TOXIC

Marija is thirteen and is dropped off by her mother at her grandmother’s, in a Lithuanian industrial town whose factories have fallen silent. She walks with a slight limp, and is mocked for it at school. With Kristina, who first steals her jeans, she soon forms a friendship – along with the wish to be accepted into a modelling school that promises the town’s girls a way out: contracts abroad, a life elsewhere. For that, their bodies have to measure up, and the two begin working on them, with diets, tapeworms and whatever else the school demands. “Toxic” by the Lithuanian director Saulė Bliuvaitė (Lithuania, 2024) tells of a youth for whom the town has nothing left to offer but their own bodies.

In her feature debut, Bliuvaitė shows the transition of an industrial society into a service economy through those who become commodities within it. The film premiered at Locarno 2024, where it won the Golden Leopard as well as the award for best first feature. It was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2024.

Shown at the 2024 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

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