Awards for two Lithuanian films at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival Culture

Lithuanian Minister of Culture Simonas Kairys also shared this news on Facebook: “The main prize of the Locarno Festival – the Golden Leopard – is dedicated to the director Saula Bliuvaitė’s debut feature film “Akilųpaa” (producer Giedrė Burokaitė)!”

Saulė Bliuvaitė was also awarded the award for the best debut.

Director Laurynas Bareiša won the best director award for the film “Sisters” (producers Klementina Remeikaitė, Matiss Kaža), and his actors Gelminė Glemžaitė, Agnė Kaktaitė, Giedrius Kiela and Paulius Markevičius won one of the two prizes for acting.”

In addition, the film “The Heist” won two cash prizes for the ecumenical and youth juries.

“Akipläsa” tells about the life of teenagers in a decaying industrial area. Dreaming of escaping from a city with no prospects, thirteen-year-olds Marija and Kristina are preparing to participate in the biggest model audition in the country. To meet beauty standards, girls take drastic measures. Cinematographer Vytautas Katkus, producer Giedrė Burokaitė, executive producer – Justė Michailinaitė.

And the movie “Sisters” takes place on a hot summer day. Two couples come to the farmhouse to spend a quiet weekend – Justė with her family and Ernesta with her son and her husband, who has just celebrated a victory in the martial arts ring. The lake, an outdoor terrace with a grill, conversations about life and future plans – everything is as usual. However, it soon becomes clear that under the idyllic exterior of the relationship lie unspoken feelings, jealousy and competition. It’s only a matter of time before it all comes to the surface. Who is jealous of what and whom? Who is competing with whom and for what? Time passes and the weekend takes an unexpected turn.

This movie “Sisters” will be shown in Lithuania from September 20.

Saulė Bliuvaitė has directed the short documentary film “Limousine” (prod. Giedrė Burokaitė, Kristina Ramanauskaitė), which premiered at the US film festival “New Directors / New Films”, organized by the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). “Limo” was recognized as the best short documentary film at the Warsaw Film Festival in 2021.

Director Laurynas Bareiša won the Horizons program of the Venice Film Festival two years ago with his debut film Pilgrims (produced by Klementina Remeikaitė).

The “Golden Leopard”, which is considered one of the most prestigious auteur film awards, was chosen by a jury made up of world-famous directors, actors and producers.

It was chaired by director Jessica Hausner from Austria, whose latest films Little Joe and Club Zero were presented at the Cannes Film Festival. Jury member Italian actor Luca Marinelli won the hearts of the audience after his memorable roles in Martin Eden and Eight Hills. Another member of the jury, Indian director Payal Kapadia, was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes this year for her film All We Imagine As Light.