dok.incubator reveals 8 projects selected for its 2019 edition

dok.incubator has announced the final selection of talented filmmakers whose projects will be supported in 2019. Participating film professionals – drawn from around the world, including Latin America, Europe, Africa and Canada – will have the opportunity to work intensely on their documentary films with the support of well-known producers, editors and sales agents.

dok.incubator is a well-established workshop for feature documentaries in the rough cut stage that is unique in its format and impact on filmmakers. Its aim each year is to offer individual mentorship for eight documentary projects with a focus on dramaturgy, distribution and marketing strategy and audience building in order to premiere at prestigious festivals and secure wide distribution.

The Camp (Hungary, France) by Judit Oláh is a documentary about reconstructing an identity-forming childhood experience, an extraordinary summer camp, which took place in the 1980s, the last years of the oppressing socialist system in Hungary.

A portrait of a woman that leaves her abusive husband after fifty years of marriage and tries to find happiness doing everything she has ever dreamt of – dancing, writing song and even falling in love again. That is Lessons of Love (Poland), directed by Małgorzata Goliszewska and Katarzyna Mateja.

In Själö: Island of Souls (Finland), the director Lotta Petronella, researches the past of the island and its previous residents, from mentally ill women locked in the asylum to scientists researching the nature of the island. 

Roberto Salinas’ Cuban Dancer (Italy, Canada, Chile) describes a journey of a talented student who after leaving Havana, has to confront the education system in the elite and rarefied atmosphere of dance in the United States while trying to remain faithful to his roots.

Once upon a time, Congo Mirador (Venezuela, Great Britain, Brazil) directed by Anabel Rodriguez, tells the story of a small Venezuelan village built in the middle of Lake Maracaibo and its inhabitants that have to deal with the gradual disappearance of their home as the lake - Latin America’s largest oil fiel - is slowly turning into a swamp.

Documentary Home (Romania) by Radu Ciorniciuc follows the dramatic change in the life of Enache family which is forced to move from a wilderness of an abandoned communist reservoir to the city.

In her film As I Want (Denmark, France, Egypt, Palestine), the director Samaher Alqadi captures not only the birth of the Woman’s Rights Movement of Egypt, a response to waves of attacks against women, but also her innner-awakening that confronts the painful childhood traumas that shaped her.

The Earth is Blue as an Orange (Ukraine, Lithuania) by Iryna Tsilyk tells a story of a family living in the heart of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and facing down hardship with remarkable resilience.

Find more information about the projects here.

Dear documentary directors and producers,

We would like to remind you that the deadline for submissions to the Ex Oriente Film 2019 international training programme is April 19th.
If you have a feature length documentary project in development or early production, be sure to submit it via our online application form.
The open call is aimed at filmmakers from the CEE region, but it is open also to projects thematically focused on the CEE region. Please, find all the information in Ex Oriente Film 2019 Guidelines. 

Ex Oriente Film consists of three week-long workshops (June 20th – 25th, 2019 / Banská Štiavnica, Slovak Republic; October 24th – 29th, 2019 / Jihlava, Czech Republic, within Ji.hlava IDFF; March 2020 / Prague, Czech Republic, within East Doc Platform and One World IHRDFF). Producers and directors gain assistance from more than 25 leading filmmakers and experts in the development of narrative and visual style, production, distribution and promotion strategies, as well as finding international partners.

Among the tutors of Ex Oriente Film were Christian Frei, Sean McAllister, Mila Turajlić, Mike Bonanno, Salomé Jashi, Phil Jandaly, Kirsten Johnson and Mads Brügger. Just to name some of the successful projects that were developed within Ex Oriente Film: Over the Limit (dir. Marta Prus), Domino Effect (dir. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski), Blind Loves (dir. Juraj Lehotský), At the Edge of Russia (dir. Michal Marczak), Rabbit a la Berlin (dir. Bartosz Konopka), Village without Women (dir. Srđan Šarenac) and Bakhmaro (dir. Salomé Jashi).

