The 55th edition of the Tampere Film Festival, running from 5 to 9 March, will focus on Lithuania, with three short film programmes featuring 30 films, ranging from experimental genres to works by a new generation of filmmakers who have already made a mark on the international scene.

The festival, held in Tampere, Finland, is one of only three A-class short film festivals recognised by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), alongside the Clermont-Ferrand and Oberhausen short film festivals. Each year, the Tampere Film Festival attracts around 30,000 visitors and 800 accredited film industry professionals, and screens 400 films from around the world over five days.

"The invitation for Lithuania to be the guest country at this festival is a significant recognition that the Lithuanian film community can truly be proud of", said Rimantė Daugėlaitė, head of the Lithuanian short film agency Lithuanian Shorts, a partner of the initiative. "We are delighted that the festival chose to showcase such a large variety of Lithuanian short films, offering both festival-goers and international industry representatives a glimpse into the multifaceted world of Lithuanian short cinema."

The Lithuanian programme will feature three curated film collections. One of the highlights is a retrospective on Artūras Barysas (1954–2005), a key figure in Lithuania’s counter-culture movement. Barysas was known for his experimental films that critiqued Soviet-era Lithuania with irony and visual experimentation. His programme will include 18 short films from the 1970s and 1980s, including The Fall (1971) and Obvious But Unbelievable (1982).

Two of Lithuania’s rising stars, Vytautas Katkus and Laurynas Bareiša, will also be featured. Katkus’s films, including Community Gardens and Cherries, and Bareiša’s By the Pool and Dummy, have received significant international acclaim. Both directors are seen as leading voices of a new wave of Lithuanian cinema, characterised by unique storytelling and contemporary relevance.“ Their films have something peculiar and original that we outsiders can call, in want for a better term, the Lithuanian new wave. At Tampere Film Festival, we wanted to look into Lithuanian film a bit closer and perhaps also penetrate the mentality of Lithuanians,“ underlined Jukka-Pekka Laakso, director of the Tampere Film Festival. 

Additionally, the programme will highlight the work of six female Lithuanian filmmakers, including Marija Stonytė’s One Life, Birutė Kapustinskaitė’s Mothers, and Jorūnė Greičiūtė’s It’s Alright. This selection underscores the growing visibility of women directors in Lithuania’s short film scene.

Lithuanian films will also be featured in Tampere’s competitive programmes. In the International Competition, Aušrinė Kurgonaitė’s experimental film Tangled Wool will screen, while Feet Up, a Finnish-Lithuanian co-production directed by Olli Ilpo Salonen, will compete in the National Competition. Also, this year, one of the International Competition programme’s jury members is Gabrielė Cegialytė, executive director of the Vilnius Short Film Festival and project manager at Lithuanian Shorts.

The festival will also host industry events focusing on Lithuanian cinema, including discussions on experimental filmmaking and the significance of international festivals for smaller countries, featuring David Ellis and Lijana Jakovlevna Siuchina, curators of Artūras Barysas’s film programme, and Rimantė Daugėlaitė.

The Lithuanian film focus is organised in collaboration with the Lithuanian short film agency Lithuanian Shorts and the Lithuanian Film Centre. It is also part of the Lithuanian Culture Institute’s programme Lithuanian Culture in Tampere 2025.