Venice, Italy — September 1, 2025

Rising Greek filmmaker Evi Kalogiropoulou has arrived at the Venice Film Festival with her highly anticipated debut feature, Gorgonà, which premieres this week in the Venice Critics’ Week section. Blending elements of dystopian drama, mythology, and female empowerment, the film has already positioned Kalogiropoulou as one of the most daring new voices in European cinema.

From Acclaimed Shorts to Feature Breakthrough

Kalogiropoulou first gained international attention with her short film Motorway 65, which screened in competition at Cannes in 2021, followed by On Xerxes’ Throne, which earned a Critics’ Week prize the following year. These early works established her reputation for exploring identity, power, and resistance through striking visual storytelling.

With Gorgonà, she expands those themes into feature form. The project had already generated strong buzz during development, winning support at Rotterdam’s CineMart and Cannes’ Cinéfondation Atelier, two prestigious incubators for innovative international cinema.

A Dystopian Vision with Mythological Undertones

Co-written with Louise Groult, Gorgonà is set in a bleak, male-dominated city-state where women struggle to reclaim their agency and autonomy. The narrative draws loosely on the myth of the Gorgon, reinterpreted through a futuristic lens, while exploring the intersections of oppression, survival, and sisterhood.

Kalogiropoulou has described the film as both a genre-bender and a political allegory, combining elements of science fiction, folklore, and psychological drama.

An International Collaboration

Produced by Amanda Livanou for Greece’s Neda Film, the movie is an international co-production that also involves Blue Monday Productions (France), Kidam (France), Blonde (Greece), Onassis Culture, Greek broadcaster ERT, and Authorwave.

Notably, Playtime is handling worldwide sales, further raising expectations for the film’s journey on the global festival circuit and its potential theatrical distribution.

Empowerment Through Cinema

At its core, Gorgonà seeks to confront systemic inequalities by centering women’s voices in a world that tries to silence them. The film’s portrayal of resilience and collective defiance resonates not only as a speculative dystopia but also as a reflection of contemporary struggles.

“Cinema can be a space where we question and reimagine our realities,” Kalogiropoulou has said in interviews. “With Gorgonà, I wanted to create a story that is both intimate and political, personal and universal.”

Venice as a Launchpad

The Venice Critics’ Week has a long history of spotlighting groundbreaking debuts, and Kalogiropoulou’s feature is already being hailed as one of the section’s most talked-about entries. For Greek cinema, Gorgonà represents another milestone in a new wave of directors redefining the nation’s cinematic voice on the world stage.

With its fusion of myth, futurism, and feminist critique, Gorgonà not only marks a major step in Kalogiropoulou’s career but also positions her as a filmmaker to watch closely in the coming years.