VILNIUS — Ahead of Vilnius’ best film festival, Baltic Reports sat down with Algirdas Ramaška, the executive director of Kino Pavasaris for an exclusive interview about this year’s festival.
Baltic Reports: Do you have any illustrious guests coming to Vilnius for this year’s fest?
Algirdas Ramaška: First of all, we are very proud to present the members of the jury, who will come to Vilnius and judge the movies in the competition program. The chairman of the jury is Nikolaj Nikitin, the Berlin Film Festival’s representative for Central and Eastern Europe. Originally from Russia, he now lives and works in [private_supervisor]Germany and writes books and articles for film magazines, reads lectures and participates in the juries of some of the world’s most famous international film festivals.
The Russian actress Tatyana Lyutayeva, famous also in Lithuania, is another member of the jury, as well as Lim Woo-seong, a South Korean film director. His debut feature “Vegetarian” was premiered at this year’s Sundance and will be shown in Vilnius too.
Another member of the jury is British. Nick Holdsworth is a freelance correspondent with more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist and writer. He is the Eastern Europe Bureau Chief for Variety and also writes for a range of publications that include The Sunday Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday and University World News, the first global higher education Internet newspaper.
We are also delighted that Peter Suschitzky, a cinematographer who has worked with David Cronenberg for the last 20 years, has also confirmed to attend the festival as a member of the jury.
Other festival guests include the director Pavel Lungin from Russia and also Stephan Komandarev from Bulgaria, winner of last years’ Kino Pavasaris competition. And the British director Chris Atkins, whose documentary “Starsuckers” will be shown at the festival. Finally, we are expecting a five-member delegation from China, as this years’ special program features movies from there.
One extremely important guest this year is Frederic Jugeau, cultural attaché of the French Embassy in Lithuania and the original initiator of the idea for Kino Pavasaris. In 1995, the evolution of the festival began with Frederic sharing his ideas with festival director Vida Ramaškienė in the old Lietuva Cinema. Frederic has followed the birth of a good-cinema screening tradition in Vilnius with great interest. It’s very symbolic that the initiator of the festival will attend the jubilee festival and see how the festival has changed during its lifetime.
BR: How does this year’s festival differ from previous years?
Ramaška: Every year’s festival grows up a little more and is different from the one held previously. This is because the festival is very vibrant and alive, changing constantly.
Educational projects were always a very important part of the festival. The important news this year for film professionals is that the International Film Festival Forum will be held during the period of the festival, a meeting place in which the organizers of Central and Eastern European festivals will get together to discuss the potential of the region in the context of European cinema.
The heads of international organizations, independent film festivals and cinema associations will talk at the forum about programming and national film distribution as well as the collaboration between film and business.
Thinking about the viewers, the festival is promising in that we have even more extensive and diverse films and venues this year. The festival will expand into three venues — the Forum Cinema Vingis plus the smaller, independent Skalvija and Pasaka cinemas. And, as usual, films will travel beyond the capital to Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Šiauliai.
BR: How many seats are you expecting to sell — about the same as last year?
Ramaška: The number of viewers coming to the festival has been growing every year. We had the first big jump in attendance in 2005, when we had 41,000 tickets sold (compared to 21,000 in 2004). Now each year the festival attracts approximately 50,000 viewers. We expect the same number this year too.
BR: Are you hopeful for the future of the festival?
Ramaška: Of course I am, because the festival is not only my job, but also my life, my family and my hobby. There have been hard times for the festival before, and I cannot say whether the global economic crisis hasn’t affected the festival. But I am enthusiastic, as is our whole team, that Kino Pavasaris will be the prophet and the synonym for many more springs to come. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]Germany and writes books and articles for film magazines, reads lectures and participates in the juries of some of the world’s most famous international film festivals.
The Russian actress Tatyana Lyutayeva, famous also in Lithuania, is another member of the jury, as well as Lim Woo-seong, a South Korean film director. His debut feature “Vegetarian” was premiered at this year’s Sundance and will be shown in Vilnius too.
Another member of the jury is British. Nick Holdsworth is a freelance correspondent with more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist and writer. He is the Eastern Europe Bureau Chief for Variety and also writes for a range of publications that include The Sunday Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday and University World News, the first global higher education Internet newspaper.
