23-01-2017

Lithuania with the Baltic countries is in spootlight at Trieste Film Festival and industrial events

    WHEN EAST MEETS WEST 2017 will bring together over 350 producers, financiers, decision makers and film professionals from more than 30 countries, and, in particular, from the spotlight territories. 2017 upcoming edition will bring some fresh air with a slightly refined format launching for the very first time a new East & West double focus on France and the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).

    22 film projects from 15 countries will be presented at the seventh edition of When East Meets West, the Italian co-production forum taking place on January 22-24, 2017 in the context of the Trieste Film Festival. Two of them are Lithuanian projects:Gentle Warriorsby Marija Stonytė (Production: Moonmakers ) and People We Know Are Confused by Tomas Smulkis (Production: Just a Moment ).

    Gentle Warriors tells a story about five girls who go to serve in the Lithuanian army for nine months among 600 men. One hopes to start a new life, another to prove her strength, and the third dreams to find the love of her life – their expectations change. This film is a coming-of-age story of how a girl becomes a warrior in both the military and her own life.

    People We Know Are Confused is a cleverly woven multiplot about self-discovery and confidence.

    Following the great success of the first two editions, Last Stop Trieste, the work in progress section run together with the Trieste Film Festival, will present 5 creative documentaries to an exclusive panel of 40 international sales agents, festival programmers and TV commissioning editors. One of the selected documentary is „About Stops Runs And Bananas“ by Arūnas Matelis. This documentary tells the story of the undiscovered world of the ‘domestique’ – the wonderful losers, true warriors, knights and monks of professional cycling.

    Three Lithuanian films will be screened in the festival program as well. „The Saint“ by Andrius Blazevicius (production: „m-films“, Lithuania and „Sugar Films“, Poland)is a feature film about a young man Vytas. He starts searching for The Saint – a guy who claims he saw Jesus Christ in their town. A documentary movie„Woman and Glacier“ by Audrius Stonys (production: „Ūkų studija“, Lithuania, „OU Vesilind“, Estonia) tells a story about Lithuanian scientist Aušra Revutaite which has spent 30 years in the Tian Shan mountain range in Central Asia. Some 3,500 meters above sea level with only her faithful dog and gray cat for company, she studies climate change on the Tuyuksu Glacier. The film is in the documentary competition program. The third movie is „The Camel“ by Laurynas Bareisa. It is a short movie about two caretakers of the zoo who try to arrange a proper burial for the local camel who died recently. The film is screened in the short film competition program.

    Baltic film focus was initiated and supported by Lithuanian Film Centre, Latvian National Film Centre and Estonian Film Institute.