If you have any questions, please contact Ex Oriente Film Coordinator Sofia Tocar at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Also, if you have a documentary film produced in 2019, submit it to the East Silver Market. The deadline is May 31st. Submission deadline for projects in rough cut stage (to be finished in October 2019) is July 31st.

CEE Animation Forum (formerly known as VAF Třeboň) opens its 7th edition by establishing new partnerships with different European markets, festivals or residency and training programmes. Through this extensive range of direct invitations to pitching events, exchanges of professionals and attractive scholarships, the organizers aim to increase the producers´ knowledge, and give filmmakers the possibility to strengthen their animation skills and integrate them into a strong network.

One of the objectives of CEE Animation is to raise the competencies of professionals and give them equal access to financing and the markets as their Western peers, by fostering co-production and sustainable business models. European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE), a professional training and networking organization for audiovisual producers has accepted the partnership and will offer to one producer a full scholarship in the amount of EUR 1,400 to participate in EAVE’s Marketing Workshop (5–10 November 2019).

CEE Animation Forum will also host the third and final module of the CEE Animation Workshop. For the second edition, one selected producer will receive a full scholarship in the amount of EUR 2,700. The aim of this year-long training is to provide tutoring in the field of content development, starting with consultancy on the script as well as artistic and production consultancy.

To give filmmakers an opportunity to move forward with their projects as well as to enhance their artistic skills and approaches, ANOMALIA will give a scholarship for one of its courses, the Character Design Lab. Since 2008, this professional training in animation has been inviting professionals from major world studios such as Pixar, Disney, Blue Sky, LucasArts, Aardman Animations, VALVE, and others.

Practise has shown that CEE authors seem to have a lack of experience with script writing. The newly established Pop Up Film Residency is launching a dozen of residency programmes in 2019, mostly in collaboration with various prestigious film initiatives such as Semaine de la Critique. One of the selected participants will be able to take part in this three-week residency to develop their animated project.

Following a successful partnership experience in 2018, CEE Animation and the European Animation Development Lab Animation Sans Frontières (ASF) continue the cooperation by granting a full scholarship in the amount of EUR 1,500 to one participant. Among traditional price awards, the Nespresso Audience Award goes to the winning project of the feature film category and EUR 1,000 in cash to the best projects of all three categories.

The organizers of CEE Animation have established new cooperation with the pitching and networking event Euro Connection (Clermont ISFF) and Warsaw Kids Film Forum – a pitching forum for films and television series aimed at the children’s market. The collaboration also continues with the Slovenian regional pitching forum AnimatekaPRO where the winning project receives direct access to the CEE Animation Forum. Looking ahead to the coming years, CEE Animation has started to discuss the opportunities together with MIFA Annecy and Animation Production Days in Stuttgart.

CEE Animation Forum (6th – 8th May 2019) takes place within the Anifilm International Festival of Animated Films (7th – 12th May 2019). CEE Animation is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and co-funded by national film funds and professional organisations from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Productions funded by the Polish Film Insitute in the 1st session for 2019 international minority coproductions:

THE CHANGING FACE OF EUROPE Features 10 Outstanding European Documentaries at Hot Docs, Toronto

Personal and cultural identity, women’s rights – religious and sexual – and new life concepts are among the topics of the second edition of THE CHANGING FACE OF EU- ROPE. The programme, curated to reflect on the social, cultural and economical changes affecting Europe today, is presented by EFP (European Film Promotion) in col- laboration with Hot Docs – Canadian International Documentary Festival. It features 10 outstanding new European documentaries – including four international and one North American premiere – selected by the festival from submissions made by European film promotion institutes, the EFP member organisations. The selection underlines the exceptional diversity and excellence of European documentaries and also spotlights the increasing presence of works by women – eight of the 10 films are by female directors. EFP’s initiative is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Pro- gramme of the European Union and the participating EFP member organisations.

