Having escaped a bleak future in the Ukraine, tough Marija, with her hapless friend Olga, is a hotel chambermaid in Dortmund, Germany, working hour after hour and day after day to squirrel away money in the hopes of a better life. But Marija isn’t content to simply eke out a living working amongst the wealthy—she has dreams, especially to open her own beauty salon. And if that dream compels her to steal, commit violence, and then turn to the streets, so be it. Seemingly immune to physical and emotional pain, Marija works her way through the lowest rungs of Germany’s immigrant society, determined to succeed at any cost, even the destruction of her very soul.
Starring the brilliant stage actress Margarita Breitkreuz, who brings cunning and steely intensity to the role, and helmed by acclaimed director Michael Koch, Marija is “[An] aesthetically powerful debut that promises some intriguing surprises.” — Cineuropa
Director’s Biography
Michael Koch: Director-screenwriter Michael Koch began his film career as an actor, before directing several shorts and the documentary We Are the Faithful, a Prix Canal Plus winner at France’s Clermont-Ferrand shorts festival in 2006. Koch’s graduation short, Polar, took the German Short Film Prize in 2009.
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