Bobbi Salv\u00f6r Menuez (HBO\u2019s \u201cEuphoria,\u201d \u201cUnder the Silver Lake\u201d) is in talks to join an international cast for \u201cLipstick on the Glass,\u201d the English-language debut of acclaimed Polish director Kuba Czekaj (\u201cBaby Bump\u201d), Variety has learned exclusively.<\/p>\n
Pic will star Agnieszka Podsiadlik (\u201cMug\u201d), who previously collaborated with Czekaj on Berlin player \u201cThe Erlprince.\u201d The international cast includes American actor Mari Malek (\u201cThe Nile Hilton Incident\u201d), English-French thesp Laura Benson (\u201cTouch Me Not\u201d), and German actors Stipe Erceg (\u201cThe Baader Meinhof Complex\u201d), Lena Lauzemis (\u201cIf Not Us, Who?\u201d), and Mina Tander (\u201cMaria, He Doesn\u2019t Like It\u201d).<\/p>\n
\u201cLipstick on the Glass\u201d is a dystopian vision of reality in which a woman is induced to abandon her gangster husband to join a feminist sect. Producer Pawe\u0142 Kosu\u0144 described it as a story about every person\u2019s right to self-determination, regardless of their gender identity or imposed social and cultural norms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt poses a fundamental question: who am I?\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a question which an ever-growing number of Europeans are asking themselves as they endeavor to find themselves in the midst of a reality of extreme attitudes. People who are lost, who are pressed into believing what they should be like, seek help.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cPsychotherapists\u2019 consulting rooms are bursting at the seams because every single \u2018deviation from the norm\u2019 is something that needs treating. Yet each of us has the right to choose, do we not?\u201d<\/p>\n
Czekaj\u2019s provocative debut, \u201cBaby Bump,\u201d premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015, where it received a special mention in the Queer Lion competition<\/strong>. Variety described his 2017 follow-up \u201cThe Erlprince\u201d as a \u201cwild coming-of-age tale\u201d which \u201cconfirm[ed] the helmer as a talent to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLipstick on the Glass\u201d is produced by Kosu\u0144 for Centrala Film and Gielnik Indi Film (Germany), with financing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Polish-German Production Fund, the Polish Film Institute, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung (MDM), the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM), and the Lower Silesia Film Fund.<\/p>\n