Oscar Hudson’s ‘Straight Circle’ Acquired by Joint Venture for US Release

Straight Circle, the feature debut from writer-director Oscar Hudson, starring Elliot Tittensor, Luke Tittensor, and Neil Maskell, has been acquired by Joint Venture for theatrical release in the U.S. in 2026.

The film premiered at Venice Critics’ Week (Settimana Internazionale della Critica), where it won the IWONDERFULL Grand Prize and the Verona Film Club Prize for Most Innovative Film, and the Best Directing Award and Special Mention for actors Elliot Tittensor and Luke Tittensor at the Marrakech International Film Festival, awarded by Bong Joon-ho as the President of the Jury. It has since been featured at TIFF, AFI Fest, and BFI London Film Festival.

Straight Circle is a darkly and wildly imaginative satire about how manmade boundaries affect our humanity. A pair of enemy soldiers stationed on a remote desert outpost descends into a nightmare of madness, forgetting whose side of the border is whose. As they fight to cling to sanity, they are forced to grapple with their identities, their loyalties, and the primal instinct to care for a fellow human being.

“Straight Circle is a very silly story about very serious stuff,” said the film’s writer/director Oscar Hudson. “It asks questions about nations and the lines we draw in the sand. It’s partly set everywhere… but it’s especially set nowhere. It features serious military men in oversized hats, teaches us the proper method for boiling an egg, and stresses the vital importance of your hairstyle. But above everything else Straight Circle is a story about our very identities, those which are passed down to us and those that we might forge for ourselves.”

“Oscar’s genius is creating a film that is simultaneously universal and painstakingly specific,” said Joint Venture’s Co-Founders Vinay Singh and Jess Jacobs. “Juxtaposing striking visuals with comic absurdity while maintaining a beautiful core of humanity, this is a singular film and impressive debut that brings to mind the masterful work of Jonathan Glazer, Claire Denis, and Spike Jonze.”