The Hater

Directed by Jan KomasaWritten by Mateusz PacewiczProduced by Jerzy Kapuściński, Wojciech KabarowskiStarring Maciej Musiałowski, Vanessa Aleksander, Maciej Stuhr, Agata Kulesza, Danuta Stenka, Jacek KomanLoglineAn ambitious young man starts working in the dark world of social media smear tactics, and learns that virtual vitriol has dire real-life consequences.SynopsisIn a society grappling with its communist past and European present, both the cultural elite and disenfranchised young men see forces of darkness descending over Europe.

And then there are those who benefit from the inevitable clashes and ensuing chaos, like disgraced law student Tomek (Maciej Musiałowski) who’s desperately trying to get the attention of childhood friend Gabi (Vanessa Aleksander) and the respect of her progressive family.

Taking a job at a high-profile but amoral PR company to impress Gabi, Tomek soon finds that he excels at the dirty political games that he is asked to orchestrate on social media.

But there’s a human price to his meddling. As Tomek gets sucked in deeper, his humanity slowly drains away, and it becomes less clear what the end game is.