Five of the films are looking at very different aspects of youth culture in Europe: Lord of the Toys by first time director Pablo Ben Yakov is the highly controversial, award- winning portrayal of East German YouTube creator Max ”Adlersson” Herzberg. Easy Lessons by Hungarian filmmaker Dorottya Zurbó follows beautiful 17-year-old Kafia who fled a child marriage in Somalia and confronts what it takes to start a new life in Budapest. Also in search of a new life and her true sexual identity is 16-year-old Inga from Latvia, the only hearing member of a deaf family in Inga Can Hear by Kaspars Goba. Homeless young drifter Victorija seeks a place to stay to fulfil her dreams of a home and a life without drugs in How Much Do You Love Yourself?, the award-winning feature debut by Nina Blažin from Slovenia. The Swedish-British co-production Scheme Birds, the feature debut by Ellinor Hallin & Ellen Fiske, tells the story of young trou- blemaker Gemma, who moves directly from childhood to motherhood in one of Scot- land’s rundown housing estates.

Two of the films centre around female empowerment: The Reformist – A Female Imam, Marie Skovgaard’s debut feature, introduces us to Sherin Khankan, the driving force behind Europe’s first mosques run by female imams in Copenhagen. Swiss direc- tor Barbara Miller travelled around the world to show the successful and highly imagi- native fight by women for a self-determined sexuality and a sensual relationship based on equality between the sexes in #Female Pleasure. Equally in search of happiness is

European Film Promotion e. V. Friedensallee 14 – 16 22765 Hamburg Germany phone +49. 40. 398 403-0 fax +49. 40. 390 62 49 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Commerzbank AG BIC COBADEFFXXX IBAN DE81 1004 0000 0204 6670 00 www.efp-online.com

Mark in To Share or Not to Share by Estonian visual artist Minna Hint and her co- director Meelis Muhu: Mark gives up a successful career in London to create a life be- yond capitalism by founding his own community in Tallinn. In Seahorse, by British award-winning director Jeanie Finlay, a 30-year-old gay transgender man, Freddy, yearns to start a family and finally decides to carry a baby himself. Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė’s Acid Forest won the Best First Feature at the Locarno Film Festival and will represent her home country, Lithuania, at this year’s Biennale in Venice. She takes a visually stunning look at the devastation a large population of cormorants causes in the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and national park at the Baltic Sea.

All of the filmmakers will be on hand to present their films and take part in post- screening discussions with the very well-versed Hot Docs audience. In addition they will participate in industry events including workshops, pitches and meetings with festival programmers and acquisition executives, expanding their professional network on an international scale and supporting their film’s access to North American and other international markets. This year the programme has been expanded to include a panel discussion, presented by EFP and Hot Docs, on Euro-Canadian co-production providing practical advice from seasoned producers.

For more information on the films please go to efp-online.com (CFOE Link)

Since 2017, EFP also grants FILM SALES SUPPORT (FSS) for European world sales com- panies to promote and market films selected for Hot Docs. This year two companies seized the opportunity: German outfit Deckert Distribution will additionally push the promotion of I Had a Dream by Italian director Claudia Tosi and Filmdelights from Aus- tria for Una Primavera by Valentina Primavera, both screening in the “Made in Italy” section of the festival.

For more information on the FSS films please go to efp-online.com (FSS link)

The following EFP members are supporting THE CHANGING FACE OF EUROPE: Danish Film Institute, Estonian Film Institute, German Films, Hungarian National Film Fund, National Film Centre of Latvia, Lithuanian Film Centre, Slovenian Film Center, Swedish Film Institute and Swiss Films.

