VILNIUS: Karolis Kaupinis's first feature film Nova Lituania is in the final stage of postproduction.

VILNIUS: Debut projects from Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovakia and Romania were among the 17 projects presented in the Coming Soon session at the 10th edition of Meeting Point - Vilnius (MPV), hosted during the 24th Vilnius Film Festival Kino Pavasaris from 2 to 4 April 2019. MPV Award for Best Project in Development went to the Ukrainian project My Thoughts Are Silent by Antonio Lukich, while Nova Lituania by Karolis Kaupinis was awarded Best Lithuanian Pitch.

VILNIUS: Richard Billingham’s autobiographical drama Ray & Liz was awarded best film in the European Debut Competition of the 24th Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris, which took place from 21 March to 4 April 2019. Summer Survivors by Marija Kavtaradzė was voted best Lithuanian film by the audience.

VILNIUS: Vilnius and Kaunas stand for one German city in the BBC series The Rise of the Nazis / Nacių iškilimas, which is currently filming in Lithuania. The series has already applied to the incentives scheme.

VILNIUS: The acclaimed Lithuanian director Donatas Ulvydas is currently in postproduction with the documentary The State Secret / Valstybės paslaptis on the Lithuanian president Dalia Gybauskaitė. The premiere of this independent film is set for 12 April 2019.

VILNIUS: Ashes in the Snow / Tarp pilkų debesų by Marius Markevičius became the highest grossing release of all time in Lithuania, with more than 265,000 admissions and more than 1.3 m EUR gross. The US/Lithuanian coproduction outperformed James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar.

It has been a great year for the Lithuanian film industry. The expenditure on film production reached a total of 45 m EUR, with more than 5 m EUR coming from local businesses.

VILNIUS: The acclaimed Lithuanian director Šarūnas Bartas is currently shooting a new historical drama In The Dusk / Sutemose, focusing on the Lithuanian partisan war, which took place after WWII. The release of this Lithuanian/French/Serbian/Latvian/Czech/Portuguese coproduction is planned for the spring of 2020.

VILNIUS: Five Lithuanian shorts, four Estonian shorts and two Latvian shorts vied in the New Baltic Cinema competition of the European Film Forum Scanorama, which opened on 8 November 2018.

VILNIUS: Giedrė Žickytė from Moonmakers is representing Lithuania at Jihlava IDFF's Emerging Producers programme. FNE spoke with Žickytė about the current situation for documentary filmmaking in Lithuania.