Toxic

Fiction

About the film

Synopsis

ENGLISH

Abandoned by her mother, 13-year-old Maria is forced to live with her grandmother
in a bleak industrial town. During a violent clash on the street, Maria meets Kristina,
a girl of the same age who is striving to become a fashion model. Trying to get
closer to her, Maria enrolls in a mysterious modeling school, where the girls are
preparing for the biggest casting event in the region. Her ambiguous relationship
with Kristina and the intense, cult-like environment of the modeling school force
Maria on a quest to discover her own identity.

SVENSKA

Övergiven av sin mamma tvingas 13-åriga Maria att bo med sin mormor i en dyster industristad. Under en våldsam sammandrabbning på gatan möter Maria Kristina, en jämnårig flicka som strävar efter att bli fotomodell. I ett försök att komma närmare henne börjar Maria på en mystisk modellskola där flickorna förbereder sig för regionens största castingevenemang. Hennes tvetydiga relation med Kristina och den intensiva, kultliknande miljön i modellskolan får Maria att leta efter sin egen identitet.

Director’s Bio

Saulė Bliuvaitė

s a Lithuanian film director, screenwriter, and editor. She graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2018 and began her filmmaking career with several short films, while also co-writing Isaac, Lithuania’s submission for the 2022 Academy Award for Best International Feature. Her debut feature, TOXIC, premiered in the international competition at the Locarno Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Golden Leopard. Since its debut, TOXIC has garnered numerous international accolades and was nominated for the European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI at the European Film Awards.