Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin showcases festival darlings and iconic classics
The 9th edition of Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin – a boutique film festival, showing the best of Lithuanian cinema in the capital of Germany – will take place on October 31st-November 4th. The highlights of the programme include – Motherland – a debut feature by Tomas Vengris, which just had National premier and will have its world premiere in Busan International Film Festival in South Korea and the best Baltic film of the last year – Summer Survivors by Marija Kavtaradzė.
Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin is the only full range Lithuanian film festival outside the country and will show in total 50 films from Lithuania – shorts, documentaries, features and restored classics.
Festival Pearls
Motherland (Gimtinė) by Tomas Vengris will come to Berlin shortly after its world premiere in Busan International Film Festival . The story unravels around the 12-year-old Kovas, who, shortly after the fall of the iron curtain, travels to his mother’s Viktorija homeland for the first time. It has been 20 years since she escaped the USSR and has now returned to reclaim her beloved family estate. Viktorija’s former flame, Romas, claims to have useful connections and escorts them to the family land. The mother is played by Severija Janušauskaitė, a Lithuanian actress, who is well known in Berlin and around Europe because of her role in the TV series “Babylon Berlin” and the follow-up involvement in the performances of Moka Efti Orchestra.
Summer Survivors (Išgyventi vasarą) by Marija Kavtaradzė (2018, 91’, Lithuania) world premiered at the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival and was named as the best film of Baltic states in Tallinn Black Nights Film festival in 2018. An ambitious young psychologist agrees to transport two patients to a seaside psychiatric unit. As all three are fighting their own inner battles, the unlikely journey will bring them closer to each other and what from the outside looks like a carefree summer ride with friends sharing laughs, could be the beginning of healing in this bittersweet story that – just like summer – is full of hopes, surprises and the promise that anything is possible.
Retrospective
Two iconic films by legendary Lithuanian director Arūnas Žebriūnas have been chosen to complete the retrospective programme. The Beauty (Gražuolė) from 1969 is a mesmerising film about children’s world and the innocence of beauty. Walnut bread (Riešutų duona) from 1978 is the lyrical and satirical story of Lithuanian Romeo and Juliet in a small provincial town of Lithuania and shows the complexity of human relations. Both films have received several awards from the festivals in the Soviet Union.
Competition of the festival constitutes of recent short films from Lithuania and the audience will pick up the winner. In co-operation with Latvian and Estonian embassies in Berlin, Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin also screens the compilation of the Baltic short films: Baltic Animations for the youngest viewers and the baltic Midnight Screenings – meant for the midnight viewers.
For the fullest representation of the current Lithuanian culture, the post-punk girl band ShiShi will perform in Berlin during the festival. Also the photography exhibition and the masterclass by the acknowledged Lithuanian authors will be showcased.
Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin will be held for the 9th time and will be present at cinemas Sputnik Kino, Acud Kino and at the club Acud Macht Neu .
The festival is held together with Lithuanian Council of Culture, Lithuanian Film Center, Audiovisual Works Copyright Association (AVAKA).