Bull Running Drama ‘Animale,’ Cannes Critics’ Week Closing Night Film, Unveils First Clip (EXCLUSIVE)
15.05.2024 - 11:03
/ variety.com
Naman Ramachandran A first clip has been unveiled for Emma Benestan‘s “Animale,” which closes the Cannes Film Festival‘s Critics’ Week strand this year. The film is set in the Camargue region of the south of France, where daring youths participate in the local tradition of bull running. Only one woman, 22-year-old Nejma, takes her place in the arena.
Taunting and evading the animals with increasing boldness, Nejma seeks to prove herself the equal of the men – inside and outside of the arena. But both situations put Nejma at risk, as a different threat looms over the community of riders: a bull is on the loose and young men are being killed. After several shorts and a documentary, “Animale” is Benestan’s second fiction feature after the acclaimed “Fragile” aka “Hard Shell, Soft Shell” (2021).
The filmmaker’s background is editing, having worked for several years with Abdellatif Kechiche on Palme d’Or winner “Blue Is the Warmest Color” (2013) and Venice winner “Mektoub, My Love” (2017). “My debut feature was a romantic comedy, exploring male sensibility in what is expected to be a feminine context. In ‘Animale,’ I placed a woman protagonist in a male environment, in a genre typically more associated with masculinity — the Western,” Benestan says in the film’s press notes.
“That’s very important to me: I like subverting genres, and telling stories that are anchored in a diverse context.” “I had already made a documentary [“Fearless Girl,” 2019] about Marie Segrétier, who was the only woman who participated in bull running. In my work with Marie, I asked myself a lot about her place in the arena, and the toxic masculinity around her. I wanted to show the power and the strength that she has — and to show her violence as a
.
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.