Kaunas International Film Festival ( lt, Tarptautinis Kauno kino festivalis) is a
film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...
founded in 2007 by Visos mūzos and held in October each year in
Kaunas and
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
,
Lithuania.
It has at times visited other cities in the country, such as
Panevėžys
Panevėžys (; Latin: ''Panevezen''; pl, Poniewież; yi, פּאָנעװעזש, ''Ponevezh''; see also other names) is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2011, it occupied with 113,653 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the population ...
and
Nida Nida or NIDA may refer to:
People
* Nida Allam (born 1993), American politician
* Nida Fazli (1938–2016), Indian Hindi and Urdu poet and lyricist
* Nida Eliz Üstündağ (born 1996), Turkish female swimmer
* Eugene Nida (1914–2011), American l ...
. Ilona Jurkonytė is the festival's artistic director and Tomas Tengmark is its programmer.
Purpose
The Kaunas International Film Festival was launched in 2007 with two aims in mind: to stop developers from turning the Romuva, Lithuania's oldest cinema, into a casino, and to seek
homogenization of the country's
film culture
''Film Culture'' was an American film magazine started by Adolfas Mekas and his brother Jonas Mekas in 1954. The publication's headquarters were in New York City. Best known for exploring the avant-garde cinema in depth, it also published artic ...
.
[ It specifically celebrates art-house film making but shows indie and internationally acclaimed movies alike, both from and outside of Lithuania.][ The festival is associated with the network Eye on Films, which is hosted by Media Mundus, a member of the ]CICAE
The International Confederation of Art Cinemas (CICAE, from French Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai) is an international non-profit association with address of record in Paris which tries to support and to promote ar ...
network, and the domestic arm of the European Network of Young Cinema NISI MASA.[ In addition to screenings, many panel discussions, masterclasses, and lectures are offered as part of the festival.][ Additional programmes change annually, but the four constants are Wide Angle, which explores "contemporary tendencies in the film art"; Identity; Music Moves the World; and All the Muses, which are films focusing on art.][ The Silver Audience Award Cup was introduced in 2010.]COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
and was the first digital festival in Lithuania.
Years
* 2007: September 28 through October 7
** Films from 32 countries; 1500 attendees
** Additional programme: "Retrospective: Nouvelle Vague
French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...
"
** Audience award: '' White Palms ( hu, Fehér tenyér),'' directed by Szabolcs Hajdu[
* 2008
** Films from 17 countries; 7000 attendees
** Additional programmes: Special Focus on Irish Film, "One Hundred Springtimes. Tribute to ]Vytautas Kernagis
Vytautas Kernagis (May 19, 1951 – March 15, 2008) was a Lithuanian singer-songwriter, bard, actor, director, and television announcer. He is considered a pioneer of Lithuanian sung poetry.
Career
Vytautas Kernagis was born to the family o ...
", and Train Time
** Opening film: ''Love and Other Crimes
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
( sr, Ljubav i drugi zločini),'' directed by Stefan Arsenijević
** Favorite film: ''Bliss
BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C b ...
( tr, Mutluluk),'' directed by Abdullah Oğuz
* 2009: October 1–17
** Additional programmes: Nordic Sounds in Film
** Favorite film: ''Welcome
A welcome is a kind of greeting designed to introduce a person to a new place or situation, and to make them feel at ease. The term can similarly be used to describe the feeling of being accepted on the part of the new person.
In some context ...
,'' directed by Philippe Lioret
Philippe Lioret (born 10 October 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on ...
* 2010: October 1–17
** Additional programmes: Film retrospectives on Béla Tarr
Béla Tarr (born 21 July 1955) is a Hungarian filmmaker. Debuting with the film ''Family Nest'' (1977), Tarr began his directorial career with a brief period of what he refers to as "social cinema", aimed at telling everyday stories about ordin ...
, Deimantas Narkevičius, and Piotr Dumała
Piotr Dumała (born 9 July 1956 in Warsaw) is a Polish film director and animator.
He is noted for his animation technique. While training to be a sculptor, he discovered that scratching images into painted plaster could be a beautiful way to cr ...
, Animation, Animated Film (Estonia and Latvia), Best of Slovenian Stop-motion Animation, Elephant Program for Children, Best of Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (European short animation and short film), Special Screenings
** Opening film: ''Eastern Drift
''Eastern Drift'' is a 2010 Lithuanian crime film directed by Šarūnas Bartas, starring Bartas and Klavdiya Korshunova. Its Lithuanian title is ''Eurazijos aborigenas'' and its French title is ''Indigène d'Eurasie'', which means "Eurasian nativ ...
( lt, Indigene d'Eurasie),'' directed by Šarūnas Bartas
Šarūnas Bartas (born 16 August 1964) is a Lithuanian film director. One of the most prominent Lithuanian film directors internationally from the late 20th century. His 2015 film ''Peace to Us in Our Dreams'' was screened in the Directors' Fortn ...
Xavier Dolan
Xavier Dolan-Tadros (; born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian filmmaker, actor and costume designer. He began his career as a child actor in commercials before directing several arthouse feature films. He first received international acclaim in 2 ...
[
* 2011: September 27 – October 9][
** Additional programmes: "After a Scene...", "Coming Attractions", "Films of the Golden Period: Slovak New Wave," Red Westerns, "Extended Glimpses", Tribute to ]Adolfas Mekas
Adolfas Mekas (30 September 1925 – 31 May 2011) was a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, director, editor, actor and educator. With his brother Jonas Mekas, he founded the magazine ''Film Culture'', as well as the The Film-Makers' Co ...
, Special screenings: Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas (; December 24, 1922 – January 23, 2019) was a Lithuanian-American filmmaker, poet, and artist who has been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema". Mekas' work has been exhibited in museums and at festivals worldwi ...
Films, Special Screenings: Avant-garde women programme curated by Jonas Mekas
** Opening film: '' The Field of Magic ( lt, Stebuklų laukas)'', directed by Mindaugas Survila
** Silver Audience Award Cup: '' How much does your building weigh, Mr. Foster?'', directed by Norbert López Amado and Carlos CarcasoLore
Lore may refer to:
* Folklore, acquired knowledge or traditional beliefs
* Oral lore or oral tradition, orally conveyed cultural knowledge and traditions
Places
* Loré, former French commune
* Loré (East Timor), a city and subdistrict in La ...
'', directed by Cate Shortland
Cate Shortland (born 10 August 1968) is an Australian screenwriter, film director, television director, and television writer. She received international acclaim for her 2004 romantic drama film '' Somersault'', her 2012 historical drama film ' ...
* 2014
** Favorite film: '' The Reunion ( sv, Återträffen)'', directed by Anna Odell
* 2015: September 30 – October 11
** Opening film: '' The Green Musketeers'', directed by Jonas Ohman
* 2016: No festival held[
* 2017: November 30 – December 13]Alireza Khatami Ali Reza (also spelled Alireza or Ali-Reza) is a given name popular among Iranians referring to the imams of Shia Islam Ali and Ali al-Ridha.
People Ali Reza
* Ali-Reza Asgari, Iranian general
* Ali Reza Eftekhari, Iranian pop singer
* Ali Reza N ...
[
* 2018: September 20–30]COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
References
{{reflist
Film festivals in Lithuania
Events in Kaunas
2007 establishments in Lithuania
Annual events in Lithuania
Culture in Kaunas
Autumn events in Lithuania