In a country run by organized crime in collusion with political power-wielders, police bosses and large corporations, a young girl disappears from a juvenile institution. When she goes to the police to tell them about the sexual abuse taking place there, they refuse to help her. She then finds a reporter who will expose a staggering network of crime and extortion. Scumbag is a political thriller inspired by the real murder of Slovak reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova. They were killed when Kuciak’s investigation threatened to expose the connections between Slovak mobsters and politicians. Based on investigative journalist Arpád Soltész’s eponymous novel, the film was a box-office hit in Slovakia.

Rudolf Biermann (1958) is a producer, screenwriter, and director. He has produced over 35 award-winning films. Most known are his cooperations with directors Jiří Menzl (I Served the King of England), Agnieszka Holland (Jánošík), Martin Šulík (Everything I Like, The Garden, Orbis Pictus, The Interpreter), etc. Mariana Čengel Solčanská (1978) is one of the most distinguished Slovak directors and screenwriters, as well as the author of three novels. Her film Kidnapping inspired a mass social movement, which led to demonstrations and the annulment of the infamous “Mečiar’s amnesties” in Slovakia.