New Film Review: Agon – A Techno-Realist Portrait of Athletes

A Highly Original Debut Film by Giulio Bertelli

Giulio Bertelli is an Italian sailor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He is the son of Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, the leaders of the Prada Group, yet chose to forge his own path outside the fashion world. His early career was in high-performance sailing, competing in the America’s Cup with Luna Rossa and taking part in ocean racing campaigns such as The Ocean Race. Alongside sport, he pursued design, studying architecture at the Architectural Association in London.

Now, with Agon as his debut feature, Bertelli has entered the world of cinema on his own terms. Drawing on both his background in elite sport and his design sensibilities, he has developed what he calls a style of “techno-realism” — a hybrid form of documentary and fiction that interrogates identity, performance, and the psychological costs of competition.

Critical Acclaim and Reception

Agon premiered at Venice International Film Critics’ Week, where it won the Luciano Sovena Award for Best Independent Production. It has drawn praise from critics for its unorthodox, layered approach:

• Cineuropa described it as “an atmospheric debut structured around three parallel portraits of sportswomen embodying different shades of fragility and strength.”
• ScreenDaily referred to it as “an intriguing Italian debut… a documentary-infused drama that blurs the lines between sport and performance art.”
• Vanity Fair framed it as “a techno-realist experiment that dismantles the mythology of sports heroes, revealing solitude, injury, and the psychological costs of competition.”
• Vogue emphasized how the film “reframes sport as a lens for identity and resilience, rather than spectacle.”

These assessments highlight Agon’s strength as a film that prioritizes psychological depth, bodily risk, and the internal landscapes of athletes, rather than traditional narratives of victory or overcoming.

A Glimpse of NeuroTracker

One of the more intriguing sequences for those familiar with cognitive training appears in a brief fencing training scene. Here, a coach introduces NeuroTracker, a 3D perceptual training tool, telling the athlete:

“Remember, the eyes are the brain’s video camera. The optic nerve is what interacts with the brain.”

Bertelli’s decision to include NeuroTracker is rooted in his own experience. As a sailor, he trained with NeuroTracker to strengthen his mental focus and attention, skills essential for decision-making under pressure on the water. Based on these hands-on insights, NeuroTracker fit as an authentic feature in Agon — a reflection of how cognitive training intersects with elite sport.

After reaching out to request permission for its inclusion, Bertelli kindly welcomed NeuroTracker’s CEO Jonathan and his family to his studio in Italy during their holiday. The visit underscored a collaborative spirit behind the scene.

Final Thoughts

Agon is not a conventional sports drama. Instead, it operates as a meditation on performance, sacrifice, and identity. The film interrogates what is visible and invisible in athleticism—both in terms of physical exertion and psychological burden—and asks viewers to consider how much of the athlete’s journey is shaped by external expectation versus internal struggle.

For audiences open to ambiguity and thoughtful pacing, Agon provides a resonant and sometimes unsettling look at what it means to compete, to perform, and to endure.