As the trilogue negotiations on the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market are drawing to a conclusion, now is your last opportunity to effectively ensure European authors benefit from the economic success of their works.

Coming Soon section

DEADLINE: February 6, 2019

It is now open the call for application for the 2019 edition of COMING SOON, the Work In Progress section dedicate to debut films from all over Europe.

20 projects will be selected for the pitching session that will take place in Vilnius April 2-4, 2019 and will have a dedicated schedule of individual meetings with Decision Makers.

ELIGIBLE CRITERIA

• Projects must be debut director’s film;
• Projects must be feature, documentaries or animation full-length films;
• Projects must be in late development, production or post production stage and planned to be completed and premiered from June 2019 until December 2019.

SUBMISSION

In order to submit your application and the required materials, you need to create your own account and fill in the online form following this link.

All applications must include: complete online application form, short synopsis, director statement, teaser of the submitted project and/or excerpts of the film

The application has to be finalized and submitted via the following link with all required documents by FEBRUARY 6, 2019 

SELECTION

Selection results will be announced at the beginning of March. Free industry accreditation will be offered to all selected participants. MPV will cover 3 nights accommodation for one representative per selected project.

AWARDS

Best pitch of Lithuanian project               cash award of € 1000

Best pitch of Baltic project                          cash award of € 2000

Best pitch of international project          cash award of € 3.000

Vilnius goes to Cannes Award                   free accreditation for Industry Workshop or Producers’ network programme during Cannes 2019

Post production Award                                                sound and video postproduction work worth 3500 €

First-look deal                                                  The best project will be awarded from a sales agent with a First-look deal

 

ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican.

Industry Screening platform

DEADLINE: February 6, 2019

The projects selected to Coming Soon 2019 and in the previous editions of Meeting Point – Vilnius, have the possibility to apply for an Industry Screening specifically organized for sales agent, press, programmers and professionals during the event.

 Are eligible for the Industry Screening platform:

• feature, documentaries or animation full-length films;
• film with scheduled or possible premier between June 2019 until February 2020

It is possible to apply with: last cut of the film, rough cut of the film, film excerpt

SUBMISSION

In order to submit your application and required material, you need to fill in the online form and sent it together with the Coming Soon application form following this link and please select Coming Soon + Industry Screening submission

In case of submission to the Industry Screening platform of a film selected in the previous edition of Coming Soon section, you need to fill in the Industry Screening application form following this link.

All applications must include: complete online application form, short synopsis, director statement, teaser of the submitted project and/or excerpts of the film, link to the last cut of the film, rough cut of the film (if available), motivation to apply to the Industry Screening platform

SELECTION

Selection results will be announced at the beginning of March 2019.

In case of selection, film copy should be presented to Vilnius International Film Festival event “Meeting Point – Vilnius” organizers on DCP file until March 15, 2019.

Last year, it was one hundred years since The Sinking of the Lusitania by Winsor McCay, considered by historians to be the first animated documentary. Since then, this hybrid and sometimes controversial genre has changed and evolved. Popular films include the recent Another Day of Life or Waltz with Bashir released some years ago. Czech animation is represented by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, whose short film Apart will compete at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam. This year’s Anifilm, the International Festival of Animated Film will also focus on this unusual film format.

In the last few years, animated documentaries (or anidoc as this format is sometimes called) have been growing in popularity among creators. They offer the director a wide range of options of self-expression. Movies are often based on actual events. The combination of animation and documentary allows for a metaphorical representation of things, situations, memories or traumatic experiences, while the unlimited possibilities of animation grant the authors artistic freedom.

Cinema attendance points to another phenomenon. Animated documentaries bring adult viewers to the screen and break down the prejudices of animated film being only for children. Successful feature-length animated documentaries include a film about a Polish reporter in the Angolan War  Another Day of Life (2018) or Chriss the Swiss (2018), which goes back to the time of the war in former Yugoslavia. Waltz with Bashir was nominated for an Oscar in 2008 and describes the experiences of the first 1982 Lebanon War, which Ari Folman, the director of the film, took part in as a nineteen-year-old soldier. The choice of movie subjects clearly speaks in favour of animation. Artistic freedom aside, it would be very complicated to make a politically critical film under some regimes or send film crews to war-torn countries.

One up-and-coming animated documentary creator is Diana Cam Van Nguyen, a student at the Film and TV School of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In her film debut The Little One (2017), she embodies her feelings as a Vietnamese girl growing up in a small Czech town. This short film has been screened at almost fifty international festivals around the world and has won a number of awards. It will be competing for the ECFA Doc Award - the best European documentary for children – at this year’s Berlinale festival.

The author also chose the same format for her current film Apart. "The hybrid genre of animated documentary holds many advantages. I have realised that it is a suitable form for searching for one’s own past and for expressing a subjective view. It keeps a strong emotional dimension at the same time", Diana Cam Van Nguyen's explains concerning her decision. In her new film the director focuses on the theme of losing a loved one and reconstructing the painful situation through the eyes of three young people who are exposed to the phenomenon of death prematurely. Apart has already won the award for Best Czech Experimental Documentary at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and this year it has been selected for the International Film Festival in Rotterdam.

At international film festivals, animated documentaries are a rather marginal affair. There are two leading events for documentary filmmakers in Europe – IDFA Amsterdam and DOK Leipzig – where the combination of animation and documentary can be found in the programme. A great opportunity for filmmakers is the ANIDOX: LAB Documentary Animation Workshop organised in cooperation with the Danish Film Institute. The programme also brings together authors of documentary and animated films, giving them a chance to connect these two worlds.

