New Wave of Lithuanian Cinema Dominates Locarno film festival: Six Awards for Emerging Talents

On August 17, 2024, the awards ceremony of the 77th Locarno International Film Festival took place in Switzerland. Lithuanian filmmakers proudly brought home six awards!

The festival’s main prize, the Golden Leopard, was won by director Saulė Bliuvaitė, an alumna of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LMTA), for her debut feature film “Toxic” (“Akiplėša”). This film also won the Best Debut award and received two monetary prizes from the Ecumenical and Youth Juries.

“Toxic” tells the story of teenage life in a bleak industrial district. Dreaming of escaping their town with no prospects, thirteen-year-olds Marija and Kristina prepare to participate in the country’s biggest modeling competition. In their pursuit to meet beauty standards, the girls resort to drastic measures. “This story is based on real events, and the characters are real people. When I started making this film, I thought I was telling a story about the past, about the face of my generation, about something that no longer exists. But during the creative process, interacting with many teenagers of different ages, I realized that the film’s theme is very relevant to them as well. I allowed myself not to be tied to a specific time period, merging my experiences with those of contemporary teenagers. This shaped the world of the film, which has no time definition,” explains the film’s director, Saulė Bliuvaitė. The film’s cinematographer is Vytautas Katkus, producer Giedrė Burokaitė, and executive producer Justė Michailinaitė.

Another film bringing home two awards for Lithuania is “Drowning Dry” (“Sesės”), directed by Laurynas Bareiša (produced by Klementina Remeikaitė and Matiss Kaža). This film won the Best Director award, and the cast—Gelminė Glemžaitė, Agnė Kaktaitė, Giedrius Kiela, and Paulius Markevičius—was recognized for Best Acting.

The film takes place on a hot summer day. Two couples—Justė with her family and Ernesta with her son and husband, who has just celebrated a victory in the martial arts ring—arrive at a countryside house for a peaceful weekend. A lake, an outdoor terrace with a grill, conversations about life and future plans—everything seems normal. But soon, it becomes clear that beneath the idyllic surface of their relationships lie unspoken feelings, jealousy, and competition. It’s only a matter of time before everything comes to the surface.

Director Laurynas Bareiša, an associate professor at the LMTA National Film School and one of the heads of the Film Master’s program, won the Venice Film Festival’s “Horizons” award two years ago with his debut film “Pilgrims” (produced by Klementina Remeikaitė).

Sources: kinopavasaris.lt; lkc.lt; lmta.lt