Wolves

In the heart of the underground music scene, a young woman’s relationship with the enigmatic frontman of a metal band leads to a turbulent journey of discovery, blurring the line between freedom and fanaticism.

Luana works in a daycare centre and still lives with her mother. She dreams of escaping her sheltered but lonely life. Things change when her cousin invites her to a rehearsal of his metal band WLVS, consisting of two friends and the newly joined Polish singer Wiktor. When the band goes on their first tour, Luana calls in sick at work and joins them. Every evening, Luana watches Wiktor on stage, impressed by his presence. While offstage, he is calm, reserved, and almost shy. After an intense gig, they start an affair. Luana sees herself getting drawn into his world more and more, cutting ties to her old life. At the same time, controversial pictures of Wiktor emerge and provoke accusations of right-wing extremism on social media. While trying to keep the band together and make sense of her turbulent relationship with Wiktor, the more she learns about him, the more worried she becomes. Who is he really?

Keywords: music, coming of age, hatred

Director's note:
This is a dark love story, a film about outsiders, growing up, and extremism. Most of the story takes place in the the black metal community, an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It‘s a microcosm of jarring contradictions: at the intersection of esoteric spirituality and anti-modern, almost neo-fascist fantasies, elitism and Instagram, toxic masculinity and female empowerment. As many people know, black metal has a certain proximity to the radical right-wing, even if only a minority of bands can be called „NSBM“ (National Socialist Black Metal). We want to offer a unique, unflinching insight into this subculture. We want to be non-judgemental but still preserve a feminist, anti-fascist perspective. As a longtime concert enthusiast, I know this world in detail and understand how confusing it can appear from the outside. But this challenge excites me; immersing myself in an extreme niche scene without shying away from its complexity.

Producer's note:
WOLVES won the Fast Track competition of the Zurich Film Foundation in the spring of 2022. The project impresses with its reflective approach to the metal scene, exclusive access to it, and the chosen working method between fiction and documentary elements. It promises an insight into a world that is cliché-ridden and politically problematic. The coming-of-age drama WOLVES is about a love story that turns into a nightmare. The film combines extreme music with an emotional rollercoaster. It boasts an exceptional cast with a known actor like Bartosz Bielenia (CORPUS CHRISTI) and many first-time actors and non-professionals, adding an element of hyper-realism to the film. The film manages to transport the audience into the point of view of Luana, contrasting the "macho‘ world around her with the intimate, fragile and affecting story of a young woman desperately seeking her place in the world.