Emmanuel Benbihy - Early Work

Early Work

In France in 1994, Benbihy spent over a year working on the co-development of European and Asian cinemas, while studying Japanese at the Langues'O. He also attended many foreign markets. His research was sent to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Centre National de la Cinématographie, and became his central theme of research at La Sorbonne University (Strategic Analysis in Cinema). This period of reflexion on the industry of film was decisive: cinema needed to serve diversity and peace. He chose his profession: producing world films. Benbihy participated in a panel about the Future of Asian Cinema at the Busan International Film Festival in 1997 during which he claimed that the future of cinema would be in Asia, and more specifically in China. The same year, he joined an independent production company whose first project was an international collection of 12 feature films inspired by parables from the New Testament. For this non-denominational project, he represented the company in international markets and festivals, managing relations with the filmmakers, supervising script development, preparing international production and distribution agreements, and built a strong network of contacts and private investors. He raised a development fund, and took his first steps in the industry, mostly abroad.