Greek filmmaker Evi Kalogiropoulou is readying her debut feature Gorgonà—meaning “mermaid” in Greek—for its world premiere in competition at Venice's Critics’ Week, the Venice Film Festival’s independent section.

The film is set in a small, impoverished city-state in Greece, a town ruled by a network of armed men and dominated by a gigantic oil refinery, the community’s only resource. As the ailing leader Nikos prepares to name his successor, he shocks everyone by including Maria, his trusted protégée, among the candidates. The power balance begins to shift when Eleni, a singer at the local bar, enters Maria’s life, triggering a profound personal awakening and a challenge to the patriarchal order.

Canadian-Greek actress Melissanthi Mahut (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) leads the cast alongside Belgian actress Aurora Marion (A Wedding [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Panos H. Koutras
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Kalogiropoulou, who was previously selected for the Cannes Short Film Competition in 2020 with Motorway 65 and for Critics’ Week in 2022 with On Xerxes’ Throne, co-wrote the script with French screenwriter Louise Groult. Gorgonà combines genre-driven storytelling with stylised visual language, drawing on both contemporary socio-political themes and the mythology of Medusa. Set in a polluted industrial town inspired by Elefsina, historically associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries that celebrated feminine power, the narrative, as Kalogiropoulou notes, draws a parallel between environmental degradation and patriarchal control, using the setting as a reflection of both oppression and resistance.

The director of photography is Giorgos Valsamis (Meat [+leggi anche:
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Gorgonà is a Greek-French co-production, produced by Amanda Livanou for Athens-based Neda Film, and co-produced with Bertrand Gore and Nathalie Mesuret for Blue Monday Productions, Alexandre Perrier for Kidam, and Fenia Cossovitsa for Greece’s Blonde. In association with Onassis Culture, ERT S.A, Authorwave, and 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture. The film was supported by the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Centre - Creative Greece, Eurimages, Creative Europe MEDIA, ARTE/Kino, Region Nouvelle Aquitaine, and Region Charente-Maritime. International sales are handled by French outfit Playtime. Gorgonà will be released domestically by Filmtrade in Greece and by UFO Distribution in France.