fine with that. But I didn't go to film school, nor have I ever thought about directing our screenwriting before. So I try not to have too many ref- erences in mind. Some people said to me: "Oh, your film reminded me a lot of this movie" and maybe it's a film I didn't think about but I really loved it. So yes, of course, what you watch or read has some sort of influence on you, even unconsciously... Writing is what I find the most excit- ing... Maybe that's where I am more influenced by oth- ers. What surprised you in the process of making a movie? I never thought the actors a n d a c t r e s s e s w e r e m e r e agents but I didn't expect so much creative involvement on their part. When you cre- a t e a c h a r a c t e r y o u d o n ' t think about how they walk, or how they bite their nails. And then you realize it's really a creation process for every person on set, from the head of department to the actors and actresses. Is Amanda inspired in any way by your life? When you write a charac- ter you obviously take some inspiration from your life, so it started a bit this way. My producer in fact told me: "Why don't you direct it? I feel it's a very personal story." Maybe it is more personal than what I feel it is. I am sure I took from the reality that I experienced in one way or another, but I didn't mean to. Sometimes I wish I was like her because I find her more fun than me. I would rather go on holiday with her than with myself! SILVIA NITTOLI Carolina Cavalli's Amanda debuts in Los Angeles The poster for Carolina Cavalli's Amanda LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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