Smile

Nineteen-year-old Mercedes is drifting rather aimlessly through life, except that she has one big dream: to go to the legendary electronic music festival Heimat. There, she is not only searching for friendships and even life-changing experiences. She also wants to meet Boy, a DJ that she has been chatting with on Facebook. The tickets are way too expensive, however, so she has to take her Mum’s credit card to get there. Upon arriving at the festival, she soon finds out that Boy is already at a secret backstage party where he is going to play a surprise gig – one that requires a golden wristband to access. As Boy doesn’t manage to pick her up, Mercedes decides to make it there on her own. She befriends wild child Bella who brags about knowing the woman on the door and duly makes Mercedes pay for her drinks along the way. This works out until Mercedes’ Mum blocks her card and it becomes obvious that Bella is not as well connected as she claims. Frustrated, Mercedes wants to leave Heimat but discovers that her credit card-synced wristband will not let her check out. When a festival employee dressed as a Faun offers her one of the ubiquitous happy pills, Mercedes finally buys into the rules of the game. To reach her end goal, Mercedes has to confront the sinister forces at work beneath the surface of this seemingly utopian world. She has to fight not only for her freedom, but also for her identity.