The biggest film festival in Lithuania organised the traditional New Europe – New Names and the Baltic Gaze Competitions with 10 films each, and also the Short Films Competitions with 27 films. The festival also launched a new programme, I Am a Hybrid, with films blurring the line between documentary and fiction, while the Comedy Programme screened comedies dealing with complicated issues using sharp humor.

This year, Kino Pavasaris screened 130 feature films and 70 short films from all over the world with a special focus on Baltic countries and Central Europe. The festival also hosted Meeting Point Vilnius, the film industry networking event designed to promote the Baltic film industry.

The 21st Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris took place from 31 March to 14 April 2016 and had an attenadance of more than 100,000 people at the screenings, which took place in five largest Lithuanian cities.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

New Europe – New Names Competition Winners

Best Film:

I, Olga Hepnarova / Ja, Olga Hepnarova (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, France)
Directed by Petr Kazda, Tomáš Weinreb
Produced by Black Balance
Coproduced by Media Brigade, Alef Film and Media Group, Love.FRAME, Spoon, Barrandov Studios, Michael Samuelson Lighting Prague,  FAMU, Arizona Productions, Odra Film
Supported by the Polish Film Institute , the Czech Film Fund, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Odra Film

Thirst / Jajda (Bulgaria)
Directed by Svetla Tsotsorkova
Produced by Front Film
Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

Best Director: Agnieszka Smoczyńska for The Lure / Córki Dancingu (Poland)
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
Produced by WFDiF
Coproduced by HBO Poland, Telewizja Polska
Supported by the Polish Film Institute

Best Actress: Monika Naydenova for Thirst (Bulgaria)

Best Actor: Uliks Fehmiu for Our Everyday Life / Naša Svakodnevna Priča (Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia)
Directed by Ines Tanović
Produced by Dokument Sarajevo
Coproduced by Spiritus Movens and Slovenia's Studio Maj
Supported by the Slovenian Film Center , the Croatian Audiovisual Center, Film Fund Sarajevo

The CICAE Award: A Good Wife / Dobra Zena (Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia)
Directed by Mirjana Karanovic
Produced by This&That Productions
Coproduced by Deblokada, Nukleus Film, Cineplanet
Supported by Film Fund Sarajevo

Baltic Gaze Competition Winners

Best Film: Under the Sun (Ukraine) Documentary
Directed by Vitaly Mansky

Best Director: Mantas Kvedaravičius for Mariupolis (Lithuania, Germany, France, Ukraine) Documentary

Best Actress: Trine Dyrholm for The Commune (Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands)
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg

Best Actor: Oleg Maximov for Don Juan (Sweden, Finland, Poland) Documentary
Directed by Jerzy Śladkowski

Special Mention: Granny‘s Dancing on the Table (Sweden)
Directed by Hanna Sköld.

Short Film Competition Winners and Audience Awards

Best Film: Fear (Slovakia / Czech Republic)
Directed by Michal Blaško

Special Mention: End of Puberty (Hungary)
Directed by Fanni Szilágyi

Audience Award: Truman (Spain)
Directed by Cesc Gay

Best Short Film voted by the festivalgoers: Otto (Netherlands)
Directed by Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins and Job Roggeveen