and its heritage cinema
 

POSTED ON 18.10.2024

The 12th edition of the International Classic Film Market welcomes Lithuania as its guest country. Report.

© DR

Being at the MIFC also involves accompanying countries and learning more about their reality. Since the 1990s, following the collapse of the USSR and the country's independence, Lithuania has been actively protecting, restoring and distributing its films, notably through the construction of a national film library in Vilnius. “This would be a first for Lithuania. The Lithuanian Film Centre, which reports to our Ministry of Culture, was founded only 12 years ago. This structure will enable us to digitise and restore 2,500 prints... which is only a fraction of our collection of 11,000 films,” explains Giedrė Simanauskaitė, at the helm of the project.

Andrius by Algirdas Araminas (1980) © DR

“Increasing the visibility of a country's films and enabling them to obtain more funding is one of the priorities of the MIFC”, comments Gérald Duchaussoy, in charge of programming for the market. Jana Mikulevič, head of promotion, information and heritage for the Lithuanian Film Centre declares, “It means a lot to us to be at the MIFC, because apart from a few professionals, the French audiences are not familiar with Lithuanian cinema. Two films were screened at Lumière: Andrius by Algirdas Araminas (1980) in a restored version, and Feelings (Jausmai) by Algirdas Dausa and Almantas Grikevičius (1968). We have many others to show, and in my opinion, the MIFC and the Lumière film festival are the best places to do it, since this is where it all began.” “Yes, and even if these films are not very well known in France, there are still distributors willing to release them here!” adds her colleague Austė Jucytė, head of international heritage film projects. “There are also a lot of very curious students here. We'd love to come back every year to continue collaborating on this shared passion,” concludes Jana Mikulevič.

Interviewed by Fanny Bellocq