Already running since last week, the 24^th Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris (21 March-4 April) is also getting ready to host the tenth edition of its film industry event, Meeting Point – Vilnius (MPV), which will take place from 2-4 April.

Focusing on a variety of different topics that will be relevant to emerging film professionals, the MPV will host a series of panels dealing with issues such as “Arthouse Distribution Practices in the Baltics”, “What Can Blockchain Do for the Film Industry?” and “European Cinema Between Festival and Audience Film”, among others, while the Lithuanian Film Centre will present the results of the country’s tax incentive scheme and the increase to a rate of 30% (see the news). Furthermore, MPV, in partnership with MAIA Workshops, is organising the Talents Nest initiative, which will invite emerging film professionals along for a series of networking sessions and meetings with established professionals.

The main event of MPV, the Coming Soon session (3 April), showcases 17 debut film projects – 11 fictions and six documentaries – set to be presented to a hand-picked audience of film professionals. The new head of MPV, Alessandra Pastore, had this to say about the selection: “This year, we have chosen 17 feature films that cover various stories, narratives and genres. Moreover, I am very pleased that seven of the selected features are directed by women and 13 are produced by them.” (You can also read our interview with Pastore.)

Four of the projects are Lithuanian, including Nova Lituania [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Karolis Kaupinis
scheda film] by LIM alumnus Karolis Kaupinis, which depicts an interwar Baltic geographer and a prime minister who are planning to save their homeland as World War II approaches; the magical realist tale The Flood Won’t Come by Marat Sargsyan; The Family by Austėja Urbaitė, which examines what constitutes a family and love through womanhood and maternal feelings; and Vytautas Puidokas’ El Padre Medico, a documentary on Alexander Ferdinand Bendoraitis, who spent his life in the Amazonian jungle pretending to be a European missionary, philanthropist and doctor. Two projects hail from neighbouring Poland, including another LIM participant, Daria Woszek’s dark comedy Marygoround [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Daria Woszek
scheda film] (see the news), and Kasia Hertz’s parable Batrachomyomachia.

The other fiction picks for the session mainly comprise previously awarded projects, such as the Romanian psychological thriller Legacy [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Dorian Boguţă; the Portuguese magical realist coming-of-age drama Undergrown by Marta Ribeiro (see the interview), which was the winner of the Eurimages Lab Project Award at Thessaloniki; the Transilvania Pitch Stop-awarded and cocoPITCH-selected family drama on sexual assault As Far as I Know [+leggi anche:
recensione
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scheda film] by Hungarian duo Nándor Lőrincz and Bálint Nagy (see the news); the Odesa-awarded and coco-selected Ukrainian dramedy My Thoughts Are Silent [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Antonio Lukich; and the PriForum-developed Albanian comedic road trip The Lions Heading to Venice by Jonid Jorgji (see the news).

Finally, among the documentaries, Latvian multimedia artist Ivo Briedis is attempting to deconstruct and understand the concept of the Soviet Man; Moldova’s Dragosh Turea is investigating a secret scientific experiment in The Soviet Garden [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film], a project that took ten years to film; and Andrej Andrejevic Jr Tarkovskij, the son of Andrei Tarkovsky, will present an in-development documentary about his father.

Below are the 17 projects selected to take part in the 2019 Coming Soon session:

36 Months – Liene Linde, Armands Začs (Latvia)
Producer: Guntis Trekteris (Ego Media)

Batrachomyomachia – Kasia Hertz (Germany/Poland)
Producers: Jan Szewczyk (DFFB), Wrota Podlasia

El Padre Medico – Vytautas Puidokas (Lithuania/Brazil)
Producers: Paulius Juočeris (IronCat), Mauricio Filho (Lente Viva Filmes), Gabija Siurbytė (Dansu Films)

Legacy [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] – Dorian Boguţă (Romania)
Producer: Oana Giurgiu (Hai Hui Entertainment)

Marygoround [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Daria Woszek
scheda film] – Daria Woszek (Poland)
Producers: Marcin Lech, Jan Pawlicki (Jutrzenka Studio), Dagmara Molga (Solopan), Janusz Bielecki (All Muses)

My Thoughts Are Silent [+leggi anche:
recensione
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scheda film] – Antonio Lukich (Ukraine)
Producers: Alla Belaya, Dmytro Sukhanov (Toy Cinema)

Nova Lituania [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Karolis Kaupinis
scheda film] – Karolis Kaupinis (Lithuania)
Producer: Marija Razgutė (M-Films)

Soviet Man – Ivo Briedis (Latvia/Lithuania/Czech Republic)
Producers: Elīna Gediņa-Ducena, Gints Grūbe (Mistrus Media), Jurga Gluskinienė (Monoklis), Jitka Kotrlová (Frame Films)

Tarkovskij – Printed Time – Andrej Andrejevic Jr Tarkovskij (Russia/Italy/Sweden)
Producers: Dimitry Klepatski (Klepatski Films), Paolo Maria Spina (Revolver), Peter Krupenin (Hob AB)

The Family – Austėja Urbaitė (Lithuania/France)
Producers: Živilė Gallego (Fralita Films), Murielle Thierrin (Aldabra Films)

The Flood Won’t Come – Marat Sarksyan (Lithuania)
Producer: Ieva Norvilienė (Tremora)

The Last Bus – Nándor Lőrincz, Bálint Nagy (Hungary)
Producers: Agnes Pataki, Monika Mecs (M&M Film)

The Lions Heading to Venice – Jonid Jorgji (Albania/Czech Republic)
Producers: Elkjana Gjipali (EJF Production), Lukas Mracek (Blue Hills Picture)

The Sailor [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Lucia Kašová (Slovakia)
Producer: Nazarij Klujev (TOXPRO)

The Soviet Garden [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] – Dragosh Turea (Moldova)
Producers: Dragosh Turea, Marian Crisan (Parmis Film Studio)

The Thrillseekers – Vlada Senkova (Belarus/Russia)
Producers: Larisa Oleinik (DOKA), Viktor Labkovich (Pervaja Kinovideo Company)

Undergrown – Marta Ribeiro (Portugal)
Producer: Joana Peralta (VIDEOLOTION)