Hailed by critics as “grippingly offbeat,” “as extravagant as it irresistible” and “impactful and very funny,” French director Sarah Arnold’s Too Many Beasts” (“L’Espèce explosive”) has scooped this yr’s Europa Cinemas Label for greatest European movie on the 2026 Cannes Competition’s Administrators’ Fortnight.
One among three Administrators’ Fortnight prizes set to be introduced Could 21, the Label, adjudicated by a jury of 4 European exhibition executives, ensures the movie Europa Cinemas’ backing within the type of extra promotion and incentives for exhibitors to increase the movie’s run on display screen.
Produced by France’s 5 à 7 Movies and bought by Playtime, “Too Many Beasts” stars Alexis Manenti (“Les Misérables”) as Fulda, a disgraced Corsican cop transferred to France’s Northeast the place a warfare between farmers and hunters is spiralling uncontrolled. Investigating the disappearance of a farmer who has taken justice in his personal palms, Fulda establishes a rising report with Stéphane, performed by Ella Rumpf (“Raw”), the equally offbeat station’s psychologist, because the movie spirals in the direction of a comedy-thriller.
“A noir thriller, a detective comedy, a small-town mystery, and an eccentric blend of all three: ‘Too Many Beasts’ is a genuine surprise – a strange, delightful French film that grows stranger and more delirious with every passing minute,” wrote critic Diego Lerer.
“’Too Many Beasts’ is a really fresh and original debut feature. It is a real genre bender, encompassing action, romance, thriller, comedy, police procedural and even some romance,” mentioned the jury of this yr’s Europa Cinemas Label, made up of Panos Achtsioglou (Olympion Cinema, Thessaloniki), Octavian Dăncilă (Cinema Victoria, Cluj Napoca, Romania); Alicia Hernanz (Lucernaire, Paris) and Māris Prombergs (Kino Bize, Riga, Latvia).
Although “Too Many Beasts” is Arnold’s first characteristic, she has had a multi-prized quick movie profession. Her first, 2010’s “Leçon de ténèbres” gained the Turin Movie Competition’s Jury Award. 2014’s “Totems” took a Locarno greatest quick movie Golden Leopard; “Store Policy” gained the France TV Award on the 2021 Clermont-Ferrand Competition.
Produced by Helen Olive and Martin Bertier “Too Many Beasts” is written by Arnold with Jérémie Dubois, Olivier Seror, Romain Winkler, and Mehdi Ben Attia.
The movie is co-produced by France 3 Cinéma and Playtime, in affiliation with Pan Distribution, Ubik&Co, Cinemage 20, Cofinova 22, Sansofica, France’s CNC Nationwide Movie Board, Procirep-Angoa and La Sacem de la Région Grand Est, in partnership with the CNC.
