“When we announced that the 25th edition of Vilnius IFF will look to the future and its numerous scenarios, we could not have predicted the one that came to pass. Our team is doing everything to bring festivalgoers the event they’ve been waiting for all year, only this time, we invite them to join us online. We feel positive that our creative solutions will make this edition another success, and wholeheartedly thankfilmmakers,sales agents anddistributors for granting us online access to their work in place of physical screenings at such short notice,” said Algirdas Ramaška, CEO of Vilnius IFF.
There is also good news for the contenders of the European Debut and Short Competitions. Jury members will still judge the selected films online and award winners. Furthermore, organizersplan to hold virtual conversations with filmmakerswhose visitshad to be cancelled.
For two weeks, Lithuanian viewers will be able to access the festival’s most anticipated films such as “Parasite”, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”, “The Truth”,“Corpus Christi”, the opening film “Proxima”, closing title “Mathias & Maxime”, Lithuanian short film premieres and many more online. This isn’t the festival’s first foray into streaming, which had already been offered as an alternative during previous editions of Vilnius IFF.
Organizers also promise toplay some of the films in movie theatres once the threat of coronavirus has passed.Special screenings planned in the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre will be rescheduled for mid-May.
About the festival:
The 25th Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris will take place March 19–April 2, 2020. Last year’s festival was visited by 126 542 filmgoers, making it the largest cinema event in Lithuania and one of the most notable film festivals in Eastern Europe. For more information, visit www.kinopavasaris.lt/en.
