24/01/2017 - Latvia, Estonia and France also feature in the East & West double focus that When East Meets West is celebrating for the very first time

Director Marija Stonytė, who is presenting her project Gentle Warriors at WEMW

When East Meets West 2017 will bring together over 350 producers, financiers, decision makers and film professionals from more than 30 countries, and, in particular, from the spotlight territories. The upcoming 2017 edition will bring some fresh air with a slightly refined format launching for the very first time a new East & West double focus on France and the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).

22 film projects from 15 countries will be presented at the seventh edition of When East Meets West (read more), the Italian co-production forum taking place from 22-24 January 2017 in the context of the Trieste Film Festival. Two of them are Lithuanian projects: Gentle Warriors by Marija Stonytė (production: Moonmakers) and People We Know Are Confused by Tomas Smulkis (production: Just a Moment). 

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Gentle Warriors tells a story about five girls who go to serve in the Lithuanian army for nine months among 600 men. One hopes to start a new life, another to prove her strength, and the third dreams of finding the love of her life – their expectations change. This film is a coming-of-age story of how a girl becomes a warrior in both the military and her own life. People We Know Are Confused is a cleverly woven multiplot about self-discovery and confidence.

Following the great success of the first two editions, Last Stop Trieste, the work in progress section run together with the Trieste Film Festival, will present 5 creative documentaries to an exclusive panel of 40 international sales agents, festival programmers and TV commissioning editors (read more). One of the selected documentary is About Stops Runs And Bananas by Arūnas Matelis. This documentary tells the story of the undiscovered world of the ‘domestique’ – the wonderful losers, true warriors, knights and monks of professional cycling.

Three Lithuanian films will be screened in the festival program as well. The Saint [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrius Blazevicius
film profile] by Andrius Blazevicius is a feature film about a young man Vytas. He starts searching for The Saint – a guy who claims he saw Jesus Christ in their town. A documentary movie Woman and the Glacier [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Audrius Stonys tells a story about Lithuanian scientist Aušra Revutaite which has spent 30 years in the Tian Shan mountain range in Central Asia. Some 3,500 meters above sea level with only her faithful dog and gray cat for company, she studies climate change on the Tuyuksu Glacier. The film is in the documentary competition program. The third movie is The Camel by Laurynas Bareisa. It is a short movie about two caretakers of the zoo who try to arrange a proper burial for the local camel who died recently. The film is screened in the short film competition program.

Baltic film focus was initiated and supported by Lithuanian Film Centre, Latvian National Film Centre and Estonian Film Institute.