Giedre Žickyte

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR, MOONMAKERS

1My current focus is Für Irena, a feature documentary in post-production. The film follows the last years of an extraordinary woman, Lithuanian theatre scholar, Germanist professor, and Holocaust survivor Irena Veisaite, who dedicated her life to building bridges between different nations, cultures, and religions. Irena lost two mothers – one Jewish, killed by the Nazis, the other Catholic, the saviour who took her in and was sent to the Soviet Gulag; she suffered from two totalitarian regimes, yet she never lost the belief that even in the most difficult circumstances it is possible to preserve one’s humanity. This project, which I am also directing, is incredibly important to me; being inspired by Irena’s personality I started to film her, and then unfortunately Irena passed away. The film has become a personal journey for me since, both as a rediscovery of the scale on which the Holocaust took place in my own country, as well as a way to process the current horrors of war in Ukraine; that which seemed to be a distant past became the present in the blink of an eye. I am joined by Pille Rünk (Allfilm, Estonia) and Martichka Bozhilova (Agitprop, Bulgaria) as co-producers. Long-term collaborator Danielius Kokanauskis (winner of IDFA for Best Editing 2021) is editing and Eitvydas Doškus is DOP, together with Rimvydas Leipus and Rein Kotov. Besides our national funds, the project has received Eurimages and Creative Europe MEDIA support.

In addition, I have three feature documentaries in development. Yalla Yalla Bro observes life inside a former-prison-turned-migration centre, in a small Lithuanian town on the Belarusian border. Having seen so many people stuck in this unlikely place compelled director and cinematographer Mindaugas Survila (The Ancient Woods) and I to get to know the centre and its inhabitants, especially since the current migration crisis is completely unprecedented in Lithuania. I have great faith in Survila’s poetic and highly cinematic sensibility, and am confident that his author approach to the subject will be unique.

In the second project, The Reappearance of Antanas, a man turns up at the Lithuanian Embassy in Moscow. He turns out to be a once-famous Lithuanian television sports commentator who disappeared mysteriously in 1990’s Russia and was declared dead. As producer-director, I am very excited by this astonishing real-life detective story which has the hallmarks of a Chekov play.

Double Self Portrait, by emerging director Aiste Stonyte, is a road movie about one of Lithuania’s most fascinating photographers Virgilijus Šonta, whose work is only now being discovered, and the key to understanding the tragedy of his double existence has been found in his photographs. It’s a subtle and intimate story whose themes of political suppression, artistic expression and identity are very close to my heart.

2My expectations for this year’s EFM is to increase the visibility of Baltic productions, strengthen international ties, and find potential collaborators.

Matıss Kaža

PRODUCER, TRICKSTER PICTURES

1After creating a new studio called Trickster Pictures last year and releasing two of its first films – my own techno-infused drama Neon Spring, and Linda Olte’s socially conscious debut Sisters, which is screening at the EFM, I am working full force on fostering young and upcoming talents from the Baltics and beyond.

My flagship project this year is Annecy award-winning director Gints Zilbalodis’ second animated feature Flow. It is currently in the late stages of pre-production. In Zilbalodis’ signature epic and poetic style, Flow will tell the story of a cute, yet self-centred cat who has to learn to collaborate with other animals after a great flood destroys his home. In order to save his life, the cat takes refuge in a boat full of other animals. With striking visuals, a sense of adventure, and an ecologically conscious storyline, we expect Zilbalodis’ film will be a strong auteur animation that will be enjoyed by both young and mature audiences. The film is co-produced by Sacrebleu Productions in France and Take Five in Belgium, we expect to release it in 2024.

At Trickster Pictures this year, I’m co-producing Chinese director Hu Jiaying’s debut 1 Girl Infinite, a queer drama where Yin Jia and Tong Tong, two girls learning to survive in chaotic Southern China, are forced by a tragic incident to confront the depths of their desire for one another. The film is my first co-production with a Chinese director, and we’re looking for sales representation for the project, expecting to complete the film in the summer of 2023.

I’m also looking for co-producers for several fiction projects in development, including The Child, the sophomore feature from Warsaw-winner Linda Olte, a sensitive relationship drama about Zane (40), a woman fighting with infertility, it’s an important and honest story about motherhood and female roles in society. In addition, there is my own upcoming project Sweet Dystopia, a drama about a couple attempting to resurrect their relationship, years after having been split apart by a trauma experienced in their early youth.

2I expect the Berlinale & EFM will return to full form this year. I sincerely hope the Baltic focus will bring more light to the astonishing new voices coming out of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

Questions

What are you currently working on? Your expectations for this year’s Berlinale?