The Lithuanian Film Centre, the main national film fund created by the Ministry of Culture in 2012, has announced the beneficiaries of the second session of deliberations on its production and development grants. In total, the agency has earmarked €781,153 and invested in 34 new projects. 

The biggest award, of €100,000, went to Donatas Ulvydas’ new feature film, Three Women, produced by Kaunas-based distribution and production firm Acme Film. Four feature-length documentary projects have also been awarded funding – namely, Mantas Kvedaravičius’ Prologos (€54,000, produced by Extimacy Films), Vytautas V Landsbergis’ The Departed to Return (€45,000, produced by A Propos Studija), Albina Griniūtė’s Harbor (€35,000) and Emilija Škarnulytė’s directorial debut, Burial [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (€14,000), the latter both staged by Vilnius-based independent production company Just a Moment. 

Moreover, the organisation has distributed €114,000 to finance the making of five short films (two fictions, one animation and two documentaries) and €221,595 to support six minority co-productions (three feature films, two shorts and one animated short). The biggest single minority co-production grant has been awarded to Davit Abramishvili’s Inga (€80,000), produced by Lithuanian firm Filmai, Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg), Sibler Film (Georgia) and Natura Film (Georgia). Other supported minority co-productions are Jivan Avetisyan’s Gate to Heaven [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jivan Avetisyan
scheda film] (€60,000), co-produced by Artbox and Fish eye Art Cultural Foundation (Armenia); Dāvis Sīmanis’ The Year Before the War (€30,000), produced by Studio Uljana Kim with Latvian partners; Édouard Montoute's The Lady of the Camellias (€22,200), co-produced by Fralita Films and French partners; Elina Panik's Anna and Phaedra (€14,895), staged by Dansu Films and Heretic (Greece); and Anu-Laura Tuttelberg’s Winter in the Rainforest (€14,500), the first animated film produced by Art Shot in collaboration with award-winning Estonian animation studio Nukufilm.

Finally, funding for film development accounted for €197,570. These grants will serve to support the development of one animated short, one interactive film project, four features and two documentaries as well as the script development of ten early-stage projects. 

The two funding sessions organised by the Lithuanian Film Centre this year totalled €4,527,778 and supported 85 audiovisual projects.