The Season of Lithuania in France 2024: Lithuanian Shorts initiatives
For three months, from September 12 to December 12, 2024, Lithuania’s biggest cultural project outside the country to date, “Season of Lithuania in France 2024,” will take place in France. During this Season, the Lithuanian Short Film Agency, Lithuanian Shorts, will present initiatives dedicated to the Lithuanian short film scene, featuring more than 30 short films.
Throughout the Season, a project called “Lithuanian Shorts Panorama in France” will be implemented in cooperation with the French Short Film Agency, “L’Agence du court métrage.” This project will showcase ten short films by Lithuanian filmmakers on two platforms for French audiences: “Brefcinema” and “L’Extra Court.” Additionally, a Lithuanian short film will be presented at the Brest Short Film Festival, which will be held from November 12-17, 2024. “Lithuanian Shorts Panorama in France” is the result of long-term collaboration between the two short film agencies. Both agencies are part of the European short film and video art distribution network “Short Circuit,” and since 2012, they have been organizing joint events for the international short film day “Short Film Day” in Lithuania and France every December.
The second “Lithuanian Shorts” project of the season, “Carte Blanche to Deimantas Narkevičius,” is being carried out in collaboration with the Bordeaux Independent Film Festival (Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bordeaux – FIFIB). This project includes three programs of Lithuanian short films and video works, specially curated for the season by one of the most internationally recognized contemporary Lithuanian artists, Deimantas Narkevičius. Each film has been chosen with the aim of transcending cultural clichés to foster a space for dialogue to interrogate genres. The Bordeaux Independent Film Festival will take place from October 8-13 in Bordeaux. Curator Deimantas Narkevičius himself will present the programs at the festival. Seventeen works will be presented across the three programs, which combine contemporary short cinema with video art.
The Lithuanian Shorts agency is also participating in another project of the Lithuanian season in France, called “Feminine Focus,” as a partner. This initiative, organized by the Poitiers Film Festival and the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, will present feature films and short films by Lithuanian women filmmakers. For this project, “Lithuanian Shorts” is preparing a special program of Lithuanian short films themed around the future, titled “Visions of the Future.”
“Lithuanian culture is rather little known in France, so the Season is an invitation to come together and explore the common points of our cultures. All events will hopefully be the beginning of long-term partnerships, and we want the French audiences to see that we are just like them, and they are just like us. Indeed, the programme of the Season is tied together by the slogan The Other Same, encouraging each of us to see ourselves in another through culture. At the same time, events with echoes of France in Lithuania will highlight the common historical and cultural ties between these two countries”, said Dr Virginija Vitkienė, the commissioner of the Lithuanian season in France 2024, at the press conference presenting the opening events of the Season.
From 12 September to 12 December, events of the Lithuanian Season will take place in more than 80 cities throughout France. About 130 French and a similar number of Lithuanian cultural organisations will present various partnership projects. More than half a million visitors are expected to attend the events.
The Lithuanian Season in France is organised by the Lithuanian Culture Institute and the French Institute in Paris. Together, they share the responsibility of engaging artists and relevant institutions from both countries and programming the Season, as well as its communication in France.
