Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris

For the 16th time Lithuania greets the spring with the International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris. This year is no exception, but rather a colourful addition to the history of the festival. From the 17th to the 31st of March a fresh gust of films will storm the cinemas promising real emotion without cliches and predictable happy endings. The need for great films is growing with every year, recognising this we will bring more than 130 new films, including the screamers of 2010, to the cinemas of Vilnius and other Lithuanian cities.
Programme

This years‘ theme – “Kino Pavasaris without cliches“ – obliged us to break the usual festival structure, surrender a few parts of the programme only to create one all encompassing programme entiled “Horizons“. 54 best and most memorable films from international film festivals will be competing for the title of the “Audience Favourite‘s“.

11 films will compete in the Eastern and Central European film section “New Europe – New Names”, celebrating its third tenure in the programme. One best film will be selected and two will be awarded with special prizes. The winners will be announced at the closing ceremony of the festival on the 31st of March.

9 films will illustrate the reality though documentary – regulars of the festival will know, that we select only the best documentary films. The documentary programme this year is exceptionally striking and intriguing. One only has to mention Ch.Fergusson‘s Oscar winning documentary “Inside Job“. A 3D film will be screened for the first time in the festival‘s history – an extraordinary Werner Herzog documentary about the first imagery of human kind „Cave of forgotten dreams“.

An extraordinary programme of Lithuanian films will present 37 films and will invite to 13 Lithuanian premieres. Lithuanian film critic jury will be judging debuts from the new Lithuanian film directors and the selected few will be given encouragement prizes. A new line in the festival is the “Audience Film” nomination. Both of the previously mentioned prizes will be awarded by “Švyturys“. Special screenings will be dedicated to Jonas Mekas. A positive new incentive to the Lithuanian directors will commence on the 26th of March, when a night of Lithuanian shorts will be held for the first time in the festival’s history. An to prove that Kino Pavasaris is really taking over the city, Internet cinema screenings will be held on the 21st to 25th of March.

Our audience is in for a surprise in the programme of retrospectives – the famous South Korean director Kim Ki-duk, Audience‘s Favourite of several years, will present 9 films. No less impressive is the retrospective of Šarūnas Bartas films - we will show 8 out of 10 masterpieces of slow film.

Guests

Which film will bring out the most genuine emotion, reveal the director‘s vision, and ease it‘s way into the hearts of the viewers? The contest programme „New Europe – New Names“ jury will be presided by Milcho Manchevski from Macedonia. Other members of the jury include: producer Nadia Turincev (France), director and cinematographer Fred Kelemen (Germany), screenwriter, director and actress Alantė Kavaitė (France/ Lithuania) and American Film Foundation director Gary McVey from the US.

The jury of the International Conferderation of Independent Film and Theatre CICAE will deliver their verdict for the second year running. This year, Kino Pavasaris will have the pleasure of welcoming Christopher Gatt, director of the St.James Cabalier Centre for Creativity in Valletta (Malta), Tejinder Jouhall, film curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art (UK) and Peter Muszatics, Jameson CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival director of communication.

Events

The festival will include several important events, such as the meeting of the organisers of Eastern and Central European film festivals, which will invite festival representatives, film distributors and members of national film institutes. “Discover The Archives” project is a newcomer in the festival programme, organised in collaboration with The Lithuanian Central Archive and the European Film Gateway. Best Directors of Photography will be selected and presented with “Ąžuolas“ (eng. “oak”) award, while The Lithuanian film industry will be honoured on Filmmaker’s Night. The tradition of the educational project “Kino Knyga”(eng. “book of films”) will commence for the fifth time. During this programme school students from all corners of Lithuania will be invited to submit their scenarios based on the story about the “Ugly Ducking”. Later they will be given a chance to make short films.