28/07/2017 - The centre has split €811,701 among the projects, which include five minority co-productions

The Lithuanian Film Centre has granted a total of €811,701 to 21 film projects. Out of this sizeable sum, €770,701 were earmarked for boosting film production. The lion’s share was given to five films dedicated to the upcoming centenary of the state of Lithuania, with the biggest chunk of support, €70,000, going to Tumas’s Codex by Eimantas Belickas – a documentary about Lithuanian writer Juozas Tumas-Valžgantas. Another biographical documentary project, Rūta by Ronaldas Buožis and Rokas Darulis, about Olympic-winning Lithuanian swimmer Rūta Meilutytė, received €35,000.

Most of the supported projects were short fiction films and short documentaries by young filmmakers. The Last Bell by Gabrielė Urbonaitė, Golden Minutes by Saulius Baradinskas and When the Lights Go Out by Jonas Trukanas were among the recipients. Funding was also allocated to an animated short, The Juggler by Skirmanta Jakaitė.

Five minority co-production projects were also supported. In addition to movies with partners like France, Italy and Russia, the first joint efforts are being planned with new partners such as Georgia and Cyprus. The Georgian project Namme by Zaza Khalvashi tells the story of a family and a community in the mountainous region of Georgia, while the Cypriot 3D animated project Dragon Recepies by Maria Pavlou talks about the friendship between a wizard girl and a dragon she has created.

The rest of the production support went to Sniper (€15,000, first short film), Mudu abudu by Elena Kairytė (€20,000, short documentary), The Nest by Ričardas Matačius (€10,705, short documentary), Iš kur tas švytėjimas? by Agnė Marcinkevičiūtė (€20,000, short documentary), Juodas vaikas  by Laurynas Bareiša (€25,040, short film), Tumo kodeksas by Eimantas Belickas (€70,000, documentary), Išeiti iš namų by Miglė Satkauskaitė (€30,000, short documentary), Grybų karas by Antanas Skučas (€3,820, short animation) and Žvalgai by Andrius Bartkus (€14,891, short film).

The remaining €61,000 were given to five pre-production projects, including two fiction feature films: Antigonė (€15,000, fiction feature film), Vaikas su garantija (€10,000, fiction feature film), Broliai (€9,000, documentary), Senas šautuvas (€7,000, short film), and Matilda by Ignas Meilūnas (€20,000, short animation).