For the 29th time, the Vilnius City Film Festival invites you to cinema halls "Cinema spring"dedicates this year to the influence of cinema. "That spring when after the movie you don't act anymore", "That spring when after the screening - just like after the screening", "That spring when your feelings are like home again" - with these phrases, inviting personal small (and maybe big) transformations, the organizers of the festival breaking news and urging you not to plan anything else March 14-27.
Konradas Kazlauskas, executive director of Kino pavasaris, summarizes the messages sent by the 29th festival - good films make us better. "This year's program invites the viewer not only to enjoy the cinema, but also to notice how one or another film affects us and our insides," he says. - That's why we imprinted some values - sensitivity, empathy, certainty - on the "Kino pavasaris" posters. And if you see even a little bit of yourself there, then we're moving in the right direction."
That cinema is a thought-changing and enriching experience, Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė, head of the festival's program and purchases, has no doubts. According to her, probably every person could name at least one film that had a personal impact on him - one that changed something. "Cinema is valuable in that it makes slow but important changes in society: it changes people's attitude towards others, the environment, raises questions, provokes consciousness and awakens."
Such is the film "The Zone of Interest" by the British director Jonathan Glazer, awarded with the Grand Prize and nominated for 5 Oscars, which will open the festival in Cannes. It is quite an unusual decision for "Kino Pasavaris" to start the festival with a drama about the Holocaust, because lighter films are usually chosen for the opening, - admits D. Grigaliūnaitė. - But this film is so strong and relevant that we could not open the festival with any other film. It is important to watch it right now - so that we do not simply become observers of the evil around us, we do not forget, we empathize."
Films rated by viewers and professionals
This year, the program of the festival, which is supported by major partners ERGO and Telia Play, includes more than 100 films, distinguished by their craftsmanship, variety of themes, their importance, original forms of expression and depth. An extremely large number of them have been evaluated at Cannes, Venice and other international film festivals, awarded with Golden Globes, BAFTA and nominated for Oscars.
One of the most titled films of the festival - awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes, won 2 Golden Globes and was nominated for 5 Oscars - director Justine Triet's drama Anatomy of a Fall maintains intrigue until the end of the film: is this year's best Played by Sandra Hüller, a recognized European actress, the German writer Sandra is to blame for her husband's death, or not.
"British film fans have reason to celebrate: two new stars are born," wrote the British newspaper "How to Have Sex" of director Molly Manning Walker's debut film "How to Have Sex", which won the "Special Look" award at Cannes. Those two stars are the aforementioned director and lead actress Mia McKenna-Bruce, who recently won a BAFTA Award for a film about a teenage girl's sexual experience.
Oscar-nominated and awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Italian film master Matteo Garrone's drama Io Capitano tells the Homeric odyssey of two Senegalese teenagers from Dakar to Italy. And based on true stories, huge hype in Poland The film "Green Border" by cinema master Agnieszka Holland raises the question of humanity in the so-called "green border" separating Belarus and Poland, where refugees from the Middle East and Africa fall into geopolitical shackles.
In his new drama Evil Does Not Exist, Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, who won an Oscar for Drive My Car, together with composer Eiko Ishibashi, not only captures human interaction in nature, but also creates an audiovisual work in which music is extremely important. And the American director Alexander Payne's adventure comedy The Holdovers, which won 2 Golden Globes and was nominated for 5 Oscars, will take everyone on an adventure full of human connection and warmth.
Special programs include night screams and costume transformations
This year, "Kino pavasaris" presents several special programs in addition to traditional programs. The "Dreskodas" program will invite you not only to follow the messages coded and sent by the creators of film costumes, but also to get to know the most prominent authors: Edith Head, who created Audrey Hepburn's costumes in the movie "Sabrina" (1954), Jacques Fonteray, without whose futuristic costumes science fiction is unimaginable the film Barbarella (1968), Sandy Powell, who combined glam and punk influences in the musical The Golden Gap (1998), and Milena Canonero, whose costumes won her third Oscar for the costume drama Marie Antoinette (2006).
Meanwhile, the "Midnight Screams" program intertwines chilling horror and eroticism, the taste of wine and blood. Horror master David Cronenberg will introduce a subculture whose members find sexual satisfaction in watching accidents and themselves becoming their victims. Japanese new wave wizard Nagisa Ōshima will open the door to the boss and maid sex room. We will also meet a love-hungry witch in the cinema, whose elixir not only makes you fall in love, but also kills. And Andy Warhol's beloved director Paul Morrissey will invite you to a unique interpretation of the Frankenstein story in 3D format. Elžbieta Batory, the main character of the film "Daughters of Darkness", will try to drain the last drop of blood.
Lithuanian cinema is diverse and multi-layered
One of the goals of "Kino pavasaris" is to draw attention to Lithuanian cinema and support its creators, which is why the program of Lithuanian films occupies a special place in the festival this year as well. This year, a lot of attention will be paid not only to Lithuanian directors, but also to other creators and producers who have prepared for the audience the films co-produced with Lithuania presented at the world's biggest festivals.
In total, the program will include 5 long-run and 7 short-run premieres: "The Peasants" by directors DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, "Life and Death of a Christmas Tree" by Artūrs Jevdokimovs, "Generation" by Eimantas Belick .EU" (Generation.EU), Ilze Kunga "My Freedom", Dāvis Sīmanis "Maria's Silence", Ignos Meilūnas "Hoofs and Skates", Lukas Kacinauskas "Happy Others!", Ievas Šakalytės " SPA", "I bought" by Martynas Norvais, "Nominees" by Birutė Kapustinskaitė, "4°C" by Matas Vildius and "The one who knows" by Eglė Davidaviče.
"Kino pavasaris" tickets will be available at the lowest price this weekend, February 29 - March 1. at the cinema box office and online.
