Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2016: #88. Gabriela Amaral Almeida’s The Friendly Animal

Published on January 6, 2016

The Friendly Animal

Director: Gabriela Amaral Almeida
Writer: Gabriela Amaral Almeida

In a continuing surge of up-and-coming Brazilian filmmakers is writer Gabriela Amaral Almeida. After directing several of her own short films and writing several screenplays (including Marco Dutra’s When I Was Alive), she’s completed her first feature, The Friendly Animal, which has been described by the producer as brutal and violent, focusing on a restaurant owner who turns the tables on an attacker, and with the help of his staff, ends up holding everyone inside hostage. Descriptions of the film promised “primitive instincts will be aroused.”

Cast: Murilo Benicio, Luciana Paes, Irandhir Santos

Production Co./Producer(s): RT Features’ Rodrigo Teixeira

U.S. Distributor: Rights available. TBD (domestic/international)

ReleaseDate: Almeida’s debut has been announced as being ready in time for Cannes, and from the sounds of it, we expect Almeida to be a hot topic, perhaps landing her debut in Critics’ Week, though Directors’ Fortnight may beckon, as well.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.