Prepare for “Prevenge.” Alice Lowe’s feature directorial debut will open the Venice International Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. The fest runs from August 31-September 10 in Venice, Italy.

Lowe has described “Prevenge” as a “post-feminist revenge movie.” The UK writer-director-actress was pregnant during the film’s production, an experience she said helped give the project “a fire underneath… to get going.” She stars in “Prevenge” as a pregnant woman who embarks on a killing spree.

“With this film, I wanted to talk about how primal and dramatic giving birth and having a child is, how existential it is that another human being comes out of a hole in you,” Lowe explained. “Men have always made sci-fi about that idea, but why shouldn’t women, in a different way?”

Lowe wrote, directed, and starred in the 2014 short “Solitudo,” a horror story about a nun stalked by a creature.

Critics’ Week is an independent section of Venice’s fest and features a lineup from first-time directors. While we’re pleased to see a female filmmaker opening the program, it’s important to note that “Prevenge” isn’t actually in Competition in Critics’ Week, and is instead labeled as a “Special Event.”

Of the seven films in Competition for Critics’ Week, only one is helmed by a woman: Irene Dionisio’s “Le Ultime Cose,” which follows intertwining stories leading to the present day in Turin, a city in northern Italy. Dionisio was inspired to tell the story after a memorable experience at a pawnbroker.

Last year only 10 percent of the films in Venice’s Official Competition lineup were helmed by women.