AUCKLAND, Today: EXIT has added director Olivia Altavilla to its roster, bringing a filmmaker known for honest, emotionally rich stories and characters that feel genuinely lived-in.
Altavilla’s work finds meaning in small human details, creating commercials that feel warm, real and memorable.
Her Italian-Venezuelan heritage and unorthodox family life have helped shape a perspective built around character, connection and emotional truth.
Says Wilf Sweetland, managing parter, EXIT Films: “Oly’s work speaks from the heart. Full of beautifully authentic moments, her craft led direction creates narratives that leave the audience with a depth of understanding of human emotions, from the uplifting to the heart wrenching.
“When you first meet Oly you learn she is a person of genuine warmth, care and empathy who approaches her work with collaboration and connection. We are so excited she is now part of the EXIT family.”
Altavilla says her instinct for people-led stories comes from growing up surrounded by big personalities. “I love people, probably because I’ve been surrounded by so many my whole life. I cannot tell you how many times my Ring doorbell goes off on the weekend from another family member rocking up. But I wouldn’t have it any other way, “she says.
“Being constantly surrounded by so many personalities has always made me very curious. I’ve always been obsessed with understanding the psychology behind why people do the things they do, how they’ve become who they are.
“When a script comes in, I’m drawn to the people in it before anything else. They’re really what excites me, and what I use has a driver for all the craft that follows.”
“I’ve been quietly obsessed with Exit since I was 15. I watched Glendyn Ivin’s Puberty Blues and was so taken by the filmmaking and how understood it made me feel, that I got my stalk on and quickly found Exit’s work.” – Olivia Altavilla, Director, EXIT
That curiosity also shapes Altavilla’s casting process, where she often connects characters to people she knows to bring out more nuance.
“I often assign characters in each script to different people I know, so I’m always making sure they’re imperfect, complex humans that I can relate to.
“When I get to casting, it doesn’t have to be that they perfectly reflect the person I initially had in mind, but it sets the bar for the level of nuance and ownership of a character that I’m hoping to find.
“Whether actors or real people, I’m always asking myself, ‘Do I believe them?’ Or how can I help them lose themselves in a scene, so I do.”
For Altavilla, authenticity comes from what she calls Life’s Wrinkles, the specific details that make a character’s world feel owned and lived-in.
“I work closely with production designers and costume designers who really get into the weeds with me about the specific details that make a space feel owned by the character, like my Nanna’s collection of elephant figurines and herbs in reused passata bottles on the windowsill,” she explains.
Joining EXIT also marks a long-held ambition for Altavilla. “I’ve been quietly obsessed with Exit since I was 15. I watched Glendyn Ivin’s Puberty Blues and was so taken by the filmmaking and how understood it made me feel, that I got my stalk on and quickly found Exit’s work.
“It’s kind of crazy to think 15 years later, I get to see my name on the roster surrounded by such incredibly talented humans that I’ve always looked up to.
“I had always heard stories about how much of a creative family EXIT is, and to be part of that now is kind of unbelievable,” she says.
- View Olivia’s reel here
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