15-02-2013

Crowd-Funded Lithuanian Film Completes Production

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    VILNIUS: Lithuanian film director, screenwriter and producer Romas Zabarauskas has completed his crowd-funded debut feature We Will Riot, a film about beats, love, friendship, and the system that destroys it all.

    The main hero Luke is an up-and-coming DJ from an affluent New York family with a Lithuanian father and an African-American mother. When Luke hears from an estranged grandmother in Lithuania, he defies his parents and decides to visit this far-away country, flying straight to the capital city Vilnius. He falls in love with the city, a rebellious girl called Marta, and the local music scene - the beatmakers - promoted by an aggressive gay manager, Andy.

    Music production and spontaneous political protest explode together onscreen, fuelled by the internet and access to new technology in Eastern Europe.

    The project took in 10,129 USD through a crowd-funding campaign and received support from filmmakers Gus Van Sant and John Cameron Mitchell. The film premiered at the European Film Market, Berlinale 2013. The screening was supported by Lithuanian Film Center. The director is now seeking a sales agent for the film.

    Zabarauskas is known for the first Lithuanian gay short, Berlinale Panorama 2011 selection, Porno Melodrama.

    We Will Riot is produced by Zabarauskas’ Lithuanian production company Naratyvas, together with executive producer Stephen Winter and associate producers Jason Ryan Yamas, Povilas Žarnauskas and Ieva Malikėnaitė.

     

    The Lithuanian premiere is set for autumn 2013.

    Contact Information:

    Povilas Žarnauskas

    S. Konarskio 10 a-19, LT-03123 Vilnius, Lithuania

    Ph +370 61086027;

    e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

     

    CREDITS

    Director/Screenwriter: Romas Zabarauskas

    Director of Photography: Ville Piippo

    Editor: Gintarė Sokelytė

    Music Supervisor: Mark Splinter

    Cast: Ebeneezer Nii Sowah, Beata Tiškevič, Šarūnas Zenkevičius