10/03/2020 - More than €2.5 million have been allocated to 48 film projects at all stages of production

Director Laurynas Bareiša, whose debut feature, Pilgrims, has received LFC support (© Kino Pavasaris/Vilnius International Film Festival)

The Lithuanian Film Centre (LFC) has announced its latest round of funding pre-approvals for 2020, which covers 48 projects spread across various programmes and production stages. The support granted totals over €2.68 million, with €2.4 million earmarked for the production of 28 films, €223,000 to support five minority co-productions, and the rest intended for the development of 20 projects.

More precisely, 14 feature-film projects will be supported with a total grant of €1.76 million. Six fiction features have been selected, and the recipients include seasoned filmmaker Algimantas Puipa (whose latest effort, Other Side of Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], competed in Black Nights’ Baltic Film Competition last year) and his upcoming film Cinephilia; Inesa Kurklietytė’s (Crow Lake) sophomore feature, Vesper [+see also:
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interview: Kristina Buožytė and Bruno …
film profile] (working title: A Butterfly’s Heart); Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper, who collaborated on Buožytė’s previous feature, Vanishing Waves [+see also:
film review
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interview: Kristina Buozyte
film profile], and who are co-directing Vesper Seeds; and Šarūnas Bartas and his upcoming feature Bastūnai. Meanwhile, two first-timers are receiving support from the LFC: Laurynas Bareiša, whose short film Dummy competed in Berlinale Shorts this year, for Pilgrims [+see also:
film review
interview: Laurynas Bareisa
film profile]; and Deimantas Narkevičius, for Twittering Soul.

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The feature-film selection is topped off by eight documentaries, including producer-director Giedrė Žickytė’s (The Earth Is Blue as an Orange [+see also:
film review
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interview: Iryna Tsilyk
film profile]) new project Irena, Mindaugas Meškauskas’s 19^th Century Photographer's Legacy, and movies by two debutants: Elena Kairytė’s Roberta [+see also:
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interview: Elena Kairytė
film profile] and Živilė Mičiulytė’s Investigative Journalists. Also, four documentaries that are intended to be shown on TV are being supported. They are Steigiamojo Seimo šimtmetis. I posėdis by Andrius Lynugaris, Kurti kad gyventi by Algirdas Tarvydas, Žaidimas pagal auksinį berniuką by Kęstutis Bražiūnas and Baladė apie stovinčiąją ant tilto by Dalia Cibauskaitė (all original titles).

Moving on to the minority international co-productions, the LFC’s support is being split among two fiction features (Rain on Two Sides by acclaimed Georgian director Zaza Khalvashi [Namme [+see also:
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film profile]] and Traces [+see also:
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interview: Dubravka Turić
film profile] by debuting Croatian filmmaker Dubravka Turić), two feature-length documentaries (Good Life, written and directed by Marta Dauliūtė and Viktorija Šiaulytė, and Lobster Soup [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Spaniards Rafael Molés and Pepe Andreu), and the short animated film Garrano by David Doutel and Vasco Sá.

Finally, nine short films will receive a total grant of over €414,000, and the selection includes two fiction titles, three documentaries and four animated movies.