Toxic (Akiplėša)

Lithuanian cinema made a striking impact at this year’s Locarno Film Festival, claiming not only four major awards - including the prestigious Golden Leopard and the prize for best debut - but also leaving a lasting emotional mark. Toxic, the fearless film behind these accolades, follows 13-year-old Marija and Kristina as they spiral into financial and moral debt while attending a shady modeling school. The promise of a better life, far from their bleak industrial hometown, inflates like a balloon filled with slow, creeping poison.
Director-screenwriter Saulė Bliuvaitė based the film on the true stories of young models, drawing from her own experiences as a teenager chasing the dream. Often described as the Baltic response to Harmony Korine (Gummo) and Lukas Moodysson (Fucking Åmål), Bliuvaitė finds beauty in even the harshest, most concrete-filled settings. Her sharp, angular visuals capture how her protagonists are pushed to extremes - cornered, trapped, and drifting into emptiness. Toxic is a raw and visually striking debut that heralds a bold new voice in European cinema.