Festival guests

Jozef Van Wissem, hailed as “probably the most famous lutenist in the world” by The Quietus, blends Renaissance and Baroque lute traditions with contemporary influences like drones, electronics, and minimalism. Having studied under Patrick O’Brien in New York, he’s known for his meditative yet intense sound. His latest album, The Night Dwells in the Day, inspired by lockdown in Warsaw, explores themes of duality with guest vocals from Hilary Woods. Van Wissem has composed award-winning soundtracks, including Only Lovers Left Alive and A Prince. In fall 2024, he released the soundtrack for Un Prince and toured with selections from his film compositions.

PERFORMANCE
March 7th 21:10, Lithuanian National Drama Theater. Tickets

David Moreau is a French director and screenwriter born in 1976. He first gained attention in 2006 with the horror thriller Ils, co-directed with Xavier Palud, and later directed the 2008 remake The Eye, starring Jessica Alba. Moving between genres, Moreau ventured into romantic comedy with 20 ans d’écart (2013) and adapted the comic book Seuls (2017). In 2022, he directed the adventure film King, about a lion cub on the run. His latest work, MadS (2024), marks his return to horror, delving into the dark effects of an experimental drug.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 13th. 21:30, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 15th. 21:40, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Leos Carax is a French film director and screenwriter. Carax began his career as a film critic before directing his debut feature Boy Meets Girl (1984). He is known for his long-term collaboration with actor Denis Lavant, starring in films like Mauvais Sang (1986) and The Lovers on the Bridge (1991). His film Holy Motors (2012) received critical acclaim, and Annette (2021) premiered at Cannes, winning the Best Director award. Carax’s work blends realism with surrealism, marked by emotional intensity and visual poetry.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 14th 17:30, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets for “It’s not Me”
March 15th 19:00 Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets for “The Lovers on the Bridge”

Payne’s family – dad Nik and his four children, Ulv, Falk, Freja, and Ronja – are the main participants in the Norwegian documentary A New Kind of Wilderness, directed by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen. Living in Norway’s countryside, they share with the filmmaker and the audience their intimate family life, with all its triumphs and struggles, allowing us to reflect on our own life choices, responsibilities to the planet, and our children. Visiting guests will share their experiences of being in the documentary and how the family is living today.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 14th 19:10, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 15th 14:50, Romuva. Tickets
March 16th 14:50, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique, Denis Lavant is a distinctive figure in French cinema and theater. A gifted stage actor, he has collaborated with directors like Pierre Pradinas, Hans Peter Cloos, and James Thierrée. Passionate about poetry, he regularly performs public readings of lesser-known poets. In film, he is best known as Leos Carax’s emblematic actor, from Boy Meets Girl (1983) to Holy Motors (2012), the phenomenon film of the 65th Cannes Film Festival, where he played eleven roles. He has also worked with Patrice Chéreau, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Claire Denis, and others. Recently, he starred in John Skoog’s Varn and Akaki Popkhadze’s Mafia thriller Brûle le sang.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 15th 13:40, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tikets for “It’s not Me”
March 15th 19:00, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets for “The Lovers on the Bridge”

Leonardo van Dijl is a Belgian filmmaker known for Stephanie (2020), a Cannes-premiered short about a young gymnast’s pressures. His feature Julie Keeps Quiet debuted at Critics’ Week in Cannes (2024), gaining attention when tennis star Naomi Osaka joined as executive producer. Praised for its emotional depth and nuance by The Guardian, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter, it was also named a top Cannes pick by Letterboxd. Van Dijl is currently writing a new feature, aiming to amplify voices and spark meaningful conversations.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 14th 21:20, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 15th 15:40, Senamiesčio Pasaka. Tickets
March 16th 19:40, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Bernhard Wenger is an Austrian filmmaker born in 1992 in Salzburg and based in Vienna, where he studied directing at the Vienna Film Academy. He enjoys working with subtle, offbeat, and visually driven humor. His short film Excuse Me, I’m Looking for the Ping-Pong Room and My Girlfriend won the Austrian Film Award in 2019, along with 40 other awards and 120 festival selections. Peacock is his debut feature film, developed during the Cinéfondation Residence at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 15th 21:30, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 16th 17:00, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Denis Côté is a Canadian filmmaker known for his distinctive independent cinema. He began his career as a journalist and film critic before directing 15 short films. His debut feature, Les états nordiques (2005), won the Golden Leopard for video at Locarno. Côté’s films have earned numerous accolades, including the Silver Bear for Innovation at the Berlinale for Vic+Flo Saw a Bear (2013) and Best Director in the Berlinale Encounters section for Hygiène Sociale (2021). His work has been featured in over 40 retrospectives worldwide. In 2024, he was awarded the Albert-Tessier Prize, Quebec’s highest cinematic honor, for his contributions to film.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 16th 17:20, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 18th 19:40, Skalvija. Tickets

Anna Gustafsson (1998) is a writer who, using a sense of humor in her texts, investigates different emotions and states of mind – such as perplexity, liminality, and grief. She was the assistant director to Ebba Gustafsson during the making of Constructing an Island, in which she also appeared on camera.

