Following six weeks of shooting in Camargue over the course of September and October, Animale [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emma Benestan
ficha de la película], Emma Benestan’s second feature film after Hard Shell, Soft Shell [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (2021), is now in post-production, and the director has linked back up with Oulaya Amamra (awarded the Best Actress César and the Acting Revelation Lumière in 2017 thanks to Divines [+lee también:
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entrevista: Houda Benyamina
ficha de la película], well received in The Salt of Tears [+lee también:
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entrevista: Souheila Yacoub
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entrevista: Romain Gavras
ficha de la película] and Smoking Causes Coughing [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], to name just three, and hitting screens next year in Toutes pour une) to lead the cast of this fantasy-drama.

Written by the director herself, the story revolves around 22-year-old Nejma who works on Léonard’s bull ranch, which happens to be the best in the Camargue region. While training to win the raseteurs championship - a competition where she’ll take on bulls in an arena - a rumour that a bull has escaped begins to frighten the local crowd. Several men are found dead. And Nejma starts to experience strange and worrying symptoms…

Animale is produced by Julie Billy and Naomi Denamur on behalf of June Films and by Cassandre Warnauts for Belgian firm Frakas Productions, in co-production with France 3 Cinéma, Wild Bunch (who’ll be distributing the film in France) and RTBF. Pre-purchased by Canal+, Ciné+, France Télévisions and BeTV, the feature film also enjoys support from the CNC (by way of an advance on receipts and the Images de la Diversité Fund), the Sud and Occitanie regions, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre, Procirep, Angoa, and the SOFICA companies Cinémage, Cofinova and Cinéaxe. The movie’s release in Belgium is steered by O’Brother Distribution and international sales by Film Constellation (the British subsidiary of French group Playtime). Interestingly, cinematography is entrusted to Belgium’s Ruben Impens (nominated for the César in his speciality and awarded the self-same Magritte via Titane [+lee también:
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entrevista: Julia Ducournau, Vincent L…
ficha de la película], having also scooped the 2013 Ensor for The Broken Circle Breakdown [+lee también:
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entrevista: Felix Van Groeningen
entrevista: Felix Van Groeningen
entrevista: Felix van Groeningen
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