SUZY BEMBA
New faces of French cinema – Suzy Bemba
Meet the new faces of French cinema. Unifrance’s 10 to Watch were selected by international journalists after making a name for themselves at major international festivals in 2023 before breaking out on screens around the world in 2024. Rebecca Leffler met them in Cannes to learn WHO they are and WHAT they’re up to in Cannes and beyond.
Suzy Bemba broke out with her role as young ballerina Flora alongside Ariane Labed in the spellbinding series L’Opéra before launching what is now a parallel career in France and internationally. She starred in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and in Anthony Chen’s Drift, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. She was in Cannes last year in a lead role in Catherine Corsini’s Competition film Homecoming and represented France in the European Shooting Stars at the Berlin Film Festival in 2024.
“I like to do things that seem impossible.”
WHO are you?
Suzy Bemba:
I’m Suzy Bemba. I’m an actress…I think?
I’m also a student in my last year of studying biology. When I started acting, I was studying to be a doctor, then I had to choose between that and being an actress. I stopped school and focused on filming, and in the end I felt I wasn’t using my intellectual potential so I went back to school and now I’ve found a balance between the two.
WHO inspires you?
Suzy Bemba:
Ariane Labed. She is always changing, always questioning herself and that is how I like to work and approach life too. She has conviction. I want to write and maybe one day direct – we’ll see.
I like to do things that seem impossible.
WHAT inspires you?
Suzy Bemba:
What inspires me are stories that are reinvented and seeing the world through different eyes. No two people see the same thing when they look at something – that’s why I love this job.
WHO have you met in Cannes this year?
Suzy Bemba:
I saw Ariane Labed’s September Says and met the two actresses who play the lead sisters. I met and congratulated them on the film and saw the light sparkling in the eyes and it really moved me.
WHO do you dream of meeting in Cannes?
Suzy Bemba:
Viola Davis.
WHAT is your next project?
Suzy Bemba:
Next week, I’m shooting a series based on a book by Delphine Horvilleur for Warner Bros.’s Max.
WHAT is your favorite film of all time?
Suzy Bemba:
The Children’s Hour.
WHAT is your favorite French film of the year?
Suzy Bemba:
Junkyard Dog.
Interview by Rebecca Leffler
Photos by Paul Blind for SAY WHO
