"This year, we have compiled a new special programme called All the Muses, which consists of selected films about arts and artists, the purpose of art, subtleties of the creative process as well as the relationship between film and other arts. Each year we try to invite the filmmakers to come and personally introduce their works and answer the viewers' questions - such conversations can truly reveal the unexplored depths of filmmaking and provide valuable experience," Ilona Jurkonytė, director of Kaunas International Film Festival said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Tomas Tengmark, producer of the festival's programme, believes that such meetings with artists broaden the horizons and help develop film culture. "The festival will focus on the aspects of film that often remain unseen. Very often film as a genre shades the manifestations of other arts in the movies: music, strokes of painters as well as input from other collaborating top artists," explains Tomas Tengmark.
The meeting with three film composers will take place October 3 in art gallery 101 at Vytautas Magnus University (Laisvės Ave 53): Erik Enocksson from Sweden who will introduce a film Skinnskatteberg, Johann Johannsson from Iceland (Wrestling), and Ola Kvernberg from Norway (North). The latter also brings his band Ola Kvenberg Trio to Lithuania and will play live music in Kaunas music club "Liberty Pub".
October 11, 12 and 13, in Kaunas and Vilnius, the audience will have an opportunity to meet Jacques Debs, the director of the film Bouzkachi: The Chant of Steppes, as well as the Lithuanian artists Stasys Eidrigevičius, who played an important role in the film. October 16 and 18, with the cooperation from the American Center, the audience will see the renowned American independent filmmakers, brothers Joshua and Benny Safdie - the festival features their latest film Go Get Some Rosemary. "We noticed that the viewers came to like the meetings with filmmakers. It is very delighting for us that people discover the festival as a means of communication too," noted Ilona Jurkonytė.
"Kaunas has music, photography and folklore festivals as well as a number of different other events. We are glad that finally a film festival has also found its place in the city. Gradually, it becomes a traditional event and gains strong positions. We hope that prestige and funding of Kaunas Film Festival will keep growing each year. Kaunas City Council is the patron of the festival and will not forget it. We hope that the uncertainties concerning "Romuva" theatre will also be solved and that once again it will become alive and screen films. This festival is the main power behind these ambitions," said Sigitas Šliažas, head of the Culture Division of the Education and Culture Department under the Kaunas City Council.
The importance of regional culture development was also stressed by Audelin Chappuis, the cultural attaché of the French Embassy The French Cultural Centre, which has been collaborating with the Kaunas Film Festival for three years now, aims to promote the cultural activities in the regions of Lithuania and is interested in facilitating contacts between French and Lithuanian filmmakers.
"This year's Kaunas Film Festival will introduce quite a number of good European films including four works from France. The selected films are highly representative and reveal the viability and thematic versatility of the French film. It should be noted that French films are getting more and more popular in France itself. Other features of the French films included in the programme of this festival are that the issues discussed are universal, their context - international, filming locations range from Iceland to Asia and other countries, and they include foreign artists such as Lithuanian Stasys Eidrigevičius. Thus, these films encompass the entire world and I believe that festival viewers will find their place in this world," explained Audelin Chappuis, the cultural attaché of the French Embassy.
Most of the films - eleven - were included in the festival's Wide Angle programme section, which covers the entire range of relevant societal issues and can be distinguished for strong stories. The festival's distinctive annual programme Music Moves the World will present 8 films this year including a few rather painful sections of the lives of musicians. Festival's special programme Nordic Sounds in Film presents 3 films and a unique opportunity for the viewers to meet and communicate with the composers of the music scores of these films as well as to attend their concert. 9 more films will be presented in the festival's new programme section All the Muses, which depicts the world of art. One of the films of this programme, Bouzkachi: The Song of the Steppes, will end the festival in Kaunas.
Full programme of the festival can be found at http://www.kinofestivalis.lt/. Tickets:
1-11 October, "Romuva" theatre, Kaunas: 14 Lt per ticket; 12 per ticket when buying 5 tickets at a time; 10 Lt per ticket when buying 10 tickets at a time (ticket distributor in Kaunas "Bilietų pasaulis").
12-18 October, "Pasaka" theatre, Vilnius: 12 Lt per ticket; 10 Lt for seniors and the disabled; 8 Lt for the members of the film club (1-year membership 50 Lt).
