“By organizing this festival, every year we confirm to ourselves the fact that the audience laughs louder and with all their heart in the open air,” smiles one of the organizers, Gabrielė Vaičiūnaitė. “In cinema halls, people are more conservative, more reserved in laughing, but at a full outdoor cinema screening, when someone starts laughing heartily, usually the whole audience catches it.”
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Organizer Justė Michailinaitė adds that the festival will make fans of all kinds of humor chuckle. “We observe the audience’s reactions, see what suits and pleases them, so the program expands every year. This year we will show as many as 25 feature and short films – we have selected comedies for a broader taste, as well as works that will appeal to viewers who enjoy sour and spicy humor.”
The festival organizers say they aim to show visitors the beauty of Palanga itself and its architecture, so the free “Just No Drama” film screenings will take place in four locations: the “Oldman” restaurant park, the “Rąžė” café, the Summer Reading Room of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, and the Palanga Youth and Volunteering Center.
Lithuanian films
On Tuesday, August 18, the festival will traditionally open with Lithuanian cinema – this time two films by director Titas Laucius will be shown: the short film “Family” and his feature debut “Parade.” In them, probably every viewer will recognize comic and bittersweet situations that happen in families and relatives.
In the “Just No Drama” program, Lithuanian cinema lovers will find more films: Artūras Jevdokimovas’s documentary comedy with detective elements “Second Hand,” the unexpectedly funny documentary by Joris Skudra “Romualdas and the Sea,” and Petras Kuneika’s short film “Disorder” about a modern young man’s attempts to understand his purpose.
The festival will also host a national premiere – the film “Fiodor Ozierov’s Swan Song,” produced by Lithuanians and Germans and created by Belarusian director Yuri Semashko who fled Belarus, which was first presented at the Berlin Film Festival, will be shown here.
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For children and families
The festival’s programs for children and families attract great interest every year. The organizers smile that animated films in the resort are very popular, especially when it rains and additional activities for children are needed. The screening “TBD: For Children” will take place in the Palanga Summer Reading Room, and the little viewers will not only see Vytautas V. Lansbergis’s “Horse Dominik’s Journey to the Stars” but also participate in creative workshops.
“Just No Drama” has also prepared films that will engage the whole family – two afternoons at the Palanga Youth and Volunteering Center will feature comedies in the “TBD: For Families” program that will make both children and adults laugh. Among them is the yet unshown in Lithuania, based on George Orwell’s bestseller, instructive and inspiring “Animal Farm: The Little Heroes” (dir. Andy Serkis).
Adult matters
“Just No Drama,” together with festival program curator Judita Ragauskaitė, has prepared a somewhat ironic collection for vacationers, already reminding about returning to work after holidays and inviting to laugh about it. The short film program “Turn on the camera, we can’t hear you” includes a person unable to say “no” to colleagues, the culture of workday naps, and other absurd comedies about professional life and work.
For adult viewers, the comedy festival has prepared a spicy novelty – a night screening “TBD: Night,” featuring two films. In the feature-length animated comedy, the body of a hormone-exploding teenager will experience a complete “Spermageddon” (dir. Tommy Wirkola, Rasmus A. Sivertsen), and in the short film “Carrotrotica” (dir. Daniel Sterlin-Altman), the seductive carrot Femme Carrot will appear.
The comedy film festival in Palanga will take place from August 18-23, all screenings are free, and the program can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/tikbedramu. The festival is partially funded by the Lithuanian Film Center, Palanga City Municipality, the Audiovisual Works Authors’ Rights Association AVAKA, the Embassy of Spain in Lithuania, and the Palanga Youth and Volunteering Center.
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