Editor

How Film Festivals Can Help Promote, Market and Build Audiences

The fifth edition of Vilnius International Film Festival's industry sidebar Meeting Point Vilnius opened Tuesday with welcoming remarks from Lithuania's deputy minister of culture, Darius Mazintas and festival executive director Algirdas Ramaska.

The Kempinski Hotel's meeting room was packed with 150 international film industry guests, keen to hear the latest news from Lithuania, see a glimpse of a selection of 22 Baltic films and works in progress and hear tips from top professionals on the role festivals can play in getting a movie from concept to box office success.

Mr Mazintas, who noted that true to tradition Kino Pavasaris - which means Cinema Spring in Lithuanian - was accompanied by blue, sunny skies.

The film industry in Europe accounts for 4.5% of EU gross domestic product and employs 8 million people, he said.

Rolandas Kvietkauskas, director of the Lithuanian Film Centre, outlined the facts and figures locally.

Set up three years ago, the centre has a budget to support production and development; last year 87 Lithuanian projects applied for support, this year there had already been 117 applications. The centre's budget was increased from 1.7 million Euros to 2.1 million this year, he noted.

"We saw an increase, but I should say in the presence of the ministry of culture that it's not enough. Nevertheless, we are happy with the support of the ministry in arguing with other government departments for the increasing in funding," Mr Kvietkauskas added.

This year the centre would support six national production (including four that are majority coproductions); nine documentaries; five animated films; three minority coproductions (with Latvia, Finland and Norway); and 17 projects in development.

Tax incentives that offer up to 20% rebates on local spend, introduced in January, had already attracted three projects from Lithuania, Finland and Russia and "intensive talks" were underway with producers from the UK, Japan, Germany and Spain.

Training and development was also a priority and this autumn Vilnius is due to host the third session of the Eurodoc professional event, he said.

Audience figures for what is a small nation by European standards, were healthy: in 2013 Lithuanian cinemas recorded 3.2 million admissions, with domestic productions accounting for just under 16.5% of admissions, an increase of 2.5% on 2012.

Three local films were among the top 10 box office hits and overall box office was 13 million Euros.

Lithuania's biggest ever box office film, a largely English language gangster comedy starring British actor Vinnie Jones, "Redirected", which was released in January, has taken more than 1.2 million Euros at the box office with nearly 290,000 admissions, he said.

"There is the potential to grow the audience for local films; we'd like to see that figure of 16% closer to 20%," Mr Kvietkauskas concluded.

Baltic producers and directors presented 16 Lithuanian feature and documentary projects, three Latvian and three Estonian.

Ranging from documentaries such as "Our Africa" -- a fascinating glimpse into the post-war Soviet neo-Colonialism of Africa, when the USSR filled the western power vacuum in countries such as Liberia, Kenya, Mozambique and Kenya with offers of 'fraternal communistic help', that draws on rarely seen Soviet archive footage from the 1950s, 60s and 70s -- through completed arthouse/commercial crossover feature, "Gitel" directed by Robert Mullan -- the story of a young Jewish woman's post-war 'Holocaust survivor guilt', and Estonia's coming of age feature "Cherry Tobacco", the creative force in the Baltic region was clearly demonstrated.

Nikolaj Nikitin, the Berlin film festival's delegate for Eastern Europe, outlined his recently launched initiative, SOFA - the School of Film Agents, before he and fellow guests Serbian producer Miroslav Mogorovic, Belgrade-based distributor Igor Stankovic and French/Belgian producer Pascal Judelewicz (who co-produced Lithuania's critically acclaimed sci-fi movie "Aurora" -- known internationally as "Vanishing Waves" -- discussed the part festivals can play in marketing, promotion and audience building.

Mr Ramaska, in an intervention during the discussion, noted the cross-promotional role that festivals can play in cooperating with distributors of films that have screened at festivals, something Kino Pavasaris is active in.

The day concluded with a Lithuanian-language discussion for local producers on legal issues in the film industry. Dina Adomaviciute, a lawyer from Law Borenius, a top local law firm, addressed the question: "How to avoid legal issues during the film making process?"

Festival industry guests later enjoyed an industry party hosted at Vilnius' new movie production facility, the 1,500 m2 Vilnius Film Cluster, located in a refurbished and remodelled former Soviet-era sports complex six kilometres from the city centre and one kilometre from Vilnius international airport.