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Filmmakers on Entering Cannes Festival Official Selection: “This feeling is incredible and exceptional”

For us, the famous Cannes Film Festival raising the curtain on 14 May, is of particular interest: the official competition programme includes the work “Ootid” (Lith. Ootidė) by director Eglė Razumaitė and producer Lineta Lasiauskaitė, who are both studying at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

This is the second time in the history of the Lithuanian cinema that a short film will compete for the Grand Prix in the

L. Lasiauskaitė

short film competition programme of the Cannes Film Festival.

The film “Ootid”(Litht. Ootidė) was created by director Eglė Razumaitė (2nd-year Master student in Film Directing), assisted by producer Lineta Lasiauskaitė (4th-year Bachelor student), as well as sound designer Auksė Jurevičiūtė (2nd-year Master student in Film Directing), and cinematographer Nojus Drąsutis, who recentIy earned his bachelor’s degree at the LMTA. It’s worth noticing that the creative team was working on the film independently during the summer holidays.

While the film is not yet open to the Lithuanian audience, we know that the story takes the viewer to a summer camp where a girl named Viltė leaves the camp for mysterious reasons. The other girls in the camp speculate about what might have happened to their friend. The film touches on the topics of femininity, transformation, and alienation.

We spoke to Egle Razumaitė, the director of “Ootidė”, and producer Lineta Lasiauskaitė, just before their departure to Cannes. We are excited to share the filmmakers’ thoughts, aspirations, and advice they have for other students in the art of cinema. 

Invaluable experience

“I have very mixed feelings: there is the joy of having been shortlisted at the Court Métrage Competition (short film) programme, and there’s also the anxiety of the upcoming premiere. From the moment we received the email informing that “Ootide” will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, our usual day-night routine has changed, because participating at such a high-level festival goes far beyond just the screening,” shares Lineta.

The producer reveals they had to deal with certain challenges: “Within a very short time, we had to develop a copy of the film that meets the festival’s requirements for sound design, subtitling, translation, technical parameters, and so on. We also had to provide various materials and information requested by the festival organisers.  Together with Eglė, we had to participate in the online Focus COPRO’ training, which in itself is a considerable achievement. On top of that, I had to arrange travel and accommodation, as well as the representation of the film,” continues Lineta, “but I can probably state that the feeling is incredible and exceptional. From participating in the festival, I expect to gain invaluable experience in the professional field and everyday life, make new interesting connections, and, of course, a warm welcome

E. Razumaitė

to the international market.”

 “Now, as I’m leaving, I finally feel calm as we’ve managed to arrange everything. It’s not only this significant premiere that is about to happen; there is also the screening of the final master’s project, and my thesis defence. So, it seems that within a very short time, I received an enormous dose of stress and I felt as if I was falling apart while trying to manage everything going on in my life,” Eglė reveals about her first impressions and reactions.

“Now, however, I am thrilled to realise that our creative team has received such a significant assessment, which opens doors for everyone. I am also happy about my master’s final project recently filmed in Berlin, and excited about an opportunity to present not only our short film at Cannes, but also the vision for our feature film – this vision has been selected for the series of Focus COPRO’ workshops organised under the Cannes Film Festival.  These workshops are teaching us to work following the co-production model, present the idea of a feature film, search for the partners required for making a film. I look forward to the festival because I know that it will bring invaluable connections, inspiring conversations and, I hope, partners for the project of our feature film,” says the director.

Advice to students: be brave and work, work, work

We asked Eglė and Lineta, who are about to graduate from the Academy, to share some advice with the students.

I would like to wish our students the strongest possible motivation and perseverance in their professional fields, endless dedication to their work, and respect for their team. Yet, the main thing is to have a goal and strive for it consistently and carefully. I would also like to advise them to take into account the experience of their senior colleagues, yet without attaching too much significance to them, especially when people say that only filmmakers who have been in the film industry for a long time and won several awards can get into the competition programme of the Cannes Film Festival. Our team has broken these stereotypes and proved that a young, driven, confident team, who are passionate about their profession, can be selected from among 4.5 thousand contestants,” says Lineta.

“I absolutely agree with Lineta’s idea. Also, my advice is to be brave and in your creative work, speak up about things that seem important to you. Avoid compromises when choosing topics. And work, work, work. I think cinematography is exclusively an area of “doing”: the film “Ootidė“ perfectly illustrates how it was born out of a great desire to make a film even when there were no conditions for it at all,” continues Eglė.  

The Future Plans are Challenging

Naturally, after such a success when the film “Ootide” will from now on be associated with the names of the filmmakers, we asked Lineta and Eglė how they evaluate it and what they plan for the future.

“In my head, I do have plans for our more distant future, and together with Eglė, we have already started making small steps towards them. As for our short-term plans, in the coming year, we’re planning to apply to participate in A-list festivals with another short film that we’ve been working on with the same team,” explains Lineta, adding that she hopes the premiere of this film will be just as impressive.

Lineta also mentions that she and Eglė are graduating from the Academy in June: Eglė is about to earn a master’s degree in Film Directing, while Lineta is going to receive her Bachelor’s in Film Production, so one of their short-term plans is to pass the final exams successfully.

“Regarding our names being associated with the film “Ootidė”, we do understand that this is not only a short-lived honour. It’s a long-term commitment to not lower the creative bar but only to raise it. These new challenges are our joy and motivation,” Lineta adds.

Eglė shares her plans too: “At this point, I would like to be well-prepared for writing the script for a feature film and in the coming year after graduation, just to immerse myself in this work. I think “Ootidė” and “Signal Path” (Lith. “Signalo kelias”), the film that will be presented in the final exam, perfectly summarise and feature both my signature as filmmaker and the direction in which I would like to develop. And, for me, to adapt it to a feature film is an exciting challenge.” 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and we wish you the best of luck!