European premiere

Beasts

Local title
Elajad (2020)
Original title
La terre des hommes
Director
Naël Marandin
Country
France
Year
2020
Programme
Official Selection - Competition

Cattle-breeding requires many sacrifices. Some of those are obvious by default, but a large part of the fight to survive on a humane level in small rural places is an obscure wilderness.

"Beasts" focuses on victims caught in the bureaucratic cogwheels of this agricultural sector, where life is lived to the beat of the activity support handed out by political powers. Where there’s power, there’s fire. In "Beasts", the fire blasts out as the flames of passion which engulfs the peaceful life of a small family company. Constance is a delicate 25-year-old woman with a quiet nature and sky-blue eyes. Her father has squandered all the income of the family business based on cattle-breeding and the young woman has to take the reins both in the household and the male-centred world around her.

Constance’s fiancée Bruno sees the woman as a wondrous treasure, but Sylvain, the chairman of board of the local agricultural industry who grants activity support, sees her as easy prey. However, the prejudiced presumption of the innocence of the blue-eyed Constance becomes fateful for the bored official. Before Sylvain understands what is happening, he has to prove to police officers and the audience that the one-night-stand with Constance took place on mutual consent. In this difficult process, Constance does not shed a tear, instead spinning the situation around her little finger as a tool towards achieving her objective.

Elise Eimre

Director
Naël Marandin
Screenwriter
Naël Marandin
Cast
Diane Rouxel, Finnegan Oldfield, Jalil Lespert, Olivier Gourmet
Producer
Julien Rouch
DoP
Noé Bach
Editor
Damien Maestraggi
Music
Maxence Dussère
Production
Diligence Films
Runtime
Language
French
Subtitles
Estonian, English
Director
Naël Marandin

Naël Marandin (snd 1981) on režissöör, stsenarist ja näitleja, kelle filmikarjäär algas teismelisena, kui ta osales näitlejana filmides „Les allumettes suédoises“ (The Swedish matches) ja „La ville dont le prince est un enfant“ (The city whose prince is a child). Ta on õppinud poliitikateadust ja täiendanud end Hiinas. Pärast tagasipöördumist koju Prantsusmaale ühines kunstilise kollektiiviga KompleXKapharnauM, kellega koos tehtud lühifilmid osalesid mitmel olulisel filmifestivalil. Tema esimene täispikk film „She walks“ (2016) põhineb tõsielulisel lool Hiina prostituudist Pariisis. „Elajad“ on tema teine täispikk mängufilmilavastus.

Pas de quartier (2007, doc), La marcheuse (She Walks, 2015), La terre des hommes (Beasts, 2020)

Grand Prix for The Best Film, grant of 20 000 euros from the city of Tallinn

Q&A with the filmmaker