The Lithuanian Film Centre (LFC) has announced its second round of funding pre-approvals for 2020, through which it will support 59 projects at various stages of production and development with a total amount of over €2.5 million. Out of the total support, €1.86 million have been earmarked for the production of 31 films, including three feature fiction films, five documentaries, five international co-productions with a Lithuanian minority producer, 16 shorts and two TV productions. The rest of the grant was split among 28 projects in development – six features, six documentaries and eleven animated films – and five projects at the scriptwriting stage.

Starting off with the Lithuanian fiction films, the three recipients are Mantas Kvedaravičius (Parthenon [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mantas Kvedaravičius
scheda film]) for his sophomore fiction film, Trys auksakasio sapnai (production company: Extimacy Films); also, writer-director Vytautas V Landsbergis (Hansel and Gretel) is co-directing with debutant Giedrius Tamoševičiust his upcoming feature The Poet [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Giedrius Tamoševičius
scheda film]; while filmmaker Vytautas Tinteris (Plastic Palace People), writes, directs and produces his sophomore feature Trapped in Lithuania.

The LFC is supporting the five minority co-production projects – two fiction films, two documentaries and one animated film – with over €230,000. Among them are Latvia’s Viesturs Kairišs (The Chronicles of Melanie [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]) who’s working on his new feature January (Lithuanian production company: Artbox). The other fiction film supported is the Spanish-French-Lithuanian co-production Out of Sync [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Juanjo Giménez
scheda film] by Catalonian filmmaker Juanjo Giménez (Čiobreliai).

Among the documentaries are the latest project from Sergei Loznitsa, The Natural History of Destruction [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which is inspired by W.G. Sebald’s text “Luftkrieg und Literatur”, describing the phenomenon of mass destruction of the German civilian population and German cities by massive Allied air raids during World War II (Uljana Kim ir ko), and Mirror [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by India’s documentarian Siddhant Sarin, the first co-production between Lithuania (Ultra Nominum) and India. Finally, Latvia’s Nils Skapāns will receive the LFC support for his upcoming animated film Nap (Moonmakers).

Furthermore, five feature-length documentaries will be supported with a total grant of over €330,000. The selection includes another project by Mantas Kvedaravičius, his third documentary since Mariupolis [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mantas Kvedaravicius
scheda film], entitled Sleeping Sickness (lit: Miego liga) (Production company: Extimacy Films); also, Vytautas V Landsbergis is receiving the LFC grant for his documentary Vilutis (A propos studija). The other supported projects are Thomas. Forms of Hope by Czech filmmaker Saimir Bajo (Ketvirta versija); Vakar/Yesterday by well-known Lithuanian director Audrius Juzėnas (The Excursionist); and Kernagis by Andrius Lekavičius (360 laipsnių filmai).

Almost €390,000 were handed out to sixteen short films, of which seven are fictions, five are documentaries, two are animated and two more are interactive experiences.

Finally, taking into account both of the 2020 slates of funding (read the news), this year, the LFC is backing a total of 107 projects at the development or production stage with an amount of almost €5.2 million.