“It is important for me, because it’s more than just my movie,” says Bartas, who feels honoured by the decision of the Lithuanian committee to choose Frost as the country’s candidate for the next Academy Award in the category of the best foreign language film. “I believe that this film is also much more than just Lithuanian. Sometimes fiction and reality are too close to each other and often the reality is worse than fiction, but always worth it.”

The world premiere of Frost took place in May this year within the programme “Directors’ Fortnight” at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival and has already travelled to several other important film industry events, including the international festivals in Locarno and Odessa. On Sunday, Frost will be screened at the Riga International Film Festival. In Lithuania, the film premiered on August 18.

Filmed during a complicated expedition to the front lines of Ukraine, Frost tells a story of Inga and Rokas carrying aid from Vilnius to Ukraine. At the line of engagement in Donetsk, the young couple raised in the independent Lithuania without the experience of war quickly realise the feelings of people in the face of hatred, aggression, violence and ruin.

The main characters are played by young Lithuanian debutants Mantas Jančiauskas and Lyja Maknavičiūtė. The cast also includes the French film star Vanessa Paradis, famous Polish actor Andrzej Chyra and others. It is a Lithuanian, Ukrainian, French and Polish co-production partly funded by the Lithuanian Film Centre.