| Naël Marandin | |
| Birth Date: | June 23, 1981 (42 years old) |
| Birth Place: | Paris |
| Nationality: | French |
| Occupation: | Film director, actor, screenwriter |
Naël Marandin (born June 23, 1981) is a French actor and film director.
Marandin started acting as a child, he played in such films as Les allumettes suédoises (The Swedish matches) and La ville dont le prince est un enfant (The city whose prince is a child). After that he took a break from acting and studied political science. For several years, he lived in China and Tibet. Upon return to France, he emerged as a video maker and film director, releasing two prized shorts: Foreign Bodies and No neighborhood.[1] [2] [3]
His first feature, She walks, was released in 2015. The film tells the story of Lin Aiyu, an illegal Chinese immigrant living in Belleville, who works as a prostitute hiding it from her teenage daughter.[4] At the project stage, the film won the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC) project competition and received a grant for production.[5]
His second feature, Beasts (La terre des hommes),[6] was also supported by the CNC.[7] The screenplay was co-written with Marion Doussot and Marion Desseigne-Ravel.[8] The movie was well received by critics,[9] it won the Best Cinematography Prize at the Tallinn Black Nights Festival,[10] took the Grand Prix at the 2020 Saint-Jean-de-Luz Film Festival[11] and at the Saint-Jean-de-Luz IFF,[12] won Best Acting and the Audience Award at the 36th Mons International Film Festival,[13] and the 2020 Critics’ Week label of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.[14]