22nd Calgary Underground Film Festival

April 17-27, 2025

13th CUFF.Docs Documentary Film Festival

November 19-23, 2025

The Lure

Poland, 2016: 92 minutes: Canadian Premiere
Archives 2016
The_Lure_-_main_photo_photographer_Robert_Palka
Globe Cinema
Fri, Apr 15 9:45 PM Buy
Sun, Apr 17 9:00 PM Buy

description

In this 1980s-set musical horror fantasy, two mermaid sisters swim out of the sea into a Warsaw nightclub. The sisters – Silver and Gold – are wild, sexy and hungry to experience human life. Performing together in the club, they become overnight stars. Playing on mermaid tropes and legend, when one of the sisters falls in love with a handsome young bass player she soon undergoes physical changes, questioning their sisterly bond. Inspired more by Homer and Hans Christian Andersen than Disney in terms of mermaid tales, these mermaids don't wear bras, but they do chew on human hearts. The first feature film from female director Agnieszka Smoczynska, THE LURE finds the perfect balance of grotesque and charm while remaining utterly unique.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Sundance Film Festival 2016
Boston Underground Film Festival 2016

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Agnieszka Smoczynska is a graduate of the Silesia University Department of Film Directingat the Krzysztof Kieslowski Film School in Katowice. In 2007 she directed ARIA DIVA written by Robert Bolesto, the screenplay writer of THE LURE. The film won multiple awards at film festivals in Cracow and New York. THE LURE is Smoczy?ska's first feature and was awarded the Best Debut Feature and Best Make-up awards at the at the biggest Polish film festival in Gdynia.

press for The Lure

"THE LURE is a genre hybrid that melds melodrama, horror, fantasy and musical elements into a singular coming-of-age tale."
- The Hollywood Reporter
"A wildly assured debut and a primal jolt of honest-to-God originality that demands to be witnessed."
- Consequence of Sound

details

Female Filmmaker / Horror / Musical / Narrative

18+ Licensed Screening
Polish with English Subtitles
92 minutes

credits

Director
Agnieszka Smoczynska

Screenwriter
Robert Bolesto

Producer
Wlodzimierz Niderhaus

Music
Ballady I Romanse

Cast
Jakub Gierszal
Marta Mazurek
Michalina Olszanska
Kinga Preis

Facebook
facebook.com/Córki Dancingu /The Lure

Twitter
@TheLureFilm

community

awards

WINNER: WINNER: Jury Award, Best Narrative Feature - CUFF 2016

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