About Hot Docs: Hot Docs (www.hotdocs.ca), North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market, will present its 26th annual edition from April 25-May 5, 2019. An out-

European Film Promotion e. V. Friedensallee 14 – 16 22765 Hamburg Germany phone +49. 40. 398 403-0 fax +49. 40. 390 62 49 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Commerzbank AG BIC COBADEFFXXX IBAN DE81 1004 0000 0204 6670 00 www.efp-online.com

standing selection of approximately 200 documentaries from Canada and around the world will be presented to Toronto audiences and international delegates. Hot Docs will also mount a full roster of conference sessions and market events and services for doc- umentary practitioners, including the renowned Hot Docs Forum, Hot Docs Deal Maker and the Doc Shop. Hot Docs owns the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, a century-old landmark located in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood.

About EFP: EFP (European Film Promotion) is a unique network of 38 European promotion agen- cies from throughout Europe representing their national films and talent. Under the EFP flag, these member organisations come together to jointly promote the diversity and spirit of European cinema and talent at key international film festivals and markets, in particular outside of Europe. EFP is financially supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and by its member organisations. The Hamburg-based office is backed by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and the Ministry of Culture of the City of Hamburg.

Of Animals and Men

International documentary film competition at the 59th Krakow Film Festival.

An Israeli lawyer defending Palestinian terrorists, a Serbian writer acting as a spokesperson to the Aborigines, Polish refugees who find shelter in Africa and to top it off stories about humans and animals who share one fate. Each year, the Krakow Film Festival international documentary film competition showcases the most electrifying stories and the most fascinating protagonists from all over the world.

"Several of the competition documentaries is sure to complicate the viewer's image of the world. Their subject are the walls that we put up in our own heads, the life that we live in the shadows of gone wars and the resurrected ghosts of our past - sometimes scary, sometimes grotesquely funny. In our competition we’ve found a place both for the films of masters as well as works of the debutantes, the observation of reality and creative documentaries, as well as a completely new genre of documentary" comments Anita Piotrowska, the Festival's selector.

The competition selection includes two Polish productions. The first will open this year's Festival. "The wind. A Documentary Thriller" directed by Michał Bielawski  observes how the destructive wind blows trough Podhale and disrupts the life of its inhabitants, influences the wellbeing animals and leaves lasting wounds in nature. The second Polish title "Of Animals and Men" directed by Łukasz Czajka, is  a dramatic story, full of fascinating archive materials, following the Żabińscy, a married couple who hid over 300 escapees from the Jewish ghetto in the Warsaw Zoo. They gave them shelter until the break of the Warsaw Uprising, when the house of wild animals stopped being an asylum to the debased, Jewish human wrecks.

The Israeli films have a strong representation at this year's Festival.  "Advocate" (dir. Rachel Lech Jones, Philippe Bellaiche) is a film portrait of an exceptional lawyer, who devoted her whole professional life to the fight for human rights. Lea Tsemel, an Israeli woman, have been endangering her own life as well as the lives of her family for the past 50 years with her tireless court defense of Palestinians accused of being terrorists.  Unes, the protagonist of the "Around The Bed of A Dying Collaborator" (dir. David Ofek, Tal Michael) is considered to be a traitor by his kinsmen, just like Lea. Years ago he brought shame to his Arab family when he agreed to co-operate with the Israeli secret service. In the face of death he struggles with fear, shame and guilt.

In turn, the protagonist of the "Mussolini's Sister" (dir. Juna Sulieman) has lived for so many years, that her biography could be shared among several Arab women. Although she lives  enclosed in four walls, she is still trying to control the world. The old lady from Nazareth has not yet said her final word and she presents her own, only right views trough the lens of her granddaughter.

The mayor of the Calabrian city Riace in the document "But Now Is Perfect " (dir. Carin Goeijers) found a way to deal with the depopulation of his town: he allowed for the refugees to settle there. When the authorities stopped financing his model project it led to the destruction of the newly created community. One of the tragic victims of this change was a young Nigerian woman. In "The Border Fence", directed by the outstanding Austrian documentary filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter, we get to see the picturesque and idyllic Tyrol, which became the scenery of changes taking place in today's Europe in connection with the closing of the border between Austria and Italy, to stop the influx of refugees. From the relations of the inhabitants of this region as well as the tourists, emerges an image that is quite different from the media reports.

