Awards for Lithuanian films at the Warsaw International Film Festival

Two Lithuanian films received international recognition at the Warsaw Film Festival: short film “The Trip” (directed by Rimantas Oičenka, produced by Jurga Kaye), and a Latvian, Polish and Lithuanian co-production “January” (directed by Viesturs Kairišs, Lithuanian producer Kęstutis Drazdauskas). In total, three Lithuanian films and two co-productions were presented at this Class A festival. 

In the International Competition, Viesturs Kairišs, author of the co-production "January", was voted as the Best Director.  The film centres on Latvia in 1991. The world of a nineteen-year-old cinematographer Jazis is thrown into chaos when he finds himself in the midst of peaceful protests against the Soviet army's attempts to take over the power in the country. This is an autobiographical account of the political upheavals of the early 1990s that changed the lives of the people of the former Soviet Union.

A special mention from the jury went to the director Rimantas Oičenka's short film "The Trip" (produced by Jurga Kaye), the story of which is set in 1975. The port of Klaipėda, the crew of the Lithuanian SSR ship “Nemunėlis” say goodbye to their wives and embark on a five-month fishing voyage in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of the African continent. As time passes and the longing for their loved ones grows stronger, the fishermen have only one thing to look forward to: the arrival of a parcel with letters from home.

Debut feature film “Remember to Blink” by the director Austėja Urbaitė, also had its premiere at the festival. It was produced by Živilė Gallego, and it took part in the competition program "1-2". In this program, also the Serbian, Croatian and Lithuanian co-production “Traces” (directed by Dubravka Turić, Lithuanian producer Ieva Norvilienė) was screened. 

The short film competition program featured Skirmanta Jakaitė's animated film "Way Better" (produced by Agnė Adomėnė) and the aforementioned “The Trip” (directed by Rimantas Oičenka, produced by Jurga Kaye).