EEbba Gustafsson (1995) is a filmmaker who works in the borderland between documentary and fiction. Her starting point is often in memories, the personal and the collective. Her practice blends different forms of moving images into mixed media collages where the playful and the serious meet. She graduated from the film program at HDK-Valand, Academy of Arts, in Gothenburg, 2024.

SCREENING WITH Q&A
March 17th 17:10, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Kamila Tarabura is a Polish screenwriter and director who graduated from the Warsaw Film School and Wajda School. She is the creator of the coming-of-age Netflix series Absolute Beginners and served as Assistant Director on the film Green Border (dir. Agnieszka Holland). Her debut feature, Travel Essentials, won several awards, including the Sapphire Lions at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. In her work, she explores themes of family life and individuality within the family context, while also highlighting human rights issues.

SCREENING WITH Q&A
March 16th 18:00, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Andres Veiel is one of Germany’s most renowned film and theatre directors. After studying psychology and directing at Künstlerhaus Bethanien under the guidance of Polish director Kieslowski, he has been working as a writer and director on both film and theater projects since 1990, often exploring the boundary between reality and fiction. His work is marked by intensive research, some of which lasts several years. For his films Winternachtstraum (1991), Balagan (1993), Die Überlebenden / The Survivors (1996), Black Box Germany (2001), Die Spielwütigen / Addicted to Acting (2004), Wer wenn nicht wir / If Not Us, Who (2011), Beuys (2017), Ökozid (2020), Riefenstahl (2024), and others, he has received over fifty awards, including the European Film Prize and several German Film Prizes.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 17th 21:10, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 18th 17:00, Skalvija. Tickets

Olha Zhurba is a Ukrainian film director, editor, and screenwriter. Her short fiction film Dad’s Sneakers (2021) premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, winning multiple international awards and was a candidate for the 2022 European Film Awards. Her debut documentary, Outside (2022), premiered at CPH:DOX and Hot Docs, earning the Willy Brandt Award at the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin and the Japan Prize Award of Honor. Zhurba’s second feature, Songs of Slow Burning Earth (2024), premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won awards in Latvia, Italy, and Hungary. As an acclaimed editor, she worked on This Rain Will Never Stop (2021) and Home Games (2018).

SCREENING WITH Q&A
March 18th 19:10, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Eugen Sergiu Jebeleanu is a director and actor known for his work in film and theater. His productions have been showcased at festivals across Europe, and he has directed plays at renowned venues like the National Theater in Stuttgart and the Lyon Opera. After studying acting at UNATC Bucharest and earning a master’s in directing and dramaturgy in Paris, he co-founded Company 28 in 2010 and Cie des Ogres in 2017. He has since collaborated with major theaters in Romania, France, and Germany. His debut feature film, Poppy Field (2020), won Best Director at TIFF 2021.

SCREENING WITH Q&A
March 19th 20:20, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Luciana was born in Naples in 1954 and discovered astrology in the 1970s. She specialized in Bach flower therapy, Transactional Analysis, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Her first degree in Communication Sciences focused on the semiotics of communication between Saturn and the Moon in Transactional Analysis. She later earned an honors degree in Psychological Sciences, exploring the relationship between psychology and astrology. Film Wishing on a Star captures her work and deep understanding of people’s lives. She practices Active Astrology, guiding birthday trips to help individuals fulfill their wishes.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 20th 17:20, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 21st 20:20 ,Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 22nd 17:50, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Peter Kerekes is a Slovak director and producer known for blending documentary storytelling with elements of fiction. His films explore historical and social themes, often with a unique mix of humor and originality. His latest film, Wishing on a Star (2022), premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. His fiction debut, 107 Mothers (2021), won Best Screenplay at Venice and earned multiple international awards. He is teaching at Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and joined the masters program the DocNomads in Budapest.

SCREENINGS WITH Q&A
March 21st 20:20, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets
March 22nd 17:50, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon was born in Reykjavik to an Icelandic theater director and screenwriter father and a Siberian actress and artist mother. In 2002, Magnússon created Ergis Film Production, which is particularly interested in artistic documentaries and has worked with artists such as Björk, Erró, Alain Robbe-Grillet, David Lynch and Yoko Ono.

Magnússon has collaborated with Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, producer Sigurjón Sighvatsson and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, co-director of exhibitions and director of international projects at the Serpentine Gallery in London.

SCREENING WITH Q&A
March 21st 20:40, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets

Agnieszka Holland, born in Warsaw, Poland, is an acclaimed filmmaker known for her politically and socially charged films. A graduate of FAMU in Prague, she began her career working with Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda, becoming part of Poland’s “cinema of moral disquiet.” Her early films, including Provincial Actors (1978) and The Lonely Woman (1981), received critical acclaim but faced censorship in Poland. Holland’s work often reflects her Jewish and Catholic heritage, exploring themes of faith, mysticism, and morality. She frequently portrays characters searching for meaning, striving for self-fulfillment, and grappling with the compromises life demands, raising profound questions about how human beings navigate moral dilemmas in critical situations.

SCREENING WITH Q&A
March 22nd 19:00, Forum Cinemas Vingis. Tickets