The Unpolished

Film: The Unpolished

Release date: 12th July 2010

Certificate: 18

Running time: 94 mins

Director: Pia Marais

Starring: Ceci Schmitz-Chuh, Birol Ünel, Pascale Schiller

Genre: Drama

Studio: Second Run

Format: DVD

Country: Germany

“Pia Marais' remarkable film is one of the most assured and startling feature debuts of recent years.”

An unflinching study of a young girl caught up in a complicated adult world, The Unpolished explores the consequences of a counterculture gone bad.

Stevie (Céci Chuh), a wild but fiercely intelligent teenage girl, must cope with the instabilities of her drop-out parents (Birol Ünel & Pascale Schiller). Whilst they spend their days getting high, hooking up deals and escaping their responsibilities, Stevie takes control of her own life, making the journey towards maturity and independence that her parents ought to have made years ago.

With music by Einstürzende Neubauten’s Jochen Arbeit, and cinematography by Diego Martínez Vignatti (Battle in Heaven, Jápon), “The Unpolished is humanist filmmaking of the highest order.”

Award recognition included the Tiger Award from the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and Best First Feature Film from the Durban International Film Festival.

This DVD release, packaged with a booklet featuring a new essay by author and critic Brad Stevens, is presented in a newly restored digital transfer, approved by the director. Other features include anamorphic 16:9 enhanced for widescreen televisions; new and improved English subtitle translation; and optimal quality dual-layer disc.