The Lithuanian film festival “Litauishes Kino Goes Berlin” will be held in the German capital from November 2-6 and will present the latest and most acclaimed Lithuanian feature films, organize a program of short films, pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of Jonas Mekos and honor Ukrainians by showing their short films‘ program. “Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin” is held for the 12th time and is the longest running Lithuanian film festival outside of Lithuania.
This year, in the “Festival pearls” program, the festival brings to the Berlin cinema screens Lauryns Bareiša’s film “Pilgrimai”, which won the biggest film award in the history of Lithuania – the Venice Lion. Also Marat Sargsyan’s “The Flood Won’t Come”, Ernestas Jankauskas’ second film “I’m Fine, Thanks” and the first Lithuanian science fiction film “Vesper” (directed by Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Semper).
The competition program of the festival consists of the best and newest Lithuanian short films, which were offered to the festival organizers by open call or selected by the program organizers. The three film programs will feature both student works, debut short films by directors, and works by established creators. Among them are “Techno, Mama” by Saulius Baradinskas, which has just been nominated for the European Film Awards, “Cheeries” by Vytautas Katkaus, presented at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Mothers” by Birutė Kapustinskaitė, which has already traveled to many foreign festivals, Rimantas Oičenko latest film “The Trip”. The best short film of the competition program is chosen by the audience of the festival, and the director of the winning film will receive a free accreditation to the Vilnius International Short Film Festival.
Special attention at the festival “Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin” will be given to the filmmaker Jonas Mekas, whose 100th anniversary is being celebrated all over the world this year. In Berlin, a program of J.Mekas short films, curated by Giedrė Simanauskaitė will be shown, allowing you to watch the creator’s films from the latest ones to those made in the 1970s. Based on the film “When I moved forward, from time to time I saw short flashes of beauty”, multimedia artist Julius Zubavičius will create a special performance, interweaving J.Mekas images with electronic music. “I make home movies, therefore I live“ – that’s the name of talk by semiotician and film curator Ono Kotryna Dikavičiūtė on home cinema culture and its connections with the diary-like films of Jonas Mekas. The exhibition “FLUX FEST”, which exhibits a part of the Jonas Mekas Visua Arts Center collection, will also open in the main space of the festival – the “Sputnik Kino” cinema in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district – from November 2. The exhibition includes the works of the most famous artists of the “Fluxus” movement Jurgis Mačiūnas, Nam Jum Paik, Yoko Ono and Jonas Mekas himself. The curators of the exhibition are Gabrielė Gervickaitė and Dovilė Lapinskaitė
Showing its solidarity with Ukrainian artists and encouraging us not to forget the support for the people of this country, the “Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin” film festival also prepared a program of Ukrainian short films, which it curated together with the Ukrainian Film Festival in Berlin. The program includes 5 Ukrainian short films that show the life of the country today and the relationships between people. Part of the funds from these sessions will go to „Artdacha“, a charity that supports Ukrainian artists.
The visual identity of the festival was created by designer Gabriele Vingraitė.
The “Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin” festival was conceived as a week of Lithuanian films in 2011, within 12 years it expanded to a 5-day festival in two art-house cinemas in Berlin – “Acud Kino” and “Sputnik Kino”.
The project is financed by the Lithuanian Culture Council, the program “Globali Lietuva”, the Lithuanian Cinema Center. The Lithuanian Cultural Institute and the Lithuanian Embassy in the German Federation also contribute to the festival.
Contacts:
Rita Stanelytė
Mata Hari Comm
Tel.+370 6 88 84863
rita@ltkinogoesberlin.de