13 debut features from all over Europe will be screened in the new competition programme European Debuts at the 23rd Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris.

European Debuts combines previous competition programmes New Europe – New Names and Baltic Gaze. Attracting more than 100 000 filmgoers each year, Kino Pavasaris has focused on debuting filmmakers from Europe and their first features.

Films that have earned a spot in European Debuts address current as well as long-lasting societal and individual issues. The latter are depicted in a variety of genres and cinematic forms, from animated to experimental.

Selected features

Russian director Kantemir Balagov, the apprentice of Alexander Sokurov, will present his debut drama Closeness, which analyses Russian society and various prejudices within it. Filmed in a 4:3 format, the social realist film has already won a special FIPRESCI prize at Cannes.

Ana Urushadze will be competing with her feature Scary Mother. This gloomy drama depicts the duality of a woman’s life, having to choose between fitting the role of “mother” or “author”. Scary Mother was awarded at the Locarno International Film Festival as the best first feature and is Georgia’s Oscar submission for the foreign language film category.

Also competing are three films by directors from Nordic countries: Jens Assur’s (Sweden) award-winning debut Ravens and Hlynur Palmason’s (Iceland) Winter Brothers. In both features, the sound plays as important a role as the visuals do. Malene Choi Jensen‘s (Denmark) emotional drama The Return provides the audience with the hybrid form of documentary and fiction.  

Being unable to fit into the traditional way of life and search for happiness are principal themes in other competing features. Director Piotr Domalewski’s Silent Night scrutinizes the underlying tensions and secrets of a rural Polish family. The lead role is played by the rising Polish actor Dawid Ogrodnik, who visited Kino Pavasaris last year with Jan P. Matuszynski’s The Last Family.

Andrej Cretulescu brings Romanian culture and cinema to Kino Pavasaris with his dark comedy Charleston. Portraying a story of two men grieving over the same woman, the film leaves viewers with many unanswered questions. Other entries include Michael Onder’s (Turkey) politically charged comedy Taksim Hold‘em and Pedro Cabeleira’s (Portugal) hedonistic drama Damned Summer.

French director Bertrand Mandico stands out with his gender-bending surrealist feature The Wild Boys. Five teenagers from rich families are sent on a repressive cruise as punishment for murdering their teacher. Mandico’s experimental film combines the aesthetics of cinema and edgy criticism of gender politics.

The documentaries in European Debuts competition programme include Gustavo Salmeron’s (Spain) crowd pleaser Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle,depicting the true and unembellished portrait of his family. Director’s debut was awarded for best documentary at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Giovanni Totaro’s (Italy) Happy Winter might serve as light therapy for the Kino Pavasaris viewers longing for summer. Following Italians on their vacation in Palermo, Totaro successfully touches upon deeper, underlying societal issues.

Another entry is Over the Limit, the powerful portrait of rhythmic gymnast Margarita Mamun by Polish director Marta Prus. The documentary analyses how boundaries of physical and psychological struggle were transgressed on the road to Olympics gold. Film critic Guy Lodge referred to it as the Black Swan of sports documentaries.

You can read more about the European Debuts competition programme here: http://bit.ly/2Enzs4M

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The 23rd Vilnius International Film Festival “Kino Pavasaris” will take place March 15–29, 2018. Last year’s festival was visited by 114 250 filmgoers, becoming the largest cinema event in Lithuania and one of the most notable film festivals in Eastern Europe. For more information, visit: http://kinopavasaris.lt/en

 

 

Film industry professionals will once again be able to buy festival accreditations allowing them access to all festival screenings as well as the industry conference Meeting Point – Vilnius (MPV). Accreditations are available for purchase until March 27 here: 

https://vp.eventival.eu/viff/2018/accreditation

Paid accreditations for industry professionals are common practice at international film festivals, allowing professionals from various fields to attend events they would otherwise not be able to. Two types of accreditations will be available this year. The Industry accreditation will allow access only to MPV on March 27–29. The Industry + Film accreditation will let its owner attend the industry conference and film screenings throughout the festival, taking place March 15–29.

Accreditations are available at a discounted price until March 9. The Industry accreditation will cost 50 euros, giving access to the three day-long conference and networking events, while the Industry + Film accreditation will be priced 90 euros, giving access to all the previously mentioned events, as well as unlimited festival screenings, including the ones that will take place during the festival extension.

Beginning March 10, the Industry accreditation will cost 75 euros, and the Industry + Film accreditation 150 euros.

Sales of all accreditations will be open until March 27, the starting day of MPV, here: 

https://vp.eventival.eu/viff/2018/accreditation

The rapidly growing international industry event MPV receives around 300 Lithuanian and international guests. Over the course of three days, cinema professionals attend presentations on the latest developments in the audiovisual sector, sessions for in-development projects, private screenings, and most importantly start talking about partnerships.

This year, communication and marketing guru from Denmark Cristian Have will talk about positioning debut films in the global market. There will be two guests from Canada: Wendy Bernfeld will tell us about opportunities for digital content platforms, while Linda Beath will add to the topic by addressing challenges of a comprehensive digital market and new business models. And festival strategist Kathleen McInnis will talk in detail about organizing a film’s festival release, planning an international festival premiere and the creator’s personal strategy. More about this year’s speakers here: http://kinopavasaris.lt/en/speakers

Every year, the films presented at the Coming Soon session get noticed by film professionals and continue to be screened and win awards at international festivals. Some notable examples of these success stories include the documentary Wonderful Losers: A Different World from Lithuanian director Arūnas Matelis, which was awarded at the Trieste Film Festival, Miracle by Eglė Vertelytė, which held its international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and the Ukrainian film When the Trees Fall, recently selected for the Berlinale Panorama programme. This is the first year that the Coming Soon session will only present debuting filmmakers.

 

These grants were announced by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre on 13 February 2018.