Elisa is 16-years-old and the long summer hours seem never ending in her suburban neighborhood while she plays Truth or Dare and takes long walks with friends. One day, while she’s browsing through her dad’s library, she finds a book that catches her attention: the memoirs of a prostitute that narrates her experiences with her clients in detail. The prostitute’s words will make Elisa curious and will provoke a sexual awakening in the adolescent.

Confessions of a courtesan, the book that Elisa discovers half-hidden in the bookcase behind an image of Santa Teresa of Bernini, is one of the books by writer, activist and prostitute Grisélidis Réal. She fought for the rights of prostitutes in France and Switzerland and defended prostitution as a respectful professional option. In Lone wolves in passive mode, Grisélidis Réal becomes, unknowingly, the mentor of young Elisa through the pages of her diary.

Lone wolves in passive mode (Joanna Grudzinska, 2014)

The medium-length film Lone wolves in passive mode is a pleasant journey towards sexual education that the adolescent receives from the famous prostitute as well as the portrayal of the difficult relationship between adolescence and sex as a taboo.

After having directed two short-films that participated in several festivals, Joanna Grudzinska started a career as a co-writer, casting director and actress for directors such as Emmanuel Finkiel, Bertrand Bonello and Werner Schroeter. Lone wolves in passive mode is her third fiction film. Grudzinska is currently working on a documentary about the alternative education methods that appeared during the two World Wars in Europe.

Lone wolves in passive mode is part of the Official Selection of the 8th Edition of the International Medium-length Film Festival La Cabina that will take place from the 5th to the 15th of November at the Filmoteca de Valencia.

LONE WOLVES IN PASSIVE MODE | Joanna Grudzinska · France · 2014 · 33 min