'100 Nights Of Hero'

Source: WME Independent

‘100 Nights Of Hero’

Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights Of Hero starring Emma Corrin and Charli XCX is among the selection for the 40th Venice Critics’ Week. The Venice Film Festival runs August 27-September 6.

100 Nights Of Hero (UK-US)

Dir. Julia Jackman
Emma Corrin, Charli XCX, Nicholas Galitzine, Maika Monroe, Richard E Grant, Felicity Jones and Amir El-Masry star in this adaptation of Isabel Greenberg’s 2016 graphic novel, a feminist fairy tale that centres on a bet between two friends in an alternative world. Closing Critics’ Week out of competition, it’s produced by Helen Simmons and Stephanie Aspin of Erebus Pictures, plus Grant S Johnson of Project Infinity. UK filmmaker Jackman’s debut feature Bonus Track premiered at BFI London Film Festival in 2023.
Contact: WME Independent  

Agon (It-US-Fr)

Dir. Giulio Bertelli
The news that the younger son of Italian fashion power couple Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli had made a full-length feature was already making waves when Mubi announced, right after the film’s selection for Venice Critics’ Week, that it had taken Italian rights to Agon — and that the Mubi-owned The Match Factory would be handling world sales. Agon is a conceptual work about three female athletes preparing for a fictitious Olympic Games. One is played by Italian judo gold medallist Alice Bellandi, the others by Yile Yara Vianello and Sofija Zobina, two young actresses who featured in Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera.
Contact: The Match Factory

Cotton Queen (Ger-Fr-Pal-Egy-Qat-Saudi)

Dir. Suzannah Mirghani
Sudanese-Russian filmmaker Mirghani presents her debut feature, about a Sudanese girl whose cotton-­farming village is turned upside-down by a businessman with dramatic plans. The film is based on Mirghani’s 2020 short Al-Sit, which won top prizes at Clermont-Ferrand, AFI Fest and Busan. Caroline Daube of Germany’s Strange Bird and Didar Domehri of France’s Maneki Films lead production on this international project, collaborating with others including Palestine’s Philistine Films and Egypt’s Film Clinic and MAD Solutions.
Contact: Strange Bird

Gorgonà (Greece-Fr)

Dir. Evi Kalogiropoulou
Athens-born Kalogiropoulou’s debut feature, jointly written with Louise Groult, tells the story of two women rising up against the patriarchy at a Greek town’s oil refinery. Among the filmmaker’s shorts, 2022’s On Xerxes’ Throne and 2020’s Motorway 65 both premiered at Cannes. Producers include Amanda Livanou of Greece’s Neda Film, alongside France’s Blue Monday Productions and Kidam. Film development was supported by Eurimages and Greece’s Onassis Culture. 
Contact: Playtime

Ish (UK)

Dir. Imran Perretta
London-based filmmaker, composer and visual artist Perretta’s feature debut is shot in black and white, and follows two 12-year-old best friends who wrestle to hold onto their bond in the wake of a police stop and search. Young newcomers Farhan Hasnat and Yahya Kitana play the leads. Producers of the UK feature are Primal Pictures’ Dhiraj Mahey and Home Team’s Bennett McGhee in association with Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge. Financiers include BBC Film, BFI, Calculus Media and Out Of Order.
Contact: Global Constellation  

Roqia (Alg-Fr-Qat-Saudi)

Dir. Yanis Koussim
This debut feature from Algeria’s Koussim unfolds in two timelines: in 1993 a car crash leaves Ahmed a bandaged amnesiac who becomes disturbed by strange voices in the night, and in the present an ageing Raqi battles Alzheimer’s while Ahmed fears regaining memory. Roqia follows Koussim’s early shorts including 2010’s Khouya (My Brother), which played both Locarno and Clermont-Ferrand. Koussim is the founder of Plateau19, a collective of filmmakers advocating for independent cinema in Algeria. Production is headed by Farès Ladjimi of France’s Supernova Films.
Contact: Alpha Violet

Stereo Girls (Fr-Can)

Dir. Caroline Deruas Peano
Opening Critics’ Week out of competition, this is the second feature from the writer/director previously known as Caroline Deruas-Garrel. She has writing collaborations with Philippe Garrel and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, plus acting roles and her own 2016 feature Daydreams. The female coming-of-age tale stars the director’s daughter Lena Garrel, alongside Louiza Aura and Emmanuelle Béart, and is a 1990s-set story of two music-loving teens in the south of France. Laurine Pelassy and Eduardo Sosa Soria produce for Les Films de la Capitaine and La Féline Films. 
Contact: Celluloid Dreams

Straight Circle (UK)

Dir. Oscar Hudson
Hudson’s feature debut shot in South Africa and follows two soldiers from opposing nations who are stationed at a shared barracks on an isolated border. The feature is produced by 2AM, Magna Studios, Such Content and Rik Green, with BBC Film among its financiers. Cast of the satire includes Neil Maskell, Luke Tittensor and Elliot Tittensor. UK filmmaker Hudson’s short film Joy In People premiered at BFI London Film Festival and won the audience award at Rotterdam in 2018.
Contact: Global Constellation  

Waking Hours (It)

Dirs. Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini|
Documentary directors Cammarata and Foscarini met at film school in Palermo and have been working together ever since. Their first full-length documentary, shot at night on the Serbian-Hungarian border, follows a group of Afghan ‘passeurs’ and the migrants they help to smuggle into the EU. Established indie director Roberto Minervini (What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire?) co-produces through his Pulpa Film. The film is part of the sales slate of Luminalia, an independent agency launched early in 2025 with a remit for “creative distribution”.
Contact: Tommaso Priante, Luminalia

Venice profiles by Ben Dalton, Tim Dams, Charles Gant, Nadiya Jackson, Jeremy Kay, Rebecca Leffler, Lee Marshall, Tara Nimmoneser, Orlando Parfitt, Jonathan Romney, Michael Rosser, Matt Schley, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong 

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