Ignas Miškinis' film “Southern Chronicles” was named the best film in the Baltic States
The film “Southern Chronicles” (Lithuanian: “PietiniaKronikas”) directed by Ignas Miškinis was recognized as the Best Baltic Film at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. This was announced at the awards ceremony of the Class A festival on the Saturday evening. The film will be released in Lithuania on 24 January 2025.
"We found the time travel to postsocialistic Lithuania strongly convincing, – visually, music- and storywise. The film gives us a real and humorous taste of the time, when the world in post-soviet countries was turned upside down," – said Mikko Fritze, Head of the Jury, Head of the Finnish Institute in Berlin. "Outstanding acting, especially of the main male character, a playful and convincing camerawork around sports-, music- and everyday life. The well written script brings us very naturally close to the challenges of the society and especially the youth of those days. The film is, without any extra effort, able to tell about the timeless questions of young people concerning love, friends, family and the difficulty of decision making."
Accepting the award in Tallinn, Ignas Miškinis, the director of “Southern Chronicles”, expressed his gratitude to the film's crew – the actors, cinematographer Narvydas Naujalis, producer Lukas Trimonis, scriptwriter Eglė Vertelytė and the author of the book "Pietinia Kronikos", Rimantas Kmita. The leading role was played by Džiugas Grinys, the film also stars Robertas Petraitis, Digna Kulionytė, Vaidilė Juozaitytė, Irena Sikorskytė, Dainius Gavenonis, Rasa Samuolytė, Vaidotas Martinaitis, Julius Žalakevičius, Neringa Varnelytė, DovilėŠilkaitytė, Algirdas Dainavičius and others.
For the role of Rimantas in the film, Džiugas Grinys has already won the European Shooting Stars Award, which is given to the rising stars of European cinema. The other actor of the film, Robertas Petraitis, has been selected as one of the eight emerging European actors at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and he will be awarded the Black Nights Stars Discovery Campus ICDA Award.
The music for the comedy “Southern Chronicles” was composed by Vytis Puronas, the sound director – Saulius Urbanavičius, costume designer – Agnė Biskytė, production designer – Aurimas Akšys, make-up artist – Vaida Navickaitė, editing – Danielius Kokanauskis and Dominykas Kilčiauskas.
Other Lithuanian highlights at the Tallinn Black Nights Awards: director Laurynas Bareiša was named Best Baltic Director for his film “Drowning Dry”, cinematographer Linas Žiūra was named Best Cinematographer for his work on the documentary “Murmuring Hearts”, directed by Vytautas Puidokas.
The comedy “Southern Chronicles”, about the coming-of-age of a boy from Šiauliai in the 1990s, opens in cinemas on 24 January 2025. Production of the film was partly financed by the Lithuanian Film Centre and LRT, production and distribution by Inscript, Nafta Films and ACME Film.
