Original name: Akiplėša
English name: Toxic
Year: 2024
Run time: 99 minutes
Language: Lithuanian
Type (Colour/ Black & white): Colour
Country: Lithuania
Director: Saulė Bliuvaitė
Producer: Giedrė Burokaitė
Cast: Ieva Rupeikaitė, Vesta Matulytė, Giedrius Savickas, Vilma Raubaitė, Eglė Gabrėnaitė
Screenplay: Saulė Bliuvaitė
Cinematographer: Vytautas Katkus
Editor: Ignė Narbutaitė
Music Composer: Gediminas Jakubka
Production Designer: Paulius Aničas
Production Company: Akis Bado
World Sales: Bendita Film Sales
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 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.
Abandoned by her mother, 13-year-old Maria is forced to live with her grandmother in a bleak industrial town. During a violent clash on the street, Maria meets Kristina, a girl of the same age who is striving to become a fashion model. Trying to get closer to her, Maria enrolls in a mysterious modeling school, where the girls are preparing for the biggest casting event in the region. Her ambiguous relationship with Kristina and the intense, cult-like environment of the modeling school force Maria on a quest to discover her own identity.