We are also delighted that Peter Suschitzky, a cinematographer who has worked with David Cronenberg for the last 20 years, has also confirmed to attend the festival as a member of the jury.
Other festival guests include the director Pavel Lungin from Russia and also Stephan Komandarev from Bulgaria, winner of last years’ Kino Pavasaris competition. And the British director Chris Atkins, whose documentary “Starsuckers” will be shown at the festival. Finally, we are expecting a five-member delegation from China, as this years’ special program features movies from there.
One extremely important guest this year is Frederic Jugeau, cultural attaché of the French Embassy in Lithuania and the original initiator of the idea for Kino Pavasaris. In 1995, the evolution of the festival began with Frederic sharing his ideas with festival director Vida Ramaškienė in the old Lietuva Cinema. Frederic has followed the birth of a good-cinema screening tradition in Vilnius with great interest. It’s very symbolic that the initiator of the festival will attend the jubilee festival and see how the festival has changed during its lifetime.
BR: How does this year’s festival differ from previous years?
Ramaška: Every year’s festival grows up a little more and is different from the one held previously. This is because the festival is very vibrant and alive, changing constantly.
Educational projects were always a very important part of the festival. The important news this year for film professionals is that the International Film Festival Forum will be held during the period of the festival, a meeting place in which the organizers of Central and Eastern European festivals will get together to discuss the potential of the region in the context of European cinema.
The heads of international organizations, independent film festivals and cinema associations will talk at the forum about programming and national film distribution as well as the collaboration between film and business.
Thinking about the viewers, the festival is promising in that we have even more extensive and diverse films and venues this year. The festival will expand into three venues — the Forum Cinema Vingis plus the smaller, independent Skalvija and Pasaka cinemas. And, as usual, films will travel beyond the capital to Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Šiauliai.
BR: How many seats are you expecting to sell — about the same as last year?
Ramaška: The number of viewers coming to the festival has been growing every year. We had the first big jump in attendance in 2005, when we had 41,000 tickets sold (compared to 21,000 in 2004). Now each year the festival attracts approximately 50,000 viewers. We expect the same number this year too.
BR: Are you hopeful for the future of the festival?
Ramaška: Of course I am, because the festival is not only my job, but also my life, my family and my hobby. There have been hard times for the festival before, and I cannot say whether the global economic crisis hasn’t affected the festival. But I am enthusiastic, as is our whole team, that Kino Pavasaris will be the prophet and the synonym for many more springs to come. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]Germany and writes books and articles for film magazines, reads lectures and participates in the juries of some of the world’s most famous international film festivals.
The Russian actress Tatyana Lyutayeva, famous also in Lithuania, is another member of the jury, as well as Lim Woo-seong, a South Korean film director. His debut feature “Vegetarian” was premiered at this year’s Sundance and will be shown in Vilnius too.
Another member of the jury is British. Nick Holdsworth is a freelance correspondent with more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist and writer. He is the Eastern Europe Bureau Chief for Variety and also writes for a range of publications that include The Sunday Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday and University World News, the first global higher education Internet newspaper.
We are also delighted that Peter Suschitzky, a cinematographer who has worked with David Cronenberg for the last 20 years, has also confirmed to attend the festival as a member of the jury.
Other festival guests include the director Pavel Lungin from Russia and also Stephan Komandarev from Bulgaria, winner of last years’ Kino Pavasaris competition. And the British director Chris Atkins, whose documentary “Starsuckers” will be shown at the festival. Finally, we are expecting a five-member delegation from China, as this years’ special program features movies from there.
One extremely important guest this year is Frederic Jugeau, cultural attaché of the French Embassy in Lithuania and the original initiator of the idea for Kino Pavasaris. In 1995, the evolution of the festival began with Frederic sharing his ideas with festival director Vida Ramaškienė in the old Lietuva Cinema. Frederic has followed the birth of a good-cinema screening tradition in Vilnius with great interest. It’s very symbolic that the initiator of the festival will attend the jubilee festival and see how the festival has changed during its lifetime.
BR: How does this year’s festival differ from previous years?
Ramaška: Every year’s festival grows up a little more and is different from the one held previously. This is because the festival is very vibrant and alive, changing constantly.
