North American Premiere
Left behind by her mother, 13-year-old Marija is settling into a new, small-town life with her grandmother when a violent encounter puts her in the orbit of the resident “It girl,” Kristina. Eager to fit in and impress her new best friend, Marija reluctantly joins the local modeling school where the popular girls seem to converge. But the school’s shady practices drive girls to dangerous extremes as they try to fit an unattainable mold and pursue the promise of a glamorous life overseas.
Blending social realism with striking, precisely choreographed stylistic accents, newcomer Saulė Bliuvaitė makes her directorial mark with this no-holds-barred take on the complex and volatile nature of teenage girls’ inner lives. She artfully pulls back the curtain on the fragile adolescent psyche as well as their innate sense of resilience. Amidst the chaos and toxic competitive patterns, she finds sparks of genuine camaraderie and raw female intimacy.
Golden Leopard: Official Competition, Locarno 2024
Presented by
Media Partner
Ieva Rupeikaitė, Vesta Matulytė, Giedrius Savickas, Vilma Raubaitė, Eglė Gabrėnaitė
Lithuania
2024
In Lithuanian with English subtitles
Self harm, bullying
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Justė Michailinaitė
Producer
Giedrė Burokaitė
Screenwriter
Saulė Bliuvaitė
Cinematography
Vytautas Katkus
Editor
Ignė Narbutaitė
Production Design
Paulius Aničas
Original Music
Gediminas Jakubka
Saulė Bliuvaitė
Born in 1994, film director and screenwriter Saulė Bliuvaitė graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre’s Film Directing program in 2018. Her recent short film Limousine (2021) received the Best Short Documentary award at the Warsaw Film Festival. Saulė is the co-writer and co-editor of the historical drama Isaac, nominated for a FIPRESCI prize at the 2020 European Film Awards. Toxic is her debut feature film.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Big Lebowski
The Coens' whacky, warped slacker generation riff on Raymond Chandler, a shaggy dog story which delights in going sideways at every turn. Jeff Bridges is the Dude, and what he really wants is to get his rug back...
Searching for Satyrus
Award-winning filmmaker and photographer Rena Effendi embarks on a quest to track down the very rare Satyrus Effendi, a butterfly discovered by her father in the mountains of Aberbaijain. But what she finds is altogether more personal, and more upsetting.
Naomi Osaka: The Second Set + Q&A
Kat Jayme, a VIFF audience favourite for The Grizzlie Truth, I'm Just Here for the Riot and Finding Big Country is back with another sports doc, a portrait of the Japanese tennis great Naomi Osaka as she returns to the court after becoming a mom.
Palimpsest: The Story of a Name
Drawing on home movies and diaries from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, Canadian filmmaker Mary Stephen (Eric Rohmer's editor for many years) investigates the origins of her surname. After all, she was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents. Or were they... ?
