The film industry event Meeting Point – Vilnius also partnered with Cannes film festival. Three up-and-coming film projects from Vilnius Coming Soon session will be picked for Le Marché du Film screenings in Cannes. Project registration is open until February 20.

The European Film Forum (EFF) has already visited Cannes, Berlin, Venice and other major film festivals. In April 6 it will be held in Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris. The forum will be a part of Meeting Point – Vilnius event (April 4-6). The special focus will be on young filmmakers from small cinema countries having bigger visibility in the European market.

Since its launch in 2015, the aim of the EFF has been to develop a strategic policy agenda to open up new perspectives on the challenges and opportunities brought about by the digital revolution. The forum is a platform for a structured dialogue between policy makers and the stakeholders in the audio-visual sector. The EFF was proposed by the European Commission in its 2014 Communication on European Film in the Digital Era.

Each year, the filmmakers participating in Meeting Point – Vilnius conference, present their up-and-coming films to industry professionals. Successful projects from previous sessions include Sundance winner Summer of Sangaile and Golden Globe and Academy Award nominee Tangerines.

This year filmmakers from the Baltics, Eastern Europe and Central Europe will be eligible to present their first or second film in the Coming Soon New Talents session. Traditionally, a special session will be organised exclusively for the Baltic films to showcase the up and coming films from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

 Film submissions for Meeting Point – Vilnius programs are open until February 20 at http://kinopavasaris.lt/en/filmprojects

This year the projects will also compete for a special prize – Cannes Industry screening. An international jury will select three in-development films that will go to Cannes Le Marché du Film industry event where they will be screened in the section Goes to Cannes for film sales and distribution agents, as well as festival programmers.

For the three-day programme Meeting Point – Vilnius has established an advisory committee comprised of cinema experts: journalist and analyst Michael Gubbins (UK), film industry expert Marketa Hodouskova (France) and IFF Rotterdam representative Ludmila Cvikova.

Previous speakers of Meeting Point – Vilnius event include the Oscar winners director Michel Hazanavicius and sound engineer Chris Newman, acclaimed documentarist Joshua Oppenheimer.

Vilnius IFF will organise the European Film Forum together with the Lithuanian Film Centre and Creative Europe MEDIA desk.

Accreditations for Meeting Point – Vilnius event will be available in February..