‘100 Nights of Hero’ Trailer: Julia Jackman Crafts a Modern Fairy Tale with the Help of Charli XCX
Christian Zilko
The classic narrative structure of “One Thousand and One Nights,” which saw a woman who marries a prince with a penchant for killing his brides extend her own life via a series of riveting stories, gets a modern feminist update this holiday season in the form of Julia Jackman’s “100 Nights of Hero.”
Adapted from Isabel Greenberg’s 2016 graphic novel, the film follows a maid who attempts to protect a young bride from a dreadful fate by telling her a series of stories. Emma Corrin stars as the titular storyteller alongside Maika Monroe, with Nicholas Galitzine, Amir El-Masry, Charli XCX, Richard E. Grant, and Felicity Jones rounding out the rest of the supporting cast.
“100 Nights of Hero” premiered at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, where it earned overwhelming praise for its sharp pop sensibilities and writer/director Julia Jackman’s ability to update a classic storytelling format for more contemporary sensibilities.
“What makes the work remarkable is its sincerity,” Leila Latif wrote in her IndieWire review. “In a cinematic landscape increasingly dominated by algorithm-driven sameness, this film stands out for its defiant originality. It revels in its singularity and empathy, in the radical power of storytelling: to distract tyrants, to empower the silenced, to imagine new futures. The act of telling a story becomes, in itself, an act of survival and resistance. That message, articulated through Cherry and Hero’s connection, resonates far beyond the screen. By the end, one feels not just entertained, but invigorated. Jackman’s film is a joyous testament to independence, creativity, and the enduring necessity of stories. It proves that happy endings need not conform to centuries-old formulas, and that love, be it romantic, platonic, queer, or fleeting, can be as complex and wondrous as any of the tales we tell.”
She continued, “This is a film of rare joy and spirit, and one that deserves to be celebrated as both a feminist fairytale and a manifesto that will inspire a myriad of future stories.”
An Independent Film Company release, “100 Nights of Hero” opens in theaters on Friday, December 5. Watch the official trailer below.
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