Toxic
Two Lithuanian teenagers dream of becoming professional models, but are forced to disfigure their bodies in extreme ways during their training. Winner of the Golden Leopard, the top prize at the Locarno film festival.
In the dreary industrial city of Kaunas, Lithuania, 13-year-old Marija is mercilessly bullied for walking with a limp. After being left with her grandmother by her indifferent mother, Marija – along with the rebellious Kristina – is recruited by a sinister Lithuanian modelling school that promises slim, young girls from hopeless places a way out to a better life.
Of course, they first have to pay for everything themselves – photos, training, flights abroad – but above all, they must stay thin. Kristina has read about one way to achieve that: by swallowing a tapeworm. Now allies, the girls are willing to do anything to their bodies just to escape their fate.
In her raw yet tender debut film, director Saulė Bliuvaitė explores the human body as a project, a form of currency, an object of desire, and a source of pain and magic.