Black Bear Signs French-Algerian Cannes Critics’ Week Writer & Director Emma Benestan

EXCLUSIVE: Black Bear’s management arm has signed French-Algerian writer and director Emma Benestan for representation.

The signing follows Benestan’s recent Cannes Critics’ Week outing with second feature Animale, which closed the parallel section to strong reviews.

The character-driven, horror-Western stars Oulaya Amamra (Divines) as a woman who is determined to make her way in the male-dominated bullfighting scene in her home region of the Camargue in southern France.

After a night of hard drinking with her male colleagues she wakes up with a sense that something is off. Shortly after, she begins to experience strange bodily changes as subconscious inner turmoil begins to manifest itself.

Benestan was one of Deadline’s “Ones to Watch” at Cannes this year, and the director and Amamra also stopped by the Deadline Studio at the festival.

A graduate of France’s prestigious La Fémis film school, Benestan’s filmography has had a political edge to date, exploring dichotomies such as femininity versus masculinity and fragility versus strength and how they interact in a contemporary landscape.

Benestan made her feature directorial debut with Fragile, an irreverent feminist rom-com, which screened at over 70 festivals worldwide and was released to French theaters in 2021.

Prior to that, she cut her director’s teeth on several short films which premiered at various international festivals, including Goût Bacon, which was shortlisted for the French Academy Awards.

She also holds editing credits on Cannes Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color and Venice breakout Mektoub My Love: Canto Ono, as well as screenwriting credits on a number of projects including The Right Words, which premiered in Competition at Cannes in 2021.

Black Bear’s globally focused management arm is led by partners Keith Redmon and Joanne Roberts Wiles.

The client list features a raft of rising filmmakers including Johan Renck (Spaceman), Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane), Michaël Roskam (The Drop, Bullhead), Agnieszka Smoczynska (The Silent Twins), Ena Sendijarević (Sweet Dreams), Ilker Çatak (The Teacher’s Lounge) as well as actors such as Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog) and Simona Tabasco (The White Lotus).