Toxic

A sobering reminder of the punishing standards put on teenage girls, Saulė Bliuvaitė’s Locarno winner is a brutally beautiful drama that finds light in the strength of female friendships in hopeless situations. In a crumbling industrial town, a teen is mercilessly bullied for her limp. With no social options but to connect with her bullies, she eventually finds an ally in spiky Kristina. When a modelling agency offers the chance of a contract to aspiring locals, the girls will do anything to their bodies to escape the confines of their town.