We begin the highly anticipated Lido selection announcements this week with the unveiling of the nine-title announcements for the 2025 Venice Critics’ Week with longtime scribe Caroline Deruas Peano landing the opening night film slot with her sophomore feature Stereo Girls, while 100 Nights of Hero by Brit Julia Jackman offers a star-studded affair for the closing film of the section.
Based on her own story (originally called Les Immortelles), Caroline Deruas Peano’s coming-of-age drama features Emmanuelle Béart, Lena Garrel, Louiza Aura and Aymeric Lompret in a story set in the 1990s, South of France. Charlotte and Liza, inseparable 17-year-old best friends, live for the thrill of music and the exciting promise of freedom. They’re opposites in every way but together, they’re unstoppable. As the right-wing party starts spreading in their hometown, they dream of moving to Paris, to fulfill their passion for music.But when an unexpected tragedy strikes, Charlotte is left alone, standing on the threshold of adulthood. Carrying dreams that were made for two. Canada’s Vincent Biron is the cinematographer here.
Jackman’s sophomore feature lined-up the likes of Emma Corrin, Nicholas Galitzine, Maika Monroe, Amir El-Masry, Charli xcx, Richard E. Grant and Felicity Jones. Coined as a “feminist fairy tale,” the film is set in an alternate world, ruled by the despotic Birdman, centering on a bet between two friends: Manfred (Galitzine) wagers to Jerome that he can seduce his wife, Cherry (Monroe), in 100 nights. If he wins, he gets Jerome’s castle and all his riches, whilst Cherry will be collateral damage; she will be executed. As Jerome leaves, Cherry finds herself trapped in a remote castle, torn between the beguiling charisma of her husband’s friend and her trust in her maid Hero (Corrin), whose suspicions of Manfred grow daily as time starts running out, emotions intensify, resulting in a love triangle with life-and-death stakes.
In the seven film competition we find two projects that were selected for Cinefoundation Atelier in Cannes in Qatar-based Sudanese-Russian filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani‘s Cotton Queen and from Greece Evi Kalogiropoulou will surely fire-up the section with Gorgonà. Here is the line-up
Competition
Agon, Giulio Bertelli (Italy, U.S., France)
Cotton Queen, Suzannah Mirghani (Germany, France, Palestine, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
Gorgonà, Evi Kologiropoulu (Greece, France)
Ish, Imran Perretta (U.K.)
Roqia, Yanis Koussim (Algeria, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
Straight Circle, Oscar Hudson (U.K.)
Waking Hours, Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini (Italy)
Out Of Competition
Opening Film: Stereo Girls, Caroline Deruas Peano (France, Canada)
Closing Film: 100 Nights of Hero, Julia Jackman (U.K.)
