Competing for the Coming Soon Award: ROBERTA by Lithuanian director Elena Kairytė (documentary) © Elena Kairyté
A vital part of the Vilnius International Film Festival which kicks off today March 24, its industry program Meeting Point Vilnius (March 30- April 1) brings together fresh projects from the Baltics and beyond, with special attention to Ukraine. The festival has expressed a strong stance on unconditional support for Ukraine, as Lithuania has opened its borders to 27 thousand refugees, Vilnius schools and kindergartens have accepted around 1000 children and Lithuanian citizens have donated more than 17M Euros financial aid to help Ukraine.
Meeting Point Vilnius dedicates its April 1 program to Ukraine with three panels on political, institutional and film industry levels, to address not only the immediate effects of the war, but to focuse on how culture specifically can support the Ukrainian cause. The list of panelists includes the Lithuanian Minister of Culture, Mr Simonas Kairys, Lucia Recalde as the Head of Unit “Audiovisual Industry and media support programmes” at the European Commission as well as representatives of the Ukrainian film industry such as Marina Kuderchuk.
On March 30 and 31, Meeting Point Vilnius focuses on emerging European talents and upcoming debut films with its core elements: pitching forum, industry screenings, one-to-one meetings and panels. Seventy participants will be on-site for the event, with 150 more joining them online. Its side inspirational events include a timely special case study on KLONDIKE, the Sundance- and Berlinale-awarded film by Ukrainian filmmaker Maryna Er Gorbach, who will be a jury member for the pitching session, hopefully in-person.
Internationality and gender parity are strong this year. The 20 projects selected for the 2022 "Coming Soon" pitching session hail from 18 countries and ten of them are being directed by female directors. And the “Talents Nest” assembles emerging professionals from altogether 13 Baltic, ex-Soviet and Caucasian countries . One by one, the different parts of MPV thus help to build a network between different European macro-regions, connecting the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Western Europe.
Meeting Point – Vilnius - Complete Schedule of Events & List of Attendees