Festival "Cinema spring" organizers invite you not to be surprised when you see well-known stars of auteur cinema walking the streets of Vilnius in the coming days. As many as 30 guests are coming to Lithuania at the invitation of the festival, which is celebrating its 17th anniversary. One of them - the legendary French filmmaker Leos Carax - landed in Vilnius last night. Today, the director's long-time creative partner, actor Denis Lavant, will also arrive in the capital, and on March 22, we will welcome the film legend, former president of the European Film Academy, Agnieszka Holland, to Lithuania.
Perhaps the most significant French director of our time, Leos Carax, whose film "The Lovers of Pont Neuf" opened the first "Cinema Spring" thirty years ago, acquired the reputation of contemporary French cinema as soon as he started making films. enfant terrible reputation.
"Leos Carax is a filmmaker who is light years ahead of his time with the visuals of his films, his musical expertise and his innovative solutions," says Algirdas Ramaška, director of Kino pavasaris. "For example, Lovers of Pont Neuf was created more than 3 decades ago, but it is so special that even the organizers of last year's Summer Olympics in Paris were inspired by scenes from this film, adapted for the opening ceremony. By the way, the famous scene in James Cameron's Titanic, in which the main characters spread their arms like wings, is also likely copied or inspired by Lovers of Pont Neuf."
At the anniversary "Cinema Spring", L. Carax will not only participate in one of the screenings of the film "Pont Neuf Lovers", but will also present his latest film "This is not me", in which he playfully and provocatively travels through his own filmography and film history. Screenings with the director will take place on March 14 and 15.
On March 15, the festival will also feature one of the most distinguished figures in French cinema, actor Denis Lavant, who is inseparable from L. Carax's films. In L. Carax's surrealist drama "Holy Motors", released in 2012, the actor embodied as many as eleven different roles, and the film became a real phenomenon at the 65th Cannes Film Festival. Recently, Denis Lavant worked with Swedish director John Skoog on his new film "Varn" and played a role in the mafia thriller "In the Name of Blood", directed by Akaki Popkhadze.
Another special guest of "Kino pavasaris" is Polish cinema legend, director, screenwriter and producer Agnieszka Holland, who began her career working with well-known directors Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda. Today, the filmmaker is one of the best European directors, having won numerous awards during her career, including an Oscar nomination. In 2020, A. Holland became the first female president of the European Film Academy, and in 2024 she handed over this position to actress Juliette Binoche.
This year, the festival will once again screen A. Holland's latest film "The Green Wall", which was well-attended by last year's "Kino pavasaris" audience, after which the director will meet with the audience to talk about her work. The screening will take place on March 22.
Halfway through the festival, viewers will also have the opportunity to meet Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté, who stands out for his unique style of independent cinema. The director's films have received recognition worldwide - his "Vik and Flo Saw a Bear" was awarded the Silver Bear for Innovation at the Berlin Film Festival, and "Social Hygiene" won the Best Director award in the "Encounters" program. At "Kino Pavasarys" on March 16 and 18. the director will present his latest film "Paul".
On March 15-16, the festival will also be visited by Bernhard Wenger, the director of the popular film "Peacock". On March 17-18, the audience of "Kino pavasaris" will meet one of the most famous German film and theater directors, Andres Veiel, who will present the documentary story "Riefenstahl". And on March 20-22, everyone who wants to will be able to see Peter Kerekes, the director of the film "The Stars Prophesy", and the main character, astrologer Luciana de Leoni, live.
