Lithuania in the spotlight at BEAST

Lithuania becomes the center of attention at BEAST International Film Festival which brings Eastern European and Baltic cinema to Porto. This year Lithuania is the festival’s main country-partner and will offer an exhaustive program that focuses on both, contemporary and heritage Lithuanian cinema. The festival visitors will be able to see 24 Lithuanian films and retrospectives, meet the most prominent filmmakers and visit an art exhibition dedicated to Lithuanian cinema.

The opening film of the festival will be Summer Survivors (lit. Išgyventi vasarą) by Marija Kavtaradzė which premiered in Toronto film festival last year. Aistė Žegulytė’s newest short films as well as the retrospective of her older films will be screened at Directors Focus program.

Special attention will be paid to the godfather of avant-garde film, Jonas Mekas. The festival goers will be able to see his retrospective. Lithuanian film festival Baltijos banga which only screens films from the Baltic countries will be presented at Festival Visit – a festival’s section that focuses on film festivals of different countries.

The lovers of the classics will also be able to find something for their taste: Walnut Bread (lit. Riešutų duona, 1978) by dir. Arūnas Žebriūnas and four short documentaries including Black Box (lit. Juoda dėžė, 1994) by Algimantas Maceina, Europa 54° 54′ – 25° 19′, 1997 by Deimantas Narkevičius, We Were At Our Own Field (Pabuvam savam lauki, 1988) by Henrikas Šablevičius, We Are Not Afraid of Any Enemy (lit. Mums nebaisūs jokie priešai, 1978) by Edmundas Zubavičius.

Arūnas Matelis’ film Wonderful Losers: A Different World (lit. Nuostabieji lūzeriai: kita planeta, 2018) will be screened at Highlighs section of the festival.

The latest Lithuanian VR projects will be presented at the festival’s VR Corner: Code of Freedom 1991 (lit. Laisvės kodas 13, 2018) by Andrius Lekavičius and Trail of Angels (Angelų takais, 2018) by Kristina Buožytė.

A short film Where Things, Where People Disappear (lit. Kur dingsta daiktai, kur dingsta žmonės, 2017) by Jorė Janavičiūtė will be competing at the East Wave competition program which focuses on short films released within the last two years.

An exhibition Contemporary Rituals by Eglė Plytnikaitė, Laimė Kiškūnė and Viktorijas Lukševičiūtė will be held in the framework of the festival. The exposition contains eight illustrations that reveal different rituals that take place during the different seasons of the year.

Lithuania is represented at the festival in cooperation with the Lithuanian Cinematographic Union and is supported by the Lithuanian Film Center.

Lithuanian films at „BEAST“:

„Summer Survivors“ (dir. Marija Kavtaradzė, 2018)
„Animus Animalis (A Story About People, Animals and Things)“ (dir. Aistė Žegulytė, 2018)
„Vita“ (dir. Aistė Žegulytė, 2010)
„To Have or to Be“ (dir. Aistė Žegulytė, 2011)
„Nidai“ (dir. Aistė Žegulytė, 2011)
„Nikodemas“ (dir. Aistė Žegulytė, 2012)
„Identities“ (dir. Aistė Žegulytė, 2014)
„Walden (Diaries, Notes and Sketches)“ (dir. Jonas Mekas, 1968)
„Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania“ (dir. Jonas Mekas, 2072)
„Out-Takes From the Life of a Happy Man“ (dir. Jonas Mekas, 2012)
„I’m Twenty Something“ (dir. Marija Kavtaradzė, 2014)
„The Last Day of School“ (dir. Gabrielė Urbonaitė, 2018)
„By The Pool“ (dir. Laurynas Bareiša, 2017)
„Easily and Sweetly“ (dir. Ignas Miškinis, 2004)
„Trolleybus City“ (dir. Giedrė Beinoriūtė, 2002)
„Wonderful Losers: A Different World“ (dir. Arūnas Matelis, 2018)
„Trail of Angels“ (dir. Kristina Buožytė, 2018)
„Code of Freedom 1991“ (dir. Andrius Lekavičius, 2018)
„We Are Not Afraid of Any Enemy“ (dir. Edmunadas Zubavičius, 1978)
„We Were At Our Own Field“ (dir. Henrikas Šablevičius, 1988)
„Europa 54°54′– 25°19′“ (dir. Deimantas Narkevičius, 1997)
„Black Box“ (dir. Algimantas Maceina, 1994)
„Walnut Bread“ (dir. Arūnas Žebriūnas, 1978)
„Where Things, Where People Disappear“ (dir. Jorė Janavičiūtė, 2017)