festivals | Vilnius pays tribute to Ukraine

After two years of shutdown due to a pandemic, the International Film Festival in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, resumed its activities on Thursday with an edition giving pride of place to Ukrainian resistance.

Posted at 11:04 a.m.

Andre Duchesne

Andre Duchesne
The Press

The opening night, where hundreds of people gathered, paid tribute to Ukraine, a country devastated by the Russian invasion. Tagetes flowers, kind of sunflowers, Ukrainian symbol, had been installed on each of the seats.

Past films by Ukrainian directors were retained in the selection while Russian films were banned. The screenings are accessible free of charge to Ukrainian refugees and some films benefit from translations or subtitles in Ukrainian for the latter.

The festival takes place until April 3. The selection includes 90 features and 51 shorts from 56 countries. Some Quebec and Canadian films are programming whose drunken birds by Ivan Grbovic and the documentary Geographies of Solitude by Jacquelyn Mills.


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