Toxic (Previously Unreleased)

In the crumbling industrial outskirts of Kaunas, Lithuania, thirteen-year-old Marija (Vesta Matulytė) is mercilessly bullied because she walks with a limp. After being dumped by her indifferent mother at her grandmother’s house, Marija, along with the rebellious Kristina (Ieva Rupeikaitė), is taken in by one of the many obscure Lithuanian modeling schools that promise 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 how to do that: by swallowing a tapeworm. Now allies, the girls are willing to do anything to their bodies to escape their fate.

Toxic won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival, where it also took home the award for best debut.