Educational projects were always a very important part of the festival. The important news this year for film professionals is that the International Film Festival Forum will be held during the period of the festival, a meeting place in which the organizers of Central and Eastern European festivals will get together to discuss the potential of the region in the context of European cinema.
The heads of international organizations, independent film festivals and cinema associations will talk at the forum about programming and national film distribution as well as the collaboration between film and business.
Thinking about the viewers, the festival is promising in that we have even more extensive and diverse films and venues this year. The festival will expand into three venues — the Forum Cinema Vingis plus the smaller, independent Skalvija and Pasaka cinemas. And, as usual, films will travel beyond the capital to Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Šiauliai.
BR: How many seats are you expecting to sell — about the same as last year?
Ramaška: The number of viewers coming to the festival has been growing every year. We had the first big jump in attendance in 2005, when we had 41,000 tickets sold (compared to 21,000 in 2004). Now each year the festival attracts approximately 50,000 viewers. We expect the same number this year too.
BR: Are you hopeful for the future of the festival?
Ramaška: Of course I am, because the festival is not only my job, but also my life, my family and my hobby. There have been hard times for the festival before, and I cannot say whether the global economic crisis hasn’t affected the festival. But I am enthusiastic, as is our whole team, that Kino Pavasaris will be the prophet and the synonym for many more springs to come. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]Germany and writes books and articles for film magazines, reads lectures and participates in the juries of some of the world’s most famous international film festivals.
The Russian actress Tatyana Lyutayeva, famous also in Lithuania, is another member of the jury, as well as Lim Woo-seong, a South Korean film director. His debut feature “Vegetarian” was premiered at this year’s Sundance and will be shown in Vilnius too.
Another member of the jury is British. Nick Holdsworth is a freelance correspondent with more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist and writer. He is the Eastern Europe Bureau Chief for Variety and also writes for a range of publications that include The Sunday Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday and University World News, the first global higher education Internet newspaper.
We are also delighted that Peter Suschitzky, a cinematographer who has worked with David Cronenberg for the last 20 years, has also confirmed to attend the festival as a member of the jury.
Other festival guests include the director Pavel Lungin from Russia and also Stephan Komandarev from Bulgaria, winner of last years’ Kino Pavasaris competition. And the British director Chris Atkins, whose documentary “Starsuckers” will be shown at the festival. Finally, we are expecting a five-member delegation from China, as this years’ special program features movies from there.
One extremely important guest this year is Frederic Jugeau, cultural attaché of the French Embassy in Lithuania and the original initiator of the idea for Kino Pavasaris. In 1995, the evolution of the festival began with Frederic sharing his ideas with festival director Vida Ramaškienė in the old Lietuva Cinema. Frederic has followed the birth of a good-cinema screening tradition in Vilnius with great interest. It’s very symbolic that the initiator of the festival will attend the jubilee festival and see how the festival has changed during its lifetime.
BR: How does this year’s festival differ from previous years?
Ramaška: Every year’s festival grows up a little more and is different from the one held previously. This is because the festival is very vibrant and alive, changing constantly.
Educational projects were always a very important part of the festival. The important news this year for film professionals is that the International Film Festival Forum will be held during the period of the festival, a meeting place in which the organizers of Central and Eastern European festivals will get together to discuss the potential of the region in the context of European cinema.
The heads of international organizations, independent film festivals and cinema associations will talk at the forum about programming and national film distribution as well as the collaboration between film and business.
Thinking about the viewers, the festival is promising in that we have even more extensive and diverse films and venues this year. The festival will expand into three venues — the Forum Cinema Vingis plus the smaller, independent Skalvija and Pasaka cinemas. And, as usual, films will travel beyond the capital to Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Šiauliai.
BR: How many seats are you expecting to sell — about the same as last year?
Ramaška: The number of viewers coming to the festival has been growing every year. We had the first big jump in attendance in 2005, when we had 41,000 tickets sold (compared to 21,000 in 2004). Now each year the festival attracts approximately 50,000 viewers. We expect the same number this year too.
BR: Are you hopeful for the future of the festival?
Ramaška: Of course I am, because the festival is not only my job, but also my life, my family and my hobby. There have been hard times for the festival before, and I cannot say whether the global economic crisis hasn’t affected the festival. But I am enthusiastic, as is our whole team, that Kino Pavasaris will be the prophet and the synonym for many more springs to come. [/private_subscription 1 year]
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