Βridge to the North: Lithuania

 

Introducing Bridge to the North a new collaborative bridge between the South and the North οf Europe by hosting each year a different guest country from the Baltic and Scandinavian region. Bridge to the North is exploring new opportunities in financing and artistic collaborations and is creating fertile ground for co-productions, synergies and cultural exchange.

In partnership with the Lithuanian Film Centre, a Lithuanian delegation of producers, directors, distributors and film programmers will be attending all AGORA activities and be also participating with their own projects and talents giving us the opportunity to diversify the project selection further allowing us to open to new stories and genres coming from a completely different territory.

 

Lithuanian Delegation:

 

Eitvydas Doskus | Film Director, Cinematographer

An award-winning Lithuanian cinematographer holds BA in cinematography from Lithuanian Film and Theatre Academy. At the moment working on various feature and short fiction and documentary films as director of cinematography.

 

Zivile Gallego | Producer - Fralita Films

Fralita Films was established in 2009 by producer Zivile Gallego and has been actively involved since in national films and European co-productions. Over 12 films produced by Fralita Films together with partners from France, Norway, Poland, Netherlands, Estonia, Italy were awarded nationally and internationally. Best Lithuania's feature film Remember to Blink by Austeja Urbaite participates this year in Festival's SMART7 programme. Looking for future co-production partners, industry talks.

 

Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė | Festival Programmer & Acquisition Manager - Vilnius Iff “kino Pavasaris”

Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė is a film curator, film festival programmer, film journalist, and communication specialist based in Vilnius, Lithuania. She is currently working as a festival programmer at Vilnius International Film Festival and as an Acquisitions Manager at the film distribution company Kino Pavasaris Distribution. Dovilė has been working as a film journalist and film critic for many years and recently with a colleague started a radio show called ‘Blissfully Yours’ about cinema on the independent radio station Radio Vilnius. Her previous workplaces include the Contemporary Art Centre, the documentary film festival Inconvenient Films, the Vilnius Short Film Festival, and the independent media education and research center Meno Avilys.

 

Uljana Kim | Producer - Studio Uljana Kim

Studio Uljana Kim is a leading company in Lithuania for producing full length features. Since its foundation in 1997 thirty one feature and documentary films have been produced by the company. Most of them premiered at the most important international film festivals and others were successful at the domestic box office. The company’s goal is to produce & co-produce high quality art-house films intended for a worldwide audience.

 

Giedre Kriksciunaite | CEO - A-Οne Films Baltic

A-One Films Baltic and its sister companies A-One Films Estonia and A-One Films Latvia distribute mainly European films in the Baltic states with the special focus on international film festival selections.

 

Marija Razgute | Producer - M-FILMS

Lithuanian producer Marija Razgutė has been running M-FILMS production company since 2008 - at the moment being one of the most active companies in the country focusing on international co-productions aimed for cinemas and TV. The award winning company’s editorial line consists Slow and Summer Survivors by Marija Kavtaradze, Nova Lituania by Karolis Kaupinis, Runner and The Saint by Andrius Blaževičius, Cherries by Vytautas Katkus. M-FILMS is looking for projects with bold and daring stories.

 

Klementina Remeikaite | Producer, Owner - afterschool production

Klementina Remeikaite (b.1988, Lithuania) is a film producer. In 2014 she graduated film production studies from Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. After her studies, she and director - Laurynas Bareisa established a film production company called “afterschool”. Since then, the company has created and produced over 10 short films, 2 feature films. In 2015 she attended MAIA workshop for emerging producers, in 2019 APost Lab workshop, in 2019 Torino Feature Lab, where she and director Laurynas Bareisa developed first feature film ”Pilgrims”, which won best film award in Venice film festival, Orizzonti competition 2021. At the moment she is working on 4 new feature films.

 

Irma Simanskyte | Head of Production - Lithuanian Film Centre

Irma Šimanskytė is the Head of Film Production Department at the Lithuanian Film Centre (LFC) since 2015. She is also Lithuania’s representative on the board of Eurimages since 2020. Irma Šimanskytė studied linguistics and literature, film critics and theory at Vilnius University, Freie Universität Berlin, and Università Roma Tre.Irma Šimanskytė has been working in the field of culture for 20 years. Her previous work experience includes diplomatic relations (Cultural attaché for 4 years at the Lithuanian Embassy in Italy), management of strategic international cultural projects, such as Lithuania’s participation as the Guest of Honour Country at International Book Fairs for many years. Irma Šimanskytė is an author of many critical reviews of films and international film festivals in the Lithuanian cultural press.

 

Laimonas Ubavičius | Director (CEO) - Lithuanian Film Centre

Laimonas Ubavičius was appointed as the CEO at the Lithuanian Film Centre (LFC) in November 2020. LFC is the main film funding body in Lithuania and carries out various financial instruments to support the film industry. Starting with the individual and educational grants for the film creators, development and production support for the films and following with the support for the film distribution in Lithuania, national film promotion abroad and administration of the tax incentive for film production in Lithuania. A graduate of Lithuanian Law University (Mykolas Romeris University) (both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law) Laimonas Ubavičius has worked in the media and audiovisual policy and legal fields for 20 years. His previous work experience includes various positions in the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania (Head of Unit, Director of the Cultural Policy Department, Chancellor of the Ministry) as well as diplomatic relations experience (Attaché for Media, Audiovisual and Copyright policy at the Lithuanian Perm. Rep. to the EU). During the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council in 2013 Laimonas Ubavičius was the Chair of the Audiovisual Working Party of the EU Council and Co-chair of the Copyright Working Group of the EU Council.

 

Austėja Urbaitė | Film Director

Austėja Urbaitė was born in 1991. She grew up surrounded by nature, in a small village near Vilnius, Lithuania. Studied Acting in pre-academy courses 2008 – 2010. In 2010, she began studying film directing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Her student short film entitled The Etude (Etiudas, 2013) earned considerable attention, and was a prelude to her highly acclaimed debut short, The Bridges (Tiltai, 2015). Both of these movies received numerous nominations and awards on the film festival circuit. Remember to Blink (Per Arti, 2022) is Austėja’s first feature film that has been well received around the world, awarded for “Best Film”, “Best Director” and “Best Sound Design” in National Silver Crane awards 2023, Awarded with both "Golden Lily for Best Film” and “FIPRECI” international critics award in GO EAST film festival in Germany, as well as Audience award for best film in INDIELISBOA film festival in Portugal.

 

Dagne Vildziunaite | Managing Director & Producer - Just a moment

Established in 2007 Just a moment is a Vilnius-based independent production company focusing on auteur films, TV projects and moving images with high artistic value, daring analytic work and experimental aesthetics. Currently, the studio’s filmography consists of 29 released films and 2 unscripted TV shows, out of which, as many as 14, i.e., are international co-productions. During AGORA we are looking for international partners for the TV series project C FOR CANCEL (in late development stage).

 

Ilona Vitkauskaitė | Film Critic - KINAS

Ilona Vitkauskaitė is the editor of the film section of the cultural weekly 7 Art Days (since 2021) and the editor-in-chief of the magazine Kinas (since 2023). Ilona is also a PhD candidate and lecturer at Vilnius University. She holds a BA in Film and Theatre Criticism and an MA in Film Studies from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

 

Lithuanian Film Tax Incentives:

30% of the Lithuanian budget - an agreement with a local producer must be signed.

Annual cap: € 50 m. No application deadline
Eligible productions: Feature films; Documentaries; Animation; TV dramas

 

Production criteria:

 

Cultural criteria: