Naomi Ackie and Eve Hewson

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Naomi Ackie and Eve Hewson

EXCLUSIVE: The UK’s Bankside Films has boarded worldwide sales ahead of TIFF on UK screenwriter Ruth Greenberg’s feature directorial debut, Sugar Raye, starring Naomi Ackie and Eve Hewson.

Running away from her demons, a woman named Raye finds herself in a boxing gym for the first time in 20 years, face-to-face with her old rival. As the women train for Raye’s comeback, the intensity of their connection will either save or destroy them both.

The film, currently in post, is produced by How To Have Sex UK producers Ivana MacKinnon and Emily Leo of Wild Swim Films, Ackie and Cyrpus-headquartered Mid March Media’s Gregory Jankilevitsch and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska.

Funders are the BFI, Mid March Media and Swiss-based NEBEL Productions, through which Alessio Di Naro and Davide Marangoni also serve as co-producers.

Greenberg wrote the screenplay for Andrew Cumming’s Bafta Scotland winner Out Of Darkness, for which she was Bifa nominated, and was a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2022. Her directorial credits include 2021 short Run.

Executive producers are Louise Ortega for the BFI and Stephen Kelliher and Sophie Green for Bankside Films.  

“I was so grateful to have the opportunity to bring such a relevant story to the screen for my debut feature, and I could not have found two more incredible partners than Naomi and Eve. Naomi’s deep commitment to the film extended to producing alongside the brilliant Ivana and Emily,” said Greenberg. 

”Ruth’s debut is a viscerally powerful sports movie – stylish, cathartic, and deeply emotional, with two powerhouse performances,” added the producers. 

Bankside managing director Kelliher described it as ”a fresh and distinctive take on the boxing genre. Naomi Ackie and Eve Hewson deliver truly knockout performances,” while Ortega described it as an ”emotional, visceral and visually stunning boxing film with a uniquely powerful female lens”. 

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