Focus on Lithuania I
Tramway Film Festival
My contact with Lithuanian cinematography began around ten years ago by discovering the works of Sharunas Bartas, Audrius Stonys and Valdas Navasaitis–the keystones of Kinema, the first legally and artistically independent film studio founded by the end of the Soviet Union in 1989. As Lithuania regained independence, a talented generation of artists entered the map of the world cinema.
In the last years Lithuanian short films have gained international acclaim and the new generation of directors brings hope to the flourishing of film art in the country; a process not to be missed. However, first it’s worth to get a better understanding of the directions of development of the young Lithuanian cinema.
To this end, for the first edition of Tramway Film Festival I decided to create an auteur curator’s programme. As other festivals have shown, single-handed decision making contributes to a greater coherence of a programme. My intention was to present a spectrum of artistic expression in line with the idea of the festival, which is creative boldness and mutual permeating of feature and experimental cinema.
Some of the selected titles premiered at the biggest film festivals. Yet, during the selection process I wasn’t looking at awards and other festivals. I don’t want Tramway Film Festival to copy others, but to move along its own self-constructed tracks and discover new talents.
Selected titles were produced between 2019–2023, save for one. While most were created independently after graduation, there are two student films in the section, made at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius.
The selection includes very intense narrative cinema, poetic landscapes of the soul as well as experimental cinema. Young Lithuanian auteurs touch upon diverse themes: from handling the post-Soviet heritage and road films that explore the darkness of solitude in search of communications between generations; through an existential journey deep inside the soul, in which the line between the living and the dead is blurred; to the relationship between humans and the nature by means of lending ear to the cycles of nature and Greek mythology.
I would like to express utmost thanks to Lithuanian Shorts, and especially Gabrielė Cegialytė, for their great help, as well as all Lithuanian directors whose films I have watched. It’s been a fascinating journey.
Bartosz Reetz, founder and artistic director of Tramway Film Festival
For the past few years, Lithuanian short films have been in a golden era. A new wave of exceptionally talented filmmakers has achieved international acclaim, featuring their works at esteemed festivals such as Cannes, Berlinale, and Venice. The selected nine Lithuanian short films exemplify the bold experimentation and boundary-pushing spirit of emerging talents as well as their unique artistic voices.
Gabrielė Cegialytė, project manager at Lithuanian short film agency “Lithuanian Shorts”, managing director of Vilnius Short Film Festival
- List of films selected for the non-competitive section Focus on Lithuania I:
- Alizava | Andrius Žemaitis | Litwa | 2021 | 39' | polska premiera
- Dummy | Laurynas Bareiša | Litwa | 2020 | 13'
- The Bearers of Memories | Miglė Križinauskaitė-Bernotienė | Litwa | 2020 | 13' | polska premiera
- The Noisemaker | Karolis Kaupinis | Litwa, Szwecja | 2014 | 15'
