The 31st Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris has just wrapped; it once again spotlighted emerging auteur voices and reaffirmed its role as a key platform for European and world cinema. Celebrated this year in a more modest format, without the industry platform Meeting Point Vilnius, the festival strengthened its focus on the audience experience, with the festival’s CEO, Algirdas Ramaška, congratulating “those who visited for the first time” and confirming that “the festival has always been about warmth – a feeling we nurtured quietly, patiently and through hard work, so that we could share it with you”, thus directly addressing spectators in his concluding speech.

On Sunday evening, 22 March, the winners of the competition programmes were announced, along with the film that received the most audience support, with statuettes created by local artist Vilius Dringelis presented to the recipients. The main competition jury, comprising Lithuanian director and screenwriter Titas Laucius, Taiwanese writer, director and producer Shih-Ching Tsou, UK-based film programmer and distributor Carmen Thompson, writer and journalist Iana Murray, and Hélène Espeisse, sales agent at the international distribution company Charades, awarded the Best Film prize to The Girl in the Snow, the fiction debut of French filmmaker Louise Hémon, for immersing viewers in a “boundless, oppressive space” marked by tension and unease, and highlighting its eerie cinematography, disorienting soundscape and magnetic performances.

Lithuanian cinema also stood out prominently, with Aistė Žegulytė’s documentary Holy Destructors receiving a Special Mention and additionally named Best Lithuanian Premiere. The jury commended its “bold, meticulous and cinematic vision” that transcends documentary form, offering a poetic meditation on life, death and rebirth.

In the short film section, the international jury - composed of filmmaker and data artist Antanas Skučas, founder of Oyster Films Christina Demetriou and film programmer Massimo Iannetti - awarded the top prize to Iranian director in exile Maryam Tafakory’s Darya’s Nights Flowers, produced between Iran and the United Kingdom. The film was singled out for its evocative reworking of Iranian cinematic imagery and its poetic exploration of desire, resistance, and silenced narratives. A Special Mention went to French filmmaker Grégoire Graesslin for Dammen, recognised for its minimalist approach and its ability to extend storytelling beyond what is shown on screen. Meanwhile, Skaistė Bartkutė’s The Bistro was named Best Lithuanian Short Film, praised for its sensitive and humorous portrayal of adolescence and memory through the eyes of a young girl.

The audience award went to Anthony Marciano’s The American Dream from France, confirming its strong resonance with festival-goers, while the Young Filmmaker Award, presented by the Vida Ramaškienė Foundation, was awarded to sound director Iveta Macevičiūtė for her versatility across genres and her contribution to Lithuanian cinema.

Below is the full list of this year’s winners:

Best Film
The Girl in the Snow – Louise Hémon (France)
Special Mention
Holy Destructors – Aistė Žegulytė (Lithuania)

Best Lithuanian Premiere
Holy Destructors – Aistė Žegulytė

Best Short Film
Darya’s Nights Flowers – Maryam Tafakory (UK/Iran)
Special Mention
Dammen – Grégoire Graesslin (France)

Best Lithuanian Short Film
The Bistro – Skaistė Bartkutė (Lithuania)

Audience Award
The American Dream – Anthony Marciano (France)

Young Filmmaker Award (Vida Ramaškienė Foundation)
Iveta Macevičiūtė