A film that shows teenage aspirations and struggles; and parents' helplessness who find it hard to keep pace with social, economic and behavioural change
The story of a group of schoolgirls from one of Warsaw's middle schools. Alicja has changed school in the mid-year and struggles in the new environment. Although she is covertly admired for her educational achievement, her poor material status turns her into an object of mockery. Milena, the class leader, suggests that Alicja and herself go together to a nearby shopping mall. There Alicja learns that the elegant clothes and luxurious gadgets with which Milena's group impresses their schoolmates are paid for by sponsors found in the mall - in return for sex. Alicja suspects that her modestly earning father and bored, non-working mother will not buy her a new mobile phone. However, to join the group of Mall Girls she has to deal with a few obstacles: she needs to overcome the fear of an unwanted pregnancy and lose virginity which the sponsors find unwelcome.
A convincing portrait of adolescence made by a predominantly young crew. A film with penetrating behavioural observations and strong acting from young amateur actors. The film's particular strength is the subtlety with which it shows how teenage girls and boys discover their sexuality and what are the potentially dramatic consequences of insensitivity with which this issue is commonly approached.
A graduate of economics at Gdańsk University, Katarzyna Rosłaniec also studied directing under Maciej Ślesicki at the Warsaw Film School and took a feature course at Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing. Her half-hour-long etude Mall Girls put Rosłaniec in the limelight and won her a number of prizes and distinctions abroad and at home, including the Jury Award of the Young Polish Cinema Competition at the Gdynia Film Festival in 2007; she then developed her etude into a feature film of the same title. Shown at the The Young Film Competition of the Koszalin Film Debut Festival, Mall Girls earned Rosłaniec, still under thirty years of age, the Grand Prize Wielki Jantar, while the best actress debut award went to Anna Karczmarczyk.
- Mall Girls / Galerianki, Polska 2009. Written and directed by Kasia [Katarzyna] Rosłaniec, photography: Witold Stok, music: Adam Ostrowski, set design: Marian Zawaliński, costumes: Małgorzata Obłoza, sound: Andrzej Karol Babicki, editor: Wojciech Mrówczyński, Jarosław Kamiński, Kamil Czwartosz. Cast: Anna Karczmarczyk (Alicja), Dagmara Krasowska (Milena), Dominika Gwit (Kaja), Magdalena Ciurzyńska (Julia), Iza Kuna (Alicja's mother), Artur Barciś (Alicja's father), Ewa Kolasińska (teacher), Izabela Dąbrowska (Julia's mother), Franciszek Przybylski (Michał), Dominika Kluźniak (nurse) and others. Produced by Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych, SF "Oko". Co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. Distribution: Monolith Films. Duration 70 minutes. Released on 25th September 2009.
Author: Konrad J. Zarębski, June 2009, edited by Marta Jazowska September 2012