Vilnius to Become Source of Inspiration to Young European Filmmakers in Autumn

Press Release

08 08 2013

Vilnius is an inspiring city. Vilnius is full of great, creative, interesting people. Vilnius is so cinegenic it makes you want to film it all the time. These are the thoughts shared by the filmmakers making their first big independent project in the Audiovisual Arts Industry Incubator, and expecting to spread their enthusiasm among a number of film school students, young professionals and schoolchildren interest in film from all over the Nordic and Baltic region.

In the beginning of October, young film lovers from Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are coming to Vilnius to take part in the Norbaltic Incubator workshop. In the course of two months, the total of 40 participants will divide themselves into four international creative teams, which will draft documentary film projects, develop ideas, shoot, edit and polish their own takes on the city of Vilnius, with the help of professional tutors from different areas in filmmaking. As a result, a feature-length collection of documentary shorts will be presented to audiences in late November.

“It is great that Vilnius is in the center of the European political life these days, as our country presides over the EU. We want to stress with our first Nordbaltic Incubator project that our city is inseparable from creativity, that it is a constantly renewing, inexhaustible source of inspiration for people with dreams. We admire those Lithuanian films by A. Grikevičius, A. Matelis, R. Lileikis, Š. Bartas, where an important role is played by the Vilnius atmosphere of a certain period of time. Yet isn’t it curious to look at Vilnius through the eyes of today’s young European filmmakers? To see the thoughts and ideas our city life will shower them with?” says Inesa Kurklietytė, filmmaker, head of the Audiovisual Arts Industry Incubator.

Kurklietytė, who has been running the Summer MEDIA studio educational workshops for European film schools in Juodkrantė for 15 years, knows from her experience that it is up to the participants themselves to decide what their film is going to be like and what role Vilnius is going to play in it. “What matters is an interesting idea rather than a formal concordance of the film and the subject of the project,” says Kurklietytė.

In preparation of the project, the organizers are collaborating with film schools in Nordic and Baltic countries, informal youth education institutions, professionals working in film industry.

“We came to learn that the interest in projects that offer new experiences – be it a country, city, unfamiliar school or people – never diminishes. This is what is going to be the major drive of our project,” says Domantė Urmonaitė, coordinator of the Nordbaltic Incubator workshop.

Her colleague Ieva Bužinskaitė, the second coordinator of the project, thinks that the theoretical seminars, learning and creative processes that are going to take place during the workshop may interest a much broader circle of film professionals. “Our idea is to release on DVD not only the films but also the series of lectures that will be made during our project. We want to share our valuable experiences with those who are indifferent to the documentary genre and are willing to work with it,” she says.

The Audiovisual Arts Industry Incubator is fully equipped for film production and post-production. Its spacious premises will host the theoretical seminars. The first Nordbaltic Incubator workshop is sponsored by the Nordplus Horizontal Programme and Lithuanian Ministry of Culture (Residency Programme).