Deniz Gamze Erguven’s English language debut has a major star attached. Academy Award-winner Halle Berry will topline “Kings,” a drama set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles race riots. The project is being shopped to buyers at Cannes.

Eruguven’s feature debut, “Mustang,” made its world premiere at the festival last year. The heartbreaking tale of oppressed sisters living in a small village in Turkey went on on to earn an Oscar nomination. Erguven originally planned for “Kings” to be her first feature, but decided to tackle a smaller scale project first — “Mustang.”

ScreenDaily reports that Berry will portray a “strong, protective mother living in the tough South Central district where the disturbances first kicked-off.” The riots, which feature prominently in ESPN’s much-lauded upcoming doc “OJ: Made in America,” were a reaction against a video recording of cops brutally beating Rodney King, and the wider problem of institutional racism in the police department.

Insiders is repping the sale at Cannes. The LA-based company is headed by Vincent Maraval, who remarked, “Like ‘Mustang,’ [‘Kings’ is] the story of a family, mixing light-hearted moments with drama in a tough environment. It’s a fantastic script. You see the tension rise.”