The Anifilm International Festival of Animated Films has decided to dedicate its main focus to animated documentaries in 2019. The intention is to map the key moments of this genre on a global scale. A diverse selection of films, especially shorts, will be prepared in collaboration with German curator and long-time programmer of the Animadoc festival in Leipzig, Annegret Richter. As animated documentary is becoming increasingly popular in the Czech Republic, a part of the programme will also be devoted to the history of Czech animated documentary. Swedish director Jonas Odell is among the first confirmed guests. "We would like to acquaint the audience with the charm and power of animated documentaries through programmes by prominent world-class artists. In addition to their films, they will present their working methods during the masterclass segment in Třeboň. In addition to Jonas Odella, Anci Damian's participation is becoming more certain,” says Pavel Horáček, the Programme Director of Anifilm.

PODGORICA: Montenegro has launched a new scheme that will provide producers with cash rebates of 25% on qualifying production expenditure.

Until recently, the return of funds spent in Montenegro amounted to 20% of the funds invested in film production.

The Film Centre of Montenegro has initiated this change in order to encourage filming at domestic locations and to make a positive impact on new projects of foreign producers that intend to film in Montenegro.

Foreign productions have the possibility to get a cash rebate of the invested funds for the film/television project. The refund can cover up to 25% of eligible expenditures spent in Montenegro for the making of the film and is granted after meeting certain conditions. The right to a cash rebate may be granted to the producer of a cinematographic work, a co-producer or production company that performs a service, provided that:

-        the funds spent for the realization of a cinematographic work in Montenegro are not provided from the budget of Montenegro or the Film Centre and are not less than EUR 100,000;

-        all taxes, contributions and other fiscal obligations prescribed by law have been previously settled in Montenegro;

-        there are no bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings against the producer; and

-        a producer or co-producer has at least one feature film that was shown to the public.

Montenegrin locations were the choice for shooting films like “Coriolanus” (2011) by Ralph Fiennes, “The November Man” (2014) by Roger Donaldson, “Papillon” (2017) by Michael Noer, “Golden Job” (2018) by Ka-lok Chin and many more.

Application forms and more information about the cash rebate scheme can be found on www.fccg.me.

The Lithuanian film centre have summarized the local box office results - in 2018 distribution reached a remarkable increase and hit all the records.

National cinema grew and hit market share by 28%. It’s a significant rise from 22% last year that was fixed as a record in 2017. Total number of admissions grew to 4.26m with two domestic titles topping the overall box office. Revenue from tickets in Lithuanian film theatres grew more than €2m in 2018.

According to cinema theatre attendance figures, the most popular film at Lithuania’s cinemas was Ashes in the Snow („Tarp pilkų debesų“, dir. Marius Markevičius) which was seen by 240 880 filmgoers. Close behind it stays Class Reunion: The Boys Are Back! („Klasės susitikimas: berniukai sugrįžta!“, dir. Kęstutis Gudavičius) and Bohemian Rhapsody (dir. Bryan Singer) received 3rd position in the top.

A documentary feature is, for the first time, among the most-viewed films in Lithuania, setting a record for independent Lithuania’s documentary filmmaking. The Ancient Woods („Sengirė“), a poetic nature documentary directed by Mindaugas Survila a co-production with Germany and Estonia that was also adapted for the blind attracted more than 62 000 spectators.

This popularity of national cinema was undoubtedly increased by the number of premieres – 21 films were premiered (11 in 2017). Overall, the productivity of national cinema also grew: last year, 54 new films of various lengths and genres were created, 28 of them were feature films (41 films were produced in 2017, of which 15 long features) most of them supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre.

A total of 351 films were screened in 2018. Market share was comprised of 58,7% US productions, 27,9 domestic productions, 11,8% of European films. Ticket price increased by €0.24 on average as compared to 2017.

TOP 10 in Lithuanian cinemas of 2018

Film Title	Admissions	GBO, €
Ashes in the Snow („Tarp pilkų debesų“)	240 880	1 295 396
Class Reunion: The Boys Are Back! („Klasės susitikimas. Berniukai sugrįžta!“)	182 583	1 005 157
Bohemian Rhapsody	161 095	950 986
The Grinch	131 098	648 378
Hotel Transylvania 3	128 402	612 862
Lithuanian Swingers („Lietuviški svingeriai“)	111 943	645 911
Women Lie Better: Robert („Moterys meluoja geriau: Robertėlis“)	107 770	595 682
Incredibles 2	103 448	499 648
Star is Born	96 024	553 346
Fifty Shades Freed	89 502	511 889

TOP 10 Lithuanian films in Lithuanian cinemas of 2018

Film Title	Admissions	GBO, €
Ashes in the Snow („Tarp pilkų debesų“)	240 880	1 295 396
Class Reunion: The Boys Are Back! („Klasės susitikimas. Berniukai sugrįžta!“)	182 583	1 005 157
Lithuanian Swingers („Lietuviški svingeriai“)	111 943	645 911
Women Lie Better: Robert („Moterys meluoja geriau: Robertėlis“)	107 770	595 682
Owl Mountain („Pelėdų kalnas“)	85 148	446 993
Liars („Melagiai“)	75 129	413 600
Bring the Independence Back („Grąžinti nepriklausomybę“)	75 456	380 649
Between Us Girls („Tarp mūsų, mergaičių“)	47 032	279 880
The Ancient Woods („Sengirė“)	62 441	258 164
Hearts („Širdys“)	47 840	241 705