NordBaltic Incubator – Press release
Press release
Vilnius
2013.10.01
Professionals Will Guide the Young European Cinematographers to the Stories of Vilnius
The first independent project of ‘Audiovisual Arts Industry Incubator’ begins on the 1st of October – Vilnius will welcome the participants of the international creative workshop ‚NordBaltic Incubator‘. Around fifty students and university teachers from Latvia, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Estonia and Lithuania will be learning and developing ideas together, as well as produce four documentaries, all of which will be united by the same setting – the city of Vilnius.
“The ‘Audiovisual Arts Industry Incubator’ is able to provide all the possibilities and conditions for learning, filming, editing films, therefore, we must use them at every chance we get. I always prefer the kinds of projects which lead to producing something concrete at the end. I believe that the participants from other countries will be inspired by Vilnius and maybe the ideas developed by them will impel Lithuanians to see a different side of the city. And at the end of November we will be inviting everyone to come and see the documentaries produced by the participants and we will have a chance to see Vilnius with the eyes of the young European filmmakers.“ – says manager of ‘Audiovisual Art Industry Incubator’, film director Inesa Kurklietytė.
The most engaging part of the project to most of the participants of ‚NordBaltic‘ was the concrete goal of the workshop – creating a film. The future film manager, LMTA student Norvyda Saukaitytė says that she joined the project for an opportunity to observe the filmmaking process and be a part of it from the beginning to the very end.
„I am fascinated by the opportunity to work with teams from different countries and with people who all have different experience. The people who are young, motivated and up for difficult challenges. The city with all its different faces and untold stories“, – explained his decision to come to Vilnius Reinis Spaile, a Latvian student from Tallinn’s Baltic Film and Media School.
Matteo Passerini from Italian Film Academy is also happy about the opportunity to come and work in Vilnius and has no doubt that, ‚every person and every place has its own story, we only need to learn to hear it‘.
The participants of ‚NordBaltic Incubator‘ will be helped to hear the stories of Lithuania‘s capital and its people by well-known cinematographers and experienced lecturers – Iceland Film Academy‘s direction lecturer Steven Meyers, Latvia Culture Academy‘s lecturer and cameraman Andrejs Verhoustinskis and a producer and cameraman who has worked with Lithuanian cinematographers on several other occasions – Arko Okk from Estonia.
The teachers will also be assisted by professional guides – the first seminar session as well as tours around Vilnius are starting this week. „Our participating lecturers – directors Audrius Stonys, Audrius Mickevičius, producer Stasys Baltakis, and editing director Ričardas Matačius will also temporarily become guides. We want them to show the students their own Vilnius, share their stories about their creative experience“, – says Ieva Bužinskaitė, manager of the project.
Before the second seminar session in October the participating directors of the future documentaries will have time to prepare to present their ideas. The presentations will take place in the ‚Audiovisual Arts Industry Incubator‘ in the middle of October. With the participation of cameramen and sound engineers, the authors of the ideas, directors and producers will defend their visions. “We also would like to invite students and schoolchildren who are interested in filmmaking and such popular form of presenting one‘s ideas as pitching to come to the project defence event“, – says Domante Urmonaite, coordinator of ‚NordBaltic Incubator‘.
The first creative workshop ‚NordBaltic Incubator‘ is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania (Residencies program), ‚Nordplus‘ program, Municipality of Vilnius. Partners -– UAB „Baltic Productions“, Lithuanian Cinematographers Union, Baltic Film and Media School, Reykjavik Film Academy, VideoAgentura, Latvia Culture Academy, Ramūno Ateljė, Helsinki Metropolia of Applied Science.
Friends – international Kaunas film festival, „Coffee – Inn“, UAB „Litbana“.
You can find more information about the project and its participants on our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Nordbaltic