VENICE FILM FESTIVAL AWARD GOES TO LMTA TEACHERS, STUDENT, AND ALUMNI
Congratulations to LMTA teachers — filmmaker Laurynas Bareiša and producer Klementina Remeikaitė, LMTA student and actress Gabija Bargailaitė, and LMTA alumni —cinematographer Narvydas Naujalis, actor Giedrius Kiela, Indrė Patkauskaitė, and Paulius Markevičius who were awarded at the 78th Venice Film Festival for the film Pilgrims (Lithuanian title Piligrimai)!
According to the Lithuanian Film Centre, on the night of 11 September, Lithuanian filmmaker Laurynas Bareiša’s feature film Pilgrims was selected as the best film at the Orizzonti competition programme of the 78th Venice International Film Festival.
Orizzonti, the second most prestigious programme of the Festival, focuses on young filmmakers and other cinematography talents whose works are distinguished for being bold, original, and possessing new aesthetic forms of film expression.
Pilgrims, the triumph of the Festival, tells the story of Paulius and Indrė who come to Karmėlava, a small town in Lithuania, where four years ago, Matas —Paulius’ brother and Indrė’s boyfriend—was killed. Paulius wants to investigate the circumstances of this death; Indrė tries to discourage him from taking reckless actions but then herself starts doubting the need for this journey. Finally, the two of them have to answer why they needed this journey and what this journey has changed.
Pilgrims features rising talents of the younger actor generation – Gabija Bargailaitė, Giedrius Kiela, Indrė Patkauskaitė, and Paulius Markevičius – as well as well-known Lithuanian film professionals – cinematographer Narvydas Naujalis, production designer and artist Sigita Šimkūnaitė, and many others who contributed to the film. The producer of Pilgrims is Klementina Remeikaitė (Afterschool).
Filmmaker Laurynas Bareiša is well-known to the audience of the Venice International Film Festival: in 2017, his short film By the Pool (Lithuanian title Pirtis) was presented in Venice.
The Venice International Film Festival, the world’s oldest film festival, first took place in 1932 and since then has been annually held in late August or early September on the island of Lido, Italy. The festival is part of a larger cultural event– the Venice Biennale – and one of the most prominent competitive film festivals in the world along with the Berlin International Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival.
According to LFC information / English version (c) LMTA
14 September 2021