Jonathan Kolodziej Durand, director of the documentary "Memory Is Our Homeland" tells a story about refugees from a different perspective, set in another era, with the help of unpublished archives and personal film diaries. He sets out with a camera on a journey, filled with mystery and insinuation, following in the footsteps of his Polish grandmother, one of the millions deported to Siberia during the Second World War and one of the tens of thousands who traveled through half of the world in order to find shelter in Eastern Africa. Nowadays, on the outskirts of New York, among the tons of used plastic, other emigrants live their lives. They are a couple of outcasts, heroes of the "The Fourth Kingdom" (dir. Àlex Lora Cercós, Adan Aliaga), who did not fulfill their "American dream". Working on waste segregation, they wonder about the nature of the Universe, they reminisce about their weaknesses and failures, they nurse homeless kittens and ... they still dream, accompanied by the theater scenes of  a troupe the Children Theater.

The dirty, rubbish filled streets of Calcutta are the living space of other eccentrics. "Pariah Dog" (dir. Jesse Alk) shows several caretakers of Indian street dogs. A sad but at the same time uplifting world emerges from these kaleidoscopic images. Serbian writer Sreten Božić  is a bit of a different weirdo"Wongar" (dir. Andrijan Stojko), who looks after six tamed dingo dogs and looks for close contact with nature and those who have left, away from the hustle and bustle of civilization.

"Kabul, City in the Wind" (dir. Aboozar Amini) is one of the most troubled cities in the world, that tries to live normally despite it all. In parallel threads, we meet Abas' driver, whose bus is often broken, and two boys who have to deal with their father's absence. This contemporary portrait of Afghans corresponds in a very exciting way with the world of American veterans of the war in Afghanistan, whose stories are filled with pain and trauma that we will encounter in the movie "Stress" directed by Florian Baron.

A 30-year-old man from a small village in the north of Iran is the hero of the movie "A House for You" (dir. Mahdi Bakhshi Moqadam). In spite of life tragedies, fatal illness and bankruptcy, he makes new, life-changing decisions. The protagonists of the Argentine documentary " Cerro Quemado " (dir. Juan Pablo Ruiz) embark on a journey in search of their grandmother and mother - the last settler of an abandoned region and rediscover their Inca roots on the forgotten lands of their ancestors.

"Heat singers" directed by Nadia Parfan follows a thermal energy enterprise from Ivano-Frankivsk, which cares about the cultural needs of its employees. Once a week they can break away from their daily routine, dilapidated infrastructure and strenuous clients to take part in the company's choir rehearsals. The folk and patriotic songs that they sing become a bridge between the past communist era and the new political and economic reality. They help to ease the shock of transformation and allow them hyst ti be with each other – just like in the good old days.

Krakow Film Festival is the only festival in Poland included in very prestigious group of festivals qualifying for an Academy Award Oscar in the category of full-length documentaries. It is also a part of renowned group of festivals recommending full-length documentary films for the European Film Awards. The festival is accredited by the FIAPF and the EFFE Label.

List of films qualified for the documentary competition:

