The Southern Chronicles wins big at Lithuania’s Silver Crane Awards
by Olivia Popp
- The 1990s-set coming-of-age film by Ignas Miškinis has won in 12 categories, with Saulė Bliuvaitė’s Locarno winner Toxic picking up three key statuettes

On Sunday night, Lithuania’s film industry gathered to honour the recipients of this year’s Silver Cranes, the country’s national film awards. A total of 21 statuettes were given out, including in 18 juried categories, an Audience Award, a Special Award for the Promotion of Cinema Culture and the Golden Crane Lifetime Achievement Award. A committee selected the nominees from among 56 films, including eight documentaries, nine fiction features, 11 short films, three minority co-productions and 19 student works.
Ignas Miškinis’ The Southern Chronicles [+see also:
film review
interview: Ignas Miškinis
film profile] was the night’s big winner, sweeping 12 of the 14 categories in which it was nominated. The film, set in 1990s Lithuania as the country transforms, follows the young Rimantas as he searches for love as well as his way in life, discovering his passion for literature despite his place in the world as a rugby player. Miškinis won for Best Director and Best Feature Film, while three of the movie’s thesps won for their respective categories: European Shooting Star Džiugas Grinys for Best Actor, Irena Sikorskytė for Best Supporting Actress and Robertas Petraitis for Best Supporting Actor.
The film also scooped the gongs for Best Screenplay (Eglė Vertelytė) and several design categories, including costume design (Agnė Biskytė), production design (Aurimas Akšys) and sound design (Saulius Urbanavičius). The Southern Chronicles also won the Audience Award as the most-watched film of the year.
The Locarno Golden Leopard winner Toxic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Directors Talks @ European …
interview: Saulė Bliuvaitė
film profile] by Saulė Bliuvaitė also came away with three trophies. Gediminas Jakubka secured the gong for Best Composer, newcomer Ieva Rupeikaitė won for Best Actress, and Vytautas Katkus was presented with the Award for Best Cinematographer.
Murmuring Hearts, a documentary by Vytautas Puidokas about a rehabilitation centre on an abandoned farm, picked up the Award for Best Feature Documentary, while Signe Birkova's Lotus [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a Latvian-Lithuanian project, won for Best Minority Co-production. The Golden Crane for Lifetime Achievement was presented to film historian Gražina Arlickaitė, who is also the founder and artistic director of the Scanorama Film Festival.
Here is the full list of winners:
Best Feature Film
The Southern Chronicles [+see also:
film review
interview: Ignas Miškinis
film profile] – Ignas Miškinis (Lithuania/Estonia)
Best Director
Ignas Miškinis – The Southern Chronicles
Best Actress
Ieva Rupeikaitė – Toxic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Directors Talks @ European …
interview: Saulė Bliuvaitė
film profile]
Best Actor
Džiugas Grinys – The Southern Chronicles
Best Supporting Actress
Irena Sikorskytė – The Southern Chronicles
Best Supporting Actor
Robertas Petraitis – The Southern Chronicles
Best Screenplay
Eglė Vertelytė – The Southern Chronicles
Best Cinematographer
Vytautas Katkus – Toxic
Best Editor
Danielius Kokanauskis – The Southern Chronicles
Best Composer
Gediminas Jakubka – Toxic
Best Make-up
Vaida Navickaitė – The Southern Chronicles
Best Costume Design
Agnė Biskytė – The Southern Chronicles
Best Production Design
Aurimas Akšys – The Southern Chronicles
Best Sound Design
Saulius Urbanavičius – The Southern Chronicles
Best Short Film
Sujip – Gintarė Parulytė
Best Minority Co-production
Lotus [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Signe Birkova (Latvia/Lithuania)
Best Feature Documentary
Murmuring Hearts – Vytautas Puidokas (France/Lithuania/Norway)
Silver Crane Egg for Best Student Film
Past the Hill of Napoleon’s Hat – Arnos Balčiūnas (short)
Audience Award
The Southern Chronicles – Ignas Miškinis
Award for the Promotion of Film Culture
Kino Pavasaris Film Festival
Golden Crane for Lifetime Achievement
Gražina Arlickaitė
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