Sweat, 2020 106 min., Poland, Sweden

Directed and written by: Magnus von Horn
Cast: Magdalena Koleśnik, Julian Świeżewski, Aleksandra Konieczna, Zbigniew Zamachowski

Sweat recounts three days in the life of fitness motivator Sylwia Zając, whose presence on social media has made her a celebrity. Although she has hundreds of thousands of social media followers, endorsement deals, photo spreads in magazines, she is, in fact, desperately lonely and insecure. The rising pressure forces her to confront her deepest insecurities and the exhaustive demands of her lifestyle.

“As well as a focused (entirely fictional) character study, Sweat has much to say about the effects of social media on society, identity, even spirituality. It describes a cult-like world of self-improvement, self-commodification, and self-punishment, bound together by collective belief but full of contradictions.” The Guardian.

„It’s refreshing to see a film that, instead of engaging in some easy social media bashing, just coolly observes it all.”  CINEUROPA