Director of “Lokys, liūtas ir šakelė”: This year, we invite you on a journey where hope will unfold.

Fourteen meticulously selected films from the Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, and San Sebastián film festivals. Five jury prizes from Cannes and Berlin. Festival debut at Panevėžys “Stasys Museum” and special screenings for students of the National Film School at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. With news like this, the fifth contemporary cinema festival “Lokys, liūtas ir šakelė” invites audiences to the cinemas from October 2–12.

Two weeks before the festival starts, its founder and director, Giedrė Krikščiūnaitė, shared this year’s main theme, program, film selection methods, geography, the trilogy being exhibited for the first time, and the new cinema spaces.

– What is this year’s festival theme?

– The core of this year’s program is hope, which continuously pushes characters forward—to walk, travel, sail, fly. This inspired the slogan “The road opens as you walk,” reflecting our current world, where movement forward helps survive or conceive necessary solutions. This year our festival will present road movies in various forms. Alongside original contemporary filmmakers, we invite you not to stand still, to embark on journeys full of surprises whose magical routes are unplanned and unpredictable.

– Do the films still come from the major festivals? Which one was most fruitful this year?

– The programs from the Cannes Film Festival are especially strong, so it’s no surprise that we have ten films from there this year. Three of them were awarded by both critics and the Cannes jury with jury prizes.

These include the German director Mascha Schilinski’s cinematographic poem Looking Into the Sun, Sirât by Galicia-born Spanish director Oliver Laxe, and the witty film Poetà by Simón Mesa Soto, recipient of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.

From the Berlin Film Festival we brought two films, interestingly both landmarked with Jury prizes: the dystopian, surprise‐filled comedy The Bluest Blue (dir. Gabriel Mascaro), which will open our festival on October 2, and The Animal Speaker (dir. Ivan Fund), a luminous, black‐and‐white road film from Argentina about a girl who can hear what animals say.

One film comes from San Sebastián, another from Locarno. The original comedy Vištelė will be shown in the competitive program of the upcoming San Sebastián festival. Chicken, filmed in Greece, is by Hungarian film legend György Pálfi, who made it after leaving his country due to disagreements with authorities. Representing Locarno is the conceptual debut Pelekas by South Korean filmmaker Syeyoung Park (shot with friends, on a very small budget), transporting us into a world of humans and mutants.

– What about documentary cinema lovers?

– We include at least one documentary each year about an extraordinary personality. This year the focus is the legendary English writer George Orwell. The film Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 by Oscar‐nominated director Raoul Peck is not only a portrait of free identity, but also a kind of manifesto exploring our modern deranged world through Orwell’s work. Incidentally, it is the only film from the USA.

– What is the geography of the remaining films?

– As always, there is more than one work by French masters in the program. From the Cannes competition comes Case No. 137. A Personal Matter, a slowly but steadily developing detective drama by director Dominique Moll, which investigates both social and personal protests.

Audiences will also be moved by Love Me Tenderly, in the Cannes Un Certain Regard program, a story of mother and child and painful but crucial choices, starring the remarkable actress Vicky Krieps.

Not less drama in Enzo, a film full of a young person’s search for identity. This work is accompanied by a sad personal story: its author, Laurent Cantet, winner of the Palme d’Or with The Class, died from illness during production. His film was completed by French masters Rob / Robin Campillo, the Dardenne brothers, and Jacques Audiard.

German-language films remain an integral part of “Lokys, liūtas ir šakelė”. We will show Schilinski’s Looking Into the Sun and Christian Petzold’s drama Reflections No. 3. The Boat in the Ocean, which was also presented at Cannes. It stars Paula Beer, his muse, a particularly expressive actor.

And, as always, there is an Italian film. If you’re in the mood for wandering through bars – there’s the dramedy May the Path Not Gather Dust by Francesco Sossai, full of pearls of male wisdom. This Cannes‐screened film evokes the stories of Akio Kaurismäki or Thomas Vinterberg about odysseys of men over drinks.

New this year is the Egyptian‐Swedish director Tarik Saleh’s Egypt trilogy. Not only will we screen his newest film Republic Eagles, presented at Cannes, but also two earlier works already shown in Lithuania: Incident at the Nile Hilton and The Cairo Conspiracy.

– How to choose films from such a rich program?

– For audience convenience we group films thematically every year, which makes it easier to pick titles close to one’s taste. This year we singled out four unexpected themes:

The Other Side of Reality – films that surprise us, full of unexpectedness, with a slightly mystical element, like Sirât or The Animal Speaker.

Reflections – films for cinephiles who enjoy multilayered narratives, such as Looking Into the Sun or Pelekas.

White Crows – works driven by charismatic characters, like Poetà or Chicken.

(Un)personal Affairs – films revealing our political, societal, and social reality, like Dominique Moll’s political critique or Raoul Peck’s documentary about Orwell.

– Which cities will “Lokys, liūtas ir šakelė” be shown in this year?

– Our principle remains unchanged for the fifth year: we try to screen at least one showing in each cinema. In Vilnius, we will be in Forum Cinemas Vingis, Skalvija, Pasaka, Multikino. Believing in education and outreach, this year we have prepared special screenings for students of the National Film School at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Special news for people of Panevėžys – the festival will be shown in the new cinema hall of the modern “Stasys Museum”. It is the first festival to take place in this new cinema space. For the first time films will also arrive in Alytus, including the renovated Dainavos cinema, as well as in Visaginas. As usual, screenings will be held in Kaunas (“Romuva”), Marijampolė, Anykščiai, Utena.

– The festival always stands out with its auteur visuals. What’s in store this year?

– If we show auteur cinema, we want to present it authentically. As always, the main festival visual is created in collaboration with visual artist Elena Maja, who painted the festival’s accent on canvas after joint discussions. Graphic design is by Madis Kivi, the original festival music by Rafael Mamedov.

We pay special attention to film translations because we believe it’s important to preserve the original mood, diction, and convey the author’s creative vision as fully as possible. We always choose translators carefully. For example, someone familiar with bureaucratic vocabulary and acquainted with French society translates Case No. 137. A Personal Matter, whereas if one is close to the world of poetry – they translate Poetà. Furthermore, throughout Lithuania films will be shown with Lithuanian and English subtitles so that the widest possible audience can experience them.

Based on material from lrt.lt