Pretty Baby
Date:
December 15, 2022
Pretty Baby
Pretty Baby
by Cristina Groșan
Laokoon Filmgroup | Hungary
LOI – Buffalo Gal Pictures, MetaFilms | Canada
Xova Films | Czech Republic
Live-action feature
Logline
Living fast and thinking later, Mia takes easy money from an illegal fertility egg donation, convinced consequences are for other people. Twelve years later, the boy born from that choice is gravely ill. Responsibility finally catches up with her.
Synopsis
Mia, a first-generation Canadian in her twenties, drifts through Budapest while studying Hungarian to reconnect with her late mother’s roots. She pays the bills by serving drinks at parties for the ultra-rich. When she is offered big money for fertility egg donation, Mia accepts, doesn’t matter, it’s illegal. It sounds easy: help a couple have a child, take the cash, walk away. Chosen by Eva, a powerful businesswoman, and her younger husband, Mark, Mia enters a discreet world where everything can be solved.
The money clears her debts and fuels her appetite for more. When the line is crossed, she is told the attempt failed and they get rid of her. Twelve years later, Mia has built a new life in Canada. She has a stable job, a loving partner, and a future that finally looks secure. She hides her fertility is failing, damaged by the treatment she once treated as harmless. When Eva and Mark resurface, Mia learns the donation did not fail. A boy was born. He is gravely ill, and Mia is the only genetic match who can save him. She is taken aback. Is he her child in any way? What does she owe him? Saving him would likely end her chance of having a family and expose the lie holding her present life together. What she once treated as temporary now demands a permanent answer.
Director’s Profile
Cristina Groșan is a Romanian-Hungarian filmmaker working across Central and Eastern Europe. In 2024, she co-directed the first original Czech TV mini-series for CANAL+, “Daughter of the Nation”, which premiered across seven countries and garnered five Czech Lion nominations, including a nod for Best Series. Her second feature, “Ordinary Failures” (2022) premiered at the Giornate degli Autori of the Venice Film Festival, where she received the “Best Director under 40” independent award. Cristina’s debut, feature shot in Hungary, “Things Worth Weeping For”, premiered in the main competition at the 2021 Sarajevo Film Festival.
Since completing her university studies, Cristina has directed six short films, notably “Holiday at the Seaside”, which was awarded at the Sarajevo International Film Festival, went on to screen at over 40 festivals, and surpassed one million views upon its online release. She is a member of both the Association of Hungarian Directors and ARAS (the Czech Association of Film Directors, Screenwriters, and Script Editors). Beyond her directorial work, Cristina is a lecturer at FAMU International in Prague.
Company Profile
Laokoon Filmgroup, founded in 2002 by producers Gábor Sipos, Judit Stalter and Gábor Rajna, is one of Central Europe’s leading production companies, based in Budapest with a branch in New York. Best known for Son of Saul (2015), winner of the Academy Award, Golden Globe, Cannes Grand Prix and over 40 further prizes, the film was sold in 98 territories and released by Sony Pictures Classics.
Laokoon produces features, documentaries and service work for partners such as Netflix and HBO, combining agility, creative ambition and international reach. Recent highlights include Rumours (2024, dir. Guy Maddin, Evan & Galen Johnson), a Canadian–German co-production starring Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, premiered in Cannes; But What About Tomi? (2024, dir. Attila Till), made without public funding; and Own Forest (2023), financed through private investment.
Its co-production slate includes The Queen of Spain (dir. Fernando Trueba), Ordinary Failures (Venice 2022), Eter, The Black Spider, and Sundance-premiered 306 Hollywood (Emmy winner, US theatrical release in 17 cities). Laokoon also produced Oscar-shortlisted Those Who Remained and Chuchotage short, and Till’s Kills on Wheels (Warner Bros. remake rights).
With over 200 commercials for global brands (BMW, Coca-Cola, Ikea, Lindt), Laokoon collaborates with acclaimed filmmakers worldwide. Members of EFA, Gotham, and Film Independent, the founders are alumni of Inside Pictures, EAVE+ and ACE.