{mosimage}Ala, a fifteen-year-old who has recently moved to Warsaw with her parents, has a hard time fitting into the new environment. At school she meets a group of young girls obsessed with the latest styles and gadgets, and who will stop at nothing to get them. They are "mall girls," teenagers spending their free time in shopping centers who exchange sex with strange, usually older men for clothes, beauty products, mobile phones and other stylish things. Their leader, loud and vulgar Milena, introduces Ala to their way of life.
The movie was developed by the director during her studies at Andrzej Wajda Master School of Directing. The first version of the movie got so much recognition that the director found financing to reshape it into her future debut.
"I Wanted Mall Girls to be a realistic image of the contemporary teenager's world, beautiful and colorful thanks to the access to fashion and affluence of products, but at the same time gray and full of grown-up problems and often tragic choices. It's a world where children are being formed by magazines, internet and shopping malls, which all present only one value - possession," Rosłaniec said.
Mall Girls is produced by The Documentary and Feature Films Studio (WFDiD, www.wfdif.com.pl) in co-production with Studio Filmowe OKO (www.sfoko.com.pl). The total budget of the film was 2.3 million PLN ( €555,000) with 1 million PLN production financing from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl). Rosłaniec also received 20,000 PLN in a screenwriter's scholarship from PISF. The movie was shot in June 2008 in Warsaw in the Reduta Shopping Center.
The modern musical score for this production was realized by a popular Polish raper and music producer O.S.T.R and Skinny Patrini, a duo creating dark and erotic electro music. The young cast includes Anna Kaczmarczyk, Dargmara Kraskowska, Dominika Gwit and Magda Ciurzyńska along with popular Polish actors Artur Barciś and Izabela Kuna.
Mall Girls received the Best Debut award during this year's ERA NEW HORIZONS IFF in the New Polish Film Competition section and The Grand Amber prized during the Youth and Film Debut Festival in Koszalin.
The Polish distributor of the picture is Monolith Films. The premiere is planned for September 25, 2009.
Credits:
Director - Katarzyna Rosłaniec
Screenwriter - Katarzyna Rosłaniec
Cinematographer - Witold Stok B.S.C
Set designer - Marian Zawaliński
Costumes - Małgorzata Obłoza
Music - O.S.T.R Adam Ostrowski
Producer - Włodzimierz Niderhaus
Co-producers - Tadeusz Chmielewski, Jan Włodarczyk
Production company - The Documentary and Feature Films Studio (WFDiF)
Co-production - Studio Filmowe "OKO"
Co-financing - Polish Film Institute
Distributor - Monolith Films
Cast:
Anna Kaczmarczyk
Dargmara Kraskowska
Dominika Gwit
Magda Ciurzyńska
Artur Barciś
Izabela Kuna
and others
Production company:
The Documentary and Feature Films Studio (WFDiF)
ul. Chełmska 21, 00-724 Warszawa
tel.: 22 841 26 83, 22 841 12 11
fax: 22 841 58 91
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www: http://www.wfdif.com.pl