• “Adwokatka” / “Advocate”, dir. Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaiche, 110’, Israel, Canada, Switzerland, 2019
• “Chór ciepłowników” / “Heat Singers”, dir. Nadia Parfan, 64’, Ukraine, 2019
• “Czwarte królestwo” / “The Fourth Kingdom”, dir. Àlex Lora Cercós, Adan Aliaga, 83’, Spain, USA, Mexico, 2019
• “Dom dla ciebie” / “A House for You”, dir. Mahdi Bakhshi Moqadam, 70’, Iran, 2019
• “Granica” / “The Border Fence”, dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter, 112’, Austria, 2018
• “Kabul, miasto na wietrze” / “Kabul, City in the Wind”, dir. Aboozar Amini, 85’, Holland, Afganistan, Germany, Japan, 2018
• “Miasto psów” / “Pariah Dog”, dir. Jesse Alk, 77’, USA, 2019
• “Naszą ojczyzną jest pamięć” / “Memory Is Our Homeland”, dir. Jonathan Kolodziej Durand, 90’, Canada, 2018
• “O zwierzętach i ludziach” / “Of Animals and Men”, dir. Łukasz Czajka, 55’, Poland, 2019
• “Przy łóżku kolaboranta” / “Around the Bed of a Dying Collaborator”, dir. David Ofek, Tal Michael, 51’, Israel, 2018
• “Siostra Mussoliniego” / “Mussolini's Sister”, dir. Juna Sulieman, 71’, Israel, 2018
• “Spalone wzgórze” / “Cerro Quemado”, dir. Juan Pablo Ruiz, 63’, Argentina, 2019
• “Stres” / “Stress”, dir. Florian Baron, 83’, Germany, USA, 2018
• “Teraz jest świetnie” / “But Now Is Perfect”, dir. Carin Goeijers, 55’, Holand, 2018
• “Wiatr. Thriller dokumentalny” / “The Wind. A Documentary Thriller”, dir. Michał Bielawski, 75’, Poland, Slovakia, 2019
• “Wongar” / “Wongar”, dir. Andrijana Stojković, 60’, Serbia, 2018

The 59th Krakow Film Festival will take place on May 26 - June 2, 2019

GRAND OPENING OF CINESTAR 4DX BANJA LUKA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Last week, on 4 April, 2019 CineStar exhibition chain opened it latest multiplex in Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of the new DELTA PLANET shopping mall.

The new 6-screen CineStar multiplex is the most modern cinema site in the country. It is equipped by the latest standard introduced by CineStar Cinemas, with reclinable leather 729 seats.

A completely new design concept of a multifunctional space encompassing not merely cinema screens, but also a designer bar with a library and kids playrooms (birthday party rooms), is intended to make the new cinema site into a favourite place for the entire family entertainment in the city of Banja Luka.

Following the trends set by CineStar in the region, the Banja Luka multiplex also boasts a variety of specially equipped screens, which include an "eXtreeme" screen, CineStar's special format that guarantees viewers a special experience of the film on a larger screen with a more powerful sound and a more intense experience, a 4DXTM screen with motion chairs, effects such as scent, wind, water, fog, and bubbles, and special lighting effects to provide film experience that captures all five senses, and offers a fully immersive cinema experience and the feeling as almost being a part of the film. In addition, exclusively in CineStar Banja Luka, RealD screens have been upgraded to "Ultimate RealD 3D" technology with engineered screen surface that produces a much higher contrast which reflects the maximum amount of light possible - creating a clean and precise image to the viewers and enabling the best possible 3D experience.

The site is fully equipped with new generation Barco CLP laser projectors based on blue laser and phosphor wheel technology that guarantees real pleasure of watching films on wall-to-wall silver screens, along with the latest Dolby Digital EX sound technology.

Through its investments cycles since its inception in 2003, Blitz-CineStar has thus far opened 22 multiplex sites in the region, including Banja Luka, with a total of 138 digital screens a total seating capacity of over 21,500, which makes it the largest and most successful theatrical exhibition in the region of former Yugoslavia. By the end of 2019, CineStar is planning to open its 23rd site in Belgrade, within the Ada Mall. The site is expected to be one of the most prestigious and most beautiful and prestigious cinema sites not just in this region, and the total capacity of CineStar exhibition chain subsequently will be up to 145 screens and almost 23,000 seats.

