When Lithuanian writer-director Saule Bliuvaite joins TFV on Zoom from her hotel room in Sarajevo, where she’s currently promoting Toxic, she is still reeling from the film’s sensational, prize-winning reception. An unsettling drama about teenage girls lured by a creepy modelling agency in a dead-end town, Bliuvaite’s powerful debut won two major awards in Locarno, plus rave reviews across the board.
Toxic has been described, among other things, as a horror story, and the opening scene, where one of two protagonists gets bullied in a locker room, has echoes of Brian De Palma’s Carrie. Was that an influence? “It’s funny,”Bliuvaite says, “I went to check my film’s IMDb page the other day, and the ‘horror’ tag is quite prominent. And yes, I definitely wanted to create a dark, creepy atmosphere.”
As for Carrie, the answer is a mixture of ‘yes’ and ‘no’. “I’ve seen it, but I was 15 at the time, so I don’t remember it very well”, she explains. “But my father was a huge Stephen King fan, we had all the books at home, and all the movies based on the books, so I read and watched them all. I’m sure that influenced my style now that I think of it.”
It’s been six days since Toxic took Locarno by storm and won two major prizes – the Golden Leopard and the Best First Feature Award. Bliuvaite is still processing the whole thing: “I’m overwhelmed. I never expected to win the main prize. It’s a huge honor, but at the same time it’s a lot of pressure for whatever I do next. So I have ambivalent feelings about it. Hopefully the attention will dissipate in the weeks to come.”
Nevertheless, she enjoyed sharing the film with the Swiss audience, and looks back on the premiere fondly. “When I arrived in Locarno”, she tells us, “I asked how big the venue was, and they told me the FEVI [where the International Competition premieres take place] has 2,000 seats. They also said the screenings are usually only half full. Then, on the day, Mathilde [Henrot, one of the festival programmers] told me it was sold out.” What was the audience reaction like? “It was interesting to study that, because there was no response to scenes I thought would generate strong reactions, and vice versa.”
It was a big year for Lithuanian cinema at the festival, because Drowning Dry, also in the main competition, won two major awards as well – Best Performance, which went to all four of the lead actors, and Best Director for Laurynas Bareisa. “Yeah, that was crazy. We’ve both been giving so many interviews in Lithuanian media for the past few days. And Laurynas told me about when he went to Venice with his first film, a few years ago. He won an award there, but felt a bit alone. This time, we were both sitting in the front row and sharing this great moment. And no one expected most of the awards to go to one country.”
Is there already an idea for the next film? “There are several. I have various random ideas, but before I commit to one I have to make sure it’s strong enough to make into a feature film, because it’s a very long process.” Did Toxic also start as one of those random ideas? “It did. The first image that came to my mind was that of two young girls walking around in this desolate area. And then I saw a documentary on TV about modeling scouts from Russia visiting these regions. So I put the different pieces together, and that became the film.”
As for what’s next, will it still be a youth-centric story, or perhaps something different? “I don’t know yet, but I don’t want to repeat myself. It wouldn’t be interesting to me, personally, to do something similar again. There are some things from this film I want to continue exploring, others I am done with. There is a sense of continuity in my work, not on the surface level but deeper down, and maybe it will evolve intuitively. I need to figure that out.”
