A striking film (recipient of the “Golden Leopard” at Locarno Film Festival) about the destructive obsession with beauty that plagues young women. Set in the desolation of a run-down Lithuanian industrial town, the film follows two 13-year-old girls, Kristina and Marija, who long to escape the dreariness of their surroundings. Kristina loves playing basketball. Marija limps, making her the object of teasing by peers. Together they dream of an international modelling career in Paris, New York or Tokyo. When a local modelling agency announces an important casting event, the two are determined to take part in order to leave the grey reality of their lives behind them.

It is the beauty ideals in TOXIC which are particularly noxious, however. The two girls torture their bodies to the extreme, even using tapeworms ordered on the darknet, in pursuing their goal of becoming as skinny as possible.

Saulė Bliuvaitė, born in 1994, graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre’s Film Directing program in 2018, and since then has worked as film director and screenwriter. In 2021, her short film LIMOUSINE received the Best Short Documentary Award at the Warsaw International Film Festival. Furthermore, she is the co-writer and co-editor of the historical drama ISAAC, nominated for a FIPRESCI Prize at the 2020 European Film Awards. In 2024, her debut feature film TOXIC premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival and won two of the main awards.

Filmography: 2021 LIMOUSINE (short film), 2024 TOXIC

Awards (selection): Golden Leopard for Best Film and Swatch First Feature Award (Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland 2024)