Jacopo Chessa and the Film Commission: between local productions and international prospects
(2025, Italy, 107')
Carolina Cavalli’s second feature is a dramedy telling the story of Holly (Benedetta Porcaroli), a 28-year-old misfit convinced that her life has taken the wrong turn. When she meets Arabella, a seven-year-old girl who has run away from home, Holly comes to believe she has found the younger version of herself. Together, they embark on a surreal and tender escape, caught between dreams of redemption and the search for a new identity.
A director, screenwriter, and writer, Carolina Cavalli returns to Venice after her debut in the Orizzonti Extra section with Amanda (2022), which The Guardian included the following year among the 15 best films of the year. In 2023, she co-wrote the screenplay for Fremont (2023) with Iranian director and producer Babak Jalali. Premiering at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the film earned her the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2022, she published her first novel, Metropolitania.
