16/02/2016 - BERLIN 2016: The Baltic country continues to attract interest from the international film community

This year, Lithuania is participating in the Berlinale and the European Film Market for the sixth time. The event will mostly focus on Lithuanian films in the official selection of the gathering as well as offering opportunities for foreign film productions to learn more about the country's tax exemption laws and how they have boosted the country's competitiveness in the international market.

Lithuania was one of the ten countries represented at the co-production event that took place on 15 February during the European Film Market – the event was also attended by Arnas Neverauskas, the Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Culture.

Berlin will also host numerous films from the country. The world premiere of Mantas Kvedaravičius' documentary Mariupolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mantas Kvedaravicius
film profile] was screened in the Panorama Dokumente section on 14 February. The essay film talks about the industrial port in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The daily life of Mariupol is transfused with the constant anticipation of war and its proximity. The festival's organisers see the film as a visually expressive canvas, a tribute to a city in crisis. This is the second Berlinale premiere for Kvedaravičius, a filmmaker and cultural anthropologist. It is a co-production between Uljanos Kim Studija and Extimacy Films (Lithuania), Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion (Germany), Rouge International (France) and 435 Films (Ukraine).

Market screenings will include the Lithuanian-Finnish co-production 2 Nights Till Morning [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikko Kuparinen
film profile] by Mikko Kuparinen. It was filmed in Vilnius, in cooperation with a Lithuanian crew and actors.