Amanda

Directed by Director's notes
  • Carolina Cavalli
Directed by
  • Carolina Cavalli
Year
  • 2022
Length
  • 93 min.
Year
  • 2022
Length
  • 93 min.
Cast
  • Benedetta Porcaroli
  • Galatea Bellugi
  • Michele Bravi
  • Giovanna Mezzogiorno
  • Monica Nappo
  • Margherita Maccapani Missoni
Synopsis

For as long as 24-year-old Amanda can remember, she’s never had friends. It’s the thing she desires most. When she discovers that as infants she and Rebecca spent a lot of time together, Amanda chooses her new mission: to convince her that they are still best friends.

Director's notes
  • When I wrote Amanda, I didn't have any particular intentions, other than to write a good story, which is kind of what I always try to do. It's not that I really had a plan; I had a character in my head, and I think that if you treat characters with respect, the same respect you have for people as people, then you don't really have to worry about the story anymore. And then I don't believe that the way of telling and writing it can be so different from the way of the person who writes it: in this sense, it's a relief not to have a choice, because maybe it's not the best way, but in the end, it's the only one for oneself. For example, I noticed that the film often yearns for melancholic, ironic, and sober things; these three together, in fact, are characteristics I admire greatly.

    It's clear that imagination has its limits when it wants to be represented: reality, one's own abilities. But I've never indulged these problems, and I'm happy about that.

    I don't have a great relationship with time or geography, in fact, even if it's not explicit, all the characters in Amanda are always early and have no sense of direction. If I can choose, I feel comfortable working with light where you don't quite know what time it is, and with non-places. As a reference, for me there are landscapes that resemble interior landscapes more than others, or at least that I recognize as such and prefer: the moor, suburban places of the Mid-West, how I imagine the outskirts of Tokyo from photos I've seen because I've never actually been there, and so on. I would be sorry not to be able to put them together, one next to the other, just to respect a real geography, which doesn't belong to the world of the film anyway.
Directed by
  • Carolina Cavalli
Screenplay
  • Carolina Cavalli
Produced by
  • ANNAMARIA MORELLI E ANTONIO CELSI
  • MARIO GIANANI and LORENZO GANGAROSSA
  • MORENO ZANI and MALCOM PAGANI
A production
  • ELSINORE FILM, WILDSIDE & TENDERSTORIES
In collaboration with
  • CHARADES & I WONDER PICTURES
Editing
  • BABAK JALALI
Scenography
  • MARTINO BONANOMI
Director of photography
  • Lorenzo Levrini
Costumes
  • FRANCESCA CIBISCHINO
Original score
  • NICCOLÒ CONTESSA
Sound
  • ROBERTO GAMBOTTO REMORINO (A.I.T.S.)
  • ALESSANDRO BONFANTI
  • ALESSANDRO FUSAROLI
Casting
  • MAURILIO MANGANO (u.i.c.d.)
  • LUANA VELLISCIG
General organizer
  • DANILO GOGLIO
with the support of
  • FILM COMMISSION TORINO PIEMONTE - PIEMONTE FILM TV DEVELOPMENT FUND
With the support of
  • ministero della cultura DIREZIONE GENERALE CINEMA E AUDIOVISIVO
With the contribution of
  • POR FESR PIEMONTE 2014-2020
  • AZIONE III.3C.1.2 - BANDO “PIEMONTE FILM TV FUND”
Italian distribution
  • I WONDER PICTURES
International sales
  • CHARADES
Director's notes
X

When I wrote Amanda, I didn't have any particular intentions, other than to write a good story, which is kind of what I always try to do. It's not that I really had a plan; I had a character in my head, and I think that if you treat characters with respect, the same respect you have for people as people, then you don't really have to worry about the story anymore. And then I don't believe that the way of telling and writing it can be so different from the way of the person who writes it: in this sense, it's a relief not to have a choice, because maybe it's not the best way, but in the end, it's the only one for oneself. For example, I noticed that the film often yearns for melancholic, ironic, and sober things; these three together, in fact, are characteristics I admire greatly.

It's clear that imagination has its limits when it wants to be represented: reality, one's own abilities. But I've never indulged these problems, and I'm happy about that.

I don't have a great relationship with time or geography, in fact, even if it's not explicit, all the characters in Amanda are always early and have no sense of direction. If I can choose, I feel comfortable working with light where you don't quite know what time it is, and with non-places. As a reference, for me there are landscapes that resemble interior landscapes more than others, or at least that I recognize as such and prefer: the moor, suburban places of the Mid-West, how I imagine the outskirts of Tokyo from photos I've seen because I've never actually been there, and so on. I would be sorry not to be able to put them together, one next to the other, just to respect a real geography, which doesn't belong to the world of the film anyway.