15: Under the Pergola with Amanda Bonaiuto

You can find Amanda, me, and her dog Bacca under the pergola, discussing our shared provenance which includes italianess, shyness, and punkness.  Her film Confetti is available online for the first time through Director's Notes and her and fellow animator James Thacher have just started their own studio called Magician with a screening coming up at Ridgewood Community Cinema on 11/2/25 at 7pm. 

Amanda Bonaiuto is an animation director, artist, and assistant professor of Illustration at Parsons School of Design. Her films have screened at film festivals and institutions globally, including Slamdance Film Festival, Annecy International Animation Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, among others. Her work has been recognized by press outlets such as It’s Nice That, The New Yorker, Vimeo, and NPR. She holds an MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts, and a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She offers workshops, mentorship, and animation publications through a collaborative project called Magician Studio.

Amanda uses animation to experiment with choreographic movement, relational ruptures, and the ever present tension between bodies and space. Her work examines experiences of turmoil in mundane spaces; the bedroom, the funeral home, the emotional dance created through chains of physical association. She is fascinated by the porousness of lived experience. Her films consider how our environments exert influence as we reciprocally construct our own world.

She hosts Animator Picnics in NYC several times a year (one forthcoming in October). Reach out if you’d like to be added to the email list: [e-mail]

 

Links to points of discussion:

• Amanda Bonaiuto's Instagram
• The Animator's Animations
• Cooking classes at Eataly
• The Animator's Playlist
• The Animator's Friend on Instagram
• Art Shack Bedstuy
• "Material Worlds: Amanda Bonaiuto" by Case Jernigan with Evergreen
• Haneen Koraz on Instagram
• The Animator's Favorites
• Hedge by Amanda Bonaiuto
• Anibar
• Fest Anca
• Kaboom Animation Festival
• GLAS Animation Festival

 

The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an animation educator based in New York City. In this new series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for lighthearted and unexpected conversation.

 

Credits:

• Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
• Booking assistance from Luce Grosjean at Miyu Distribution
• Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
• Music by Cloutmeyer
• Design by Sawyer Rippon
• Microphones provided by SVA MFA Computer arts
• Special thanks to my mom and dad; Darren Santa Maria; Jose Vargas; Malt Adult; Lisa LaBracio; Andy London; Anna Samo; Kristie Kish.