For the past two weeks, the 25th Vilnius International Film Festival "Cinema spring". However, it was quite different from usual. Due to the pandemic that hit the whole world, this festival was one of the first to face an incredible challenge - after the quarantine was announced in the country and public spaces were closed, the fate of this year's festival had to be decided quickly. The festival team overcame this challenge and successfully changed the format of the festival - "Kino pavasaris" films moved to home cinema platforms, becoming an important source of culture in these times of universal stay at home. As in previous years, the festival is followed by extended screenings of the most notable films to help people continue to spend meaningful time at home.
And what fate awaits other international cultural and art festivals held in Vilnius? After all, most of them belong to the fields of performing arts, the most important value, content and essence of which are live performances, concerts, performances. Therefore, it is not the best solution for such festivals to change their format in this way. Therefore, during this quarantine period, festival organizers have to put in even more work and effort to find the best possible solutions and ways to implement them.
Here, for example, after "Kino pavasaris" the second festival on the calendar of the institution "Vilnius Festivals" is "The new Baltic dance". This greatest modern dance event In Lithuania, it usually takes place in the first half of May. However, after the quarantine came into force, the festival team was forced to take urgent steps so that the "New Baltic Dance" would not have to be canceled, so that it would take place this year in any case. Therefore, it was recently decided to move the festival to late autumn, and the festival team will have to do a lot of organizational work in a short time to implement the festival program at a completely different time.
In June, the most prominent classical music event "Vilnius Festival 2020", whose concerts are usually held at the National Philharmonic, is also looking for alternative solutions if quarantine would be prolonged. June 19 the planned "Night of Culture" is also preparing for various scenarios. Not even the "Christopher's Summer Festival", which takes place in July and August, can be calm - in case of a prolonged quarantine, the festival team has already come up with new interesting ideas and changes to its announced program, although it is still hoped that they will not be needed. It will not be clear soon whether the "Capital Days", the festivals "Sirens", "Gaida", "Vilnius Jazz", "Vilnius Mama Jazz", "Banchetto Musicale" will be able to take place in the usual way in the months of September, October, November - the organizers of these festivals have already now you have to prepare for a double or even triple scenario and use even more creativity.
"We are living in an unusual time, which on the one hand has brought anxiety and great trials, and on the other hand, it makes us pause, rethink a lot, look at established things differently. Even before, festival organizers sometimes needed to distance themselves, to concentrate on creating festival programs, to reflect on ideas, to research, to delve into artistic creativity, to generate ideas for the content of events, etc. Therefore, this closure at home does not change our situation much, it is more affected by the uncertainty of the future", says Remigijus Merkelys, head of Vilnius Festivals. "Organizers of all festivals are well aware that health and life are more important than anything else. Therefore, none of them complains about the additional difficulties that have arisen, especially when they see the challenges faced by doctors and people from other professions. We are trying to contribute to the support of society, to a more meaningful and meaningful time at home, so that people can enjoy quality cultural events during this period, to watch a good movie, meet previously unseen artists or world-famous personalities. All this is worth doing just for the sake of maintaining and strengthening the appetite for live cultural events, high-level festivals, which will return as soon as possible", hopes R. Merkelys.
During this quarantine period, "Vilnius Festivalsis preparing to offer the public a number of different events that people will be able to watch on their home screens. April and Maythe month of Mayiais "Vilnius Festivalsų" on the website www.vilniusfestivals.lt/naujienos/ and social networks will be regularly informed about various festivals concerts that will be availablelooki at home The first event is minimalist music pioneer, legendary americancomposer and pianist concert. Jį will be possible watch April 7 and 8. from 12:00 to 15:00 and from 19:00 p.m. to 22:00 p.m. (as if usuali let's go in the evening įa concert).
