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Lithuanian cinema celebrates its active presence across the globe

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- Thanks to support from the Lithuanian Film Centre, the country’s cinema has been showcased at all of the leading film festivals in the past four months

Lithuanian cinema celebrates its active presence across the globe

This year, as Lithuania celebrates the centenary of the state’s restoration, the country’s cinema also happens to be travelling the globe. Over the past four months, thanks to support from the Lithuanian Film Centre, the heavy presence of both completed films and projects was evident in almost 20 countries worldwide.

Starting with fiction films, a string of Lithuanian features had their premieres at acclaimed festivals. At Karlovy Vary, it was Giedrė Beinoriūtė’s drama Breathing into Marble [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giedrė Beinoriūtė
film profile
]
, which was also showcased at Busan, and Marija Kavtaradzė’s debut drama, Summer Survivors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marija Kavtaradzė
film profile
]
, which world-premiered at Toronto. As for co-productions, Jumpman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan I Tverdovsky
film profile
]
 by Ivan I Tverdovskiy was selected at Karlovy Vary, Xacio Baño’s Trot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xacio Baño
film profile
]
 at Locarno, and Core of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Natalia Meshchaninova at both Toronto and San Sebastián.

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Moving onto documentaries, Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė’s debut, Acid Forest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, premiered at Locarno, whereas the co-production Bridges of Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Kristīne Briede and Audrius Stonys did likewise at Karlovy Vary. Previously premiered documentaries also pressed on with their festival runs. Lithuania’s Oscar submission (see the news), Wonderful Losers: A Different World [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Arūnas Matelis, was at the Belfast “Pull Focus” Documentary Festival and Ulju Mountain Film Festival, where it was also awarded, and The Ancient Woods [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Mindaugas Survila unspooled at the Sydney Film Festival.

Finally, considering short films, Caucasus by Laurynas Bareiša premiered at Locarno and Kristina Buožytė’s VR animation experience Trail of Angels at Venice. Furthermore, Snake by Titas Laucius won the Cineuropa Audience Award at FEST Espinho, Portugal (see the news). Animafest Zagreb boasted an extensive programme on Lithuanian animation, and The Goat Luck by Ilja Bereznickas enjoyed an excellent festival run. By the end of the year, A Piece for Two Hands by Akvilė Žilionytė will have been screened at the Sound & Image Challenge International Festival in Macau.

In terms of industry presence, the Lithuanian Film Centre was one of the partners in the Pula Film Festival’s Matchmaking Forum (see the news), while Lithuania was featured as one of the countries participating in Locarno Pro’s Match Me! producers’ networking programme (see the news). Also, Lithuanian producers Giedrė ŽickytėDagnė VildžiūnaitėMarija RazgutėPaulius Juočeris and Andrius Lekavičius were included in the selection of the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum and the Glocal Meets the Baltics section of San Sebastián (see the news), where Invisible [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ignas Jonynas and Kristupas…
film profile
]
, directed by Ignas Jonynas and produced by Kristina Ramanauskaitė, was also presented with the Glocal in Progress Award (see the news).

The Lithuanian Film Centre has released a more detailed report on all of the important events that have taken place over the last four months, including the special screenings of Lithuanian movies in China and the organisation of classic-film retrospectives across Europe and further afield. You can read more here.

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