Saulės Bliuvaitė’s “Akiplėsa” is applying for the nominations of the prestigious European film awards | Culture

The Council of the European Film Academy selected “Akipläda” for 5 categories of nominations: best European film, director, screenwriter, actress and actor. After the final nominees are announced today, the Academy’s 5,000 members will judge the films and announce the nominations on November 5th and December 7th. the best ones will be judged at the European Film Awards in Lucerne, Switzerland.

“I am surprised and extremely happy to be included in this selection, in this list of the best European films of this year together with famous directors. It’s even more incredible that I ended up here with my debut film. I compete with the creators who are my inspirations – directors Yorgos Lanthimos, Athina Rachel Tsangari, who also inspired “Akiplųpa” itself with their style, and where else Andrea Arnold, Jacques Audiard. It is a great honor for me to be among such names”, says Saulė Bliuvaitė.

Photo of the organizers/”Akiplää” stop shot

This is not the first time that the name of Saulė Bliuvaitė appears in the European Film Academy. In the 2020 European Film Awards, director Jurgis Matulevičius’ film “Izaokas” was nominated, the co-author of the script and one of the editing directors was S. Bliuvaitė.

The inclusion of “Akiplőa” in the selection of the European Film Academy among the most important films of the continent is a great recognition for the entire Lithuanian cinema. It is not so easy for countries that do not have huge and long-standing film industries to enter the spotlight of the most important European awards. Therefore, not only to be noticed, but also to appear, in the Academy’s opinion, on this year’s list of the best European creators is a great achievement,” says producer Giedrė Burokaitė.

After the world premiere in Locarno, “Akipläda” continues its impressive international tours: the film has already been screened at film festivals in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Helsinki (Finland), “Manaki Brothers” (North Macedonia), and soon traveled to Warsaw (Poland), Chicago (USA), Calgary (Canada), Vancouver (Canada), Reykjavik (Iceland), Leiden (Netherlands), Ghent (Belgium), Adelaide (Australia) and other international festivals.

Saulės Bliuvaitė’s film “Akipläsa” follows the search for identity of two teenage girls in a decaying industrial area, where curiosity and danger exist as inseparable things. Thirteen-year-old girls do not yet know what beauty, sexuality and love mean to them, so they follow the perceptions of their friends in the yard and try to replicate what is considered “normal” in the environment. Blind Heist is a film about the desire to fit in and the price we pay in our pursuit of perfection.

“Akipläsa” is Saulė Bliuvaitė’s debut feature film. Her previous short documentary Limousine premiered at the New Directors/New Films US film festival organized by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and won the Best Documentary Short Award at the Warsaw Film Festival.

Lithuanian viewers will be able to see the film “Akiplääsa” in the spring of 2025. The main roles were created by the debuting actresses Vesta Matulytė and Ieva Rupeikaitė, and Giedrius Savickas, Eglė Gabrėnaitė, Vilma Raubaitė also played. Cinematographer: Vytautas Katkus, artist: Paulius Aničas, composer: Gediminas Jakubka, producer: Giedrė Burokaitė. The film was partially financed by the Lithuanian Film Center.