Film Factory Entertainment has picked up international sales rights to Lucía Puenzo’s crime thriller“Pepita the Gunslinger” (“Pepita La Pistolera”), led by Argentine star Luisana Lopilato.
The outfit is taking the project to the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin, where it is showing an exclusive first promo to buyers.
Directed by Puenzo, the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize winner for “XXY,” “Pepita the Gunslinger” is billed as a visceral neo-noir thriller based on the true story of Margarita Di Tullio, a notorious figure in Argentina’s 1980s criminal underworld.
Di Tullio became a media legend after killing three men in a violent act of self-defence to protect her family — a case that sparked a national media storm and earned her the nickname “Pepita, the Gunslinger.”
The film’s hook is the gap between the public narrative and the woman behind it. A press release describes Pepita as far from an “innocent, vulnerable” figure: instead, she is portrayed as a professional thief and the most glamorous madam in Mar del Plata, who decides to take on a corrupt system.
Set in Mar del Plata during the brutal winter of 1985, the story follows Margarita as she uses her pregnancy as a shield while building a clandestine nightlife empire around the cabaret Neisis, positioned as a refuge and a site of autonomy for women in a world dominated by men.
As a wave of murders attributed to the “Loco de la Ruta” (“The Highway Madman”) spreads fear, Margarita discovers that the true monster is a web of collusion between the police and the judiciary.
The film is described as a visceral neo-noir thriller that explores themes of fierce motherhood, systemic corruption, and revolution from the margins.
The production is a high-profile collaboration between Zeppelin Studio, Historias Cinematográficas, Pampa Films, Life Is One and The Remake.
The supporting cast includes Alberto Ajaka, Claudio Tolcachir, Charo López, Marcelo Subiotto and Esteban Bigliardi.
“‘Pepita the Gunslinger’ combines an exceptional cinematic pulse with a fascinating real story,” Film Factory CEO Vicente Canales said, adding that Puenzo’s take on the character’s “moral ambiguity” and Lopilato’s performance “guarantee a product of high interest for the global market.”
Producers said the film aims to address themes that run through Puenzo’s work, including political bodies, historical memory and female solidarity. Film Factory is positioning “Pepita the Gunslinger” as a key Latin American title for 2026.