HD photographs are available for free use and can be downloaded here: : https://we.tl/t-zm6VH45isD (photographer Ivan Ivanisevic)

Over two weeks, the 24th edition of VIFF Kino Pavasaris screened 170 films from established directors and rising new talents. Richard Billingham’s feature debut, an autobiographical drama “Ray & Liz”, was chosen as the Best Film in the European Debut Competition, out of 13 films hoping to take the title.

This year’s European Debut Competition had exceptionally strong entries, including the Golden Bear-winning daring examination of intimacy “Touch Me Not” by Adina Pintilie, Darko Štante’s debut feature exploring the life of a troubled teenager “Consequences”, as well as the true-to-its-title “Sauvage” by Camille Vidal-Naquet.

The jury chose Billingham’s debut feature for it’s vivid, powerful and human depiction of a family, a place and a time, filmed with precision and dark, unsettling humour.

Danish director Rasmus Kloster Bro received the special FIPRESCI prize for his claustrophobic and intense debut feature “Cutterhead”. Debuting Lithuanian director Aistė Žegulytė was awarded the Cineuropa prize for her film “Animus Animalis (A story about people, animals and things)”.  The jury described the feature as “A genuine and unexpected discovery that makes us feel what life is like in the middle of death and what death is like in the middle of life.”

The VIFF audience also cast a vote for their favourite film, with “Capernaum” by Nadine Labaki easily taking home the title. Viewers will have the chance to see this compassionate Oscar-nominated drama in film theatres after the festival ends.

One of the most prominent Polish directors Krzysztof Zanussi received a lifetime achievement award during VIFF Kino Pavasaris. “With his work, Zanussi has made an immense impact on Polish and European films, and has inspired many young debuting filmmakers. He is one of the closest and most cherished friends of Vilnius Film Festival,” said the festival’s executive director Algirdas Ramaška.

The 10th audiovisual industry conference Meeting Point – Vilnius also awarded the best in-development films and young talents. The main MPV award for the best in-development project went to “My Thoughts are Silent” by Ukrainian director Antonio Lukich. The film follows a 25-year-old Vadym who is somewhat surprisingly joined by his mother on a life-changing journey. The Karolis Kaupinis directed “Nova Lithuania”, produced by Marija Razgutė and company M-Films, won the AVAKA award for Best Lithuanian Pitch. The film depicts an interwar Baltic geographer and a prime minister planning to save their homeland as World War II approaches. The film is set to be released this year.

The 24th VIFF Kino Pavasaris reached some new personal records, having screened films in 19 Lithuanian cities and welcomed more than 125 000 viewers.

 

About the festival:

The 24th Vilnius International Film Festival “Kino Pavasaris” will take place March 21–April 4, 2019. Last year’s festival was visited by 116 551 filmgoers, becoming the largest cinema event in Lithuania and one of the most notable film festivals in Eastern Europe. For more information, visit www.kinopavasaris.lt

List of all the winners

AUDIENCE AWARD

BEST FILM

CAPERNAUM, dir. Nadine Labaki

 

BEST LITHUANIAN FILM

SUMMER SURVIVORS, dir. Marija Kavtaradzė

 

BEST SHORT FILM

FAMILY UNIT, dir. Titas Laucius

 

EUROPEAN DEBUT COMPETITION

 

THE BEST FILM

Ray & Liz, dir. Richard Billingham

 

THE BEST DIRECTOR

One Day, dir. Zsófia Szilágyi

 

THE BEST ACTRESS

Lola Dueñas, Journey to a Mother’s Room, dir. Celia Rico Clavellino

 

THE BEST ACTOR

Paulius Markevičius, Summer Survivors, dir. Marija Kavtaradzė

 

CINEUROPA AWARD

Animus Animalis (A story about people, animals and things), dir. Aistė Žegulytė

 

SPECIAL MENTION SHORT

The Night of the Plastic Bags, dir. Gabriel Harel

 

THE BEST SHORT FILM

In Between, dir. Samir Karahoda

 

FIPRESCI PRIZE

Cutterhead, dir. Rasmus Kloster Bro