Lumières Françaises

ABOUT THE FILM

In the Camargue region of the South of France, famous for its traditional bull race, an exhilarating and graceful challenge of agility and respect between man and beast. Surrounded by men, 22-year-old Nejma trains hard to fulfill her dream of winning the upcoming annual competition - but news of a rogue and violent bull on the loose terrifies the community. Young men are being murdered everywhere, and the beast is nowhere to be seen.

Anchored in a unique western setting and centering on a stunning performance by César-winning actress Oulaya Amamra (Divines), French filmmaker Emma Benestan's sophomore feature Animale is an unforgettable and blazingly confident supernatural fable that blends with the classic body horror, and the revenge thriller.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

What I like to do is to completely overturn the expected codes of genre. 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. That's very important to me: I like subverting genres, and telling stories that are anchored in a diverse context.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Emma is an award winning franco-algerian director born in the south of France, who has always been passionate about bull races. Following her critically acclaimed romance Fragile (Hard Shell, Soft Shell) shown in over 70 festivals around the world, Animale is her first genre film.