This autumn, the educational initiative “Animatest” and the Lithuanian short film agency “Lithuanian Shorts” are for the first time inviting to the event series “Lithuanian Animation Focus”, which will take place at “Lukiškės Prison 2.0”.
During the four events, viewers will be invited to get to know Lithuanian short animation more closely – to meet its creators, learn how the animation industry works, participate in discussions, and see the most prominent Lithuanian animated films of recent years.
“We have a lot of Lithuanian short animated films, but far fewer opportunities to see them. Therefore, I wanted to create a series of events where one could not only discover Lithuanian animation and its creators but also get a closer look at how this industry works. We want to show what strong and diverse creators we have in Lithuania and encourage the public to take a greater interest in animation,” says Eva Rodz, head of “Animatest”.
The event series is not intended for a children’s audience – its aim is to show that animation is a much broader art and film form. The majority of the program is dedicated to teenagers, youth, and adults, and the selected films explore complex, sensitive, and relevant themes.
The program features the most prominent Lithuanian animation works from 2019–2025, including “Mora Mora” (dir. Jurga Šeduikytė), “She Who Knows” (dir. Eglė Davidavičė), “Blizzard” (dir. Antanas Skučas and Gintarė Valevičiūtė-Brazauskienė), “The Penguin and the Dove” (dir. Gertrūda Nemčauskaitė), “Plica Polonica” (dir. Agata Tracevič), “Much Better” (dir. Skirmanta Jakaitė) and other films. The works presented in the program have won or been nominated for “Silver Crane” awards, shown at international film festivals, and recognized in Lithuania and abroad.
Much attention is also paid to young creators. The program will feature films created at Vilnius Academy of Arts, Vilnius Jesuit High School, Vilnius Justinas Vienožinskis Art School, Willem de Kooning Academy, and the Royal College of Art. Among them are “Horizons Between Parallels” (dir. Olga Abramova), “Stories of Things” (dir. Modesta Žemgulytė), “Memoirs” (dir. Dorotėja Adomaitytė), “Shooting by the Lake” (dir. Rusnė Dragūnevičiūtė), “Little October” (dir. Matas Pakutinskas), “Last Stop of the Route” (dir. Leonardas Dubauskas) and other works. Some of them were presented at the “BLON”, “Aurora”, and “Animateka” festivals, winning awards and special mentions.
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Each evening will begin with a public discussion with animation professionals. It will explore different animation topics – from production and producing to young creators’
situation and animation prospects in Lithuania. After the discussions, there will be screenings of specially selected Lithuanian short animated films. “This is truly a unique initiative, aiming to debunk the myth that animation is only for children.
Today, Lithuanian short animated films are increasingly gaining international recognition and are noticed at important film festivals, but in Lithuania, there are still too few opportunities for a wider audience to see them. Therefore, we are very pleased to have received an invitation to collaborate with “Animatest” and present Lithuanian animation of different generations and creative approaches in a special series of events.
This will be a great opportunity not only to see films by Lithuanian creators but also to hear about the animation industry and encourage viewers to view animation as an independent, diverse, and relevant form of cinema and art.” – says Rimantė Daugėlaitė, head of “Lithuanian Shorts”, the initiative’s partner.
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Event dates and topics at “Lukiškės Prison 2.0”:
● September 23 – Animation Production
● October 14 – Animation Producing
● October 28 – Generation of Young Creators
● November 11 – Animation Perspectives and Future
