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.

VILNIUS: Lithuanian director Lina Lužytė began shooting her second feature film The Castle / Pilis on 28 June 2018. The coming-of-age drama is the first Lithuanian/Irish coproduction.

VILNIUS: American Film Institute graduate Tomas Vengris, the son of Lithuanian immigrants living in the US, has begun postproduction on his debut feature Motherland / Gimtinė.

VILNIUS: Eglė Vertelytė‘s feature film Miracle / Stebuklas won four awards, for the Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Script, at the 11th Lithuanian Film and TV Silver Crane Awards held on 13 June 2018.