Short Films

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Young Masters

HARD SHELL, SOFT SHELL
FRAGILE

• Director: Emma Benestan
• FRANCE / 2021 / DCP / Colour / 100’ / French; Turkish, English s.t.

• Screenplay: Emma Benestan, Nour Ben Salem
• Director of Photography: Aurélien Marra
• Editing: Perrine Bekaert
• Music: Julie Roué
• Cast: Yasin Houicha, Oulaya Amamra, Raphaël Quenard, Bilal Chenagri, Diong-Keba Tacu, Tiphaine Daviot, Fatma Benyoub
• Production Co.: Unité
• World Sales: Salaud Morisset

Loved-up oyster farmer Az thinks he’s made it. But when an elaborate proposal goes awry and his girlfriend Jess breaks his heart, Az is forced to confront his understanding of what happiness really looks like––both hers and his own. In her first feature film, French-Algerian director, screenwriter and editor Emma Benestan hijacks the traditional codes of comedy with a joyfully feminist take on contemporary masculinity: 'I wanted to overturn the feminine/masculine codes of traditional romantic comedies. I also wanted to pay tribute to the great romantic comedies that shaped my film career. Dirty Dancing had already tackled class struggle and lust. But the pattern is reversed here: it is a woman who teaches the other to dance and transforms him by connecting to her body. She is the one who gives him his true strength.'

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.