The anarchic spirit of Palme d'Or winner Julia Ducournau titan Emma Benestin's Critics Week Stays Alive As Critics Week Approaches Animalethe genre-defying director's debut film. Buffy the Vampire SlayerKathryn Bigelow's near dark, and Chloé Zhao's naturalistic films. More surprisingly, she also credits Abdellatif Kechiche. Her first break came as she was the deputy editor of the 2013 Palme d'Or winner. blue is the warmest color.
Benestan — would later be credited as a full-fledged editor in the 2017 feature Mektoub, my love At the time, she was completing her studies at France's prestigious La Fémis film school, but observing Kechiche's directorial style and witnessing his penchant for mixing professional and amateur actors was an education in itself. . “The way he marries professionals and amateurs gives his films a certain spontaneity,” she explains. “We've been taught that a manager has to be in control, but being a manager is not just about control. I learned that from Abdel. Being a manager is also about making things happen.”
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Set in a bullring in the Camargue region of southern France, Animale Performer Gods Ulaya Amla, who is currently making a big splash, plays Nejuma, a 22-year-old woman trying to make her own way in the male-dominated world of bullfighting. She seems accepted by the group, but after one night of drinking with the boys, she wakes up feeling something is wrong. Shortly after, news broke that a ferocious bull was on the loose. A young man is found dead and Nejima begins to experience strange physical changes…
Benestin has long been fascinated by the Camargue people's passion for the long-horned black bulls that run semi-wild through the wetlands. “I grew up not far from the Camargue,” she says. “When I was younger, I used to go to the races. Bull culture was everywhere. My youth is steeped in it.” Accompanying her on this adventure was the film It was the cinematographer, Ruben Impens. titan And Ducorneau's previous work, Living (“I think he was also fascinated by this mysterious world.'') Together, they faced the film's biggest challenge: getting the bull on camera. “I don't know exactly what they're going to do,” she says. “We had to deal with an unexpected situation.”
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