Lithuania Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said claims made against an unnamed BBC presenter will be investigated “swiftly and rigorously”.

Ellise Shafer TikTok is returning as the official entertainment partner for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. This marks the social media platform’s third year teaming up with Eurovision, the world’s largest music event.

Olly Alexander and a number of other performers have released a joint statement about their participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest after calls to boycott the competition in solidarity with Palestine.Yesterday (March 28) hundreds of queer artists, individuals and organisations called on Alexander to pull out of the competition this year, after its refusal to expel Israel.Now, Alexander, alongside Ireland’s Bambie Thug, Norway’s Gåte, Portugal’s Iolanda, San Marino’s Megara, Switzerland’s Nemo, Denmark’s SABA, Lithuania’s Silvester Belt and Finland’s Windows95Man, have signed a letter outlining their response.“We want to begin by acknowledging the privilege of taking part in Eurovision,” it begins.pic.twitter.com/VBNQWwPe46— olly alexander (@alexander_olly) March 29, 2024“In light of the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and particularly in Gaza, and in Israel, we do not feel comfortable being silent. It is important to us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and communicate our heartfelt wish for peace, an immediate and lasting ceasefire, and the safe return of all hostages.

Manchester United academy director Nick Cox has warned Kobbie Mainoo and the club's supporters not to get carried away by his stratospheric rise.

Russian hackers reportedly jammed the signal on an RAF plane carrying Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on a visit to Poland.

Leonid Volkov, the former chief of staff of late Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, was attacked on Tuesday outside his house in Vilnius, Lithuania.

UK Music, which is the collective voice of the UK music industry, has urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to cut VAT in the spring Budget to throw the sector a “vital lifeline” and save venues that are threatened by closure.Tom Kiehl, UK Music’s Interim Chief Executive, has asked Hunt to use his Budget next Wednesday (March 6) to lower the current 20 per cent VAT rate on tickets to 10 per cent as a “boost for consumers, music professionals and venues”.The request to slash VAT is among the recommendations that UK Music has made to the Government in its Budget submission, which outlines the support the sector needs to grow (read it in full here).Currently, music fans in the UK must pay 20 per cent VAT on their tickets – almost double the EU average (10.3 per cent) and around triple the rate in countries like Belgium (six per cent) and Germany (seven per cent). ‌ The 20 per cent rate is the third highest rate of cultural ticketing in Europe. Gig-goers pay more tax on UK tickets than anywhere else in Europe, except Denmark and Lithuania.The calls come amid growing concerns for the future of grassroots venues.

Emiliano De Pablos “Professor T,” the crime series produced by Eagle Eye Drama, and starring Ben Miller (“Bridgerton”), has been greenlit for a fourth season by ITV and PBS Distribution. Attracting audiences of over four million viewers on ITV and making a successful debut on France 3, the highly acclaimed drama has been sold to almost 120 territories worldwide. Most recently, Telekom acquired rights in Germany, TV3 bought the series for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova 1 for Moldova, and BBC and TVP for Poland.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Black Tea,” Abderrahmane Sissako‘s lushly lensed romance drama set in China, has been bought by major distributors in key territories ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Gaumont, which co-produced the film, has sold it to Caramel (Spain), Academy two (Italy), Pandora Films (Germany, Austria), Cineart (Benelux), Films4you (Portugal), Provzglyad (CIS), Mozinet (Hungary), Another World Entertainment (Norway), Film Bazar (Denmark), MCF Megacom (Former Yugoslavia, Albania), Filmstop (Latvia, Estonia), MB Taip Toliau (Lithuania), Imovision (Brazil), AV Jet (Taiwan), Falcon (Indonesia), Pathé BC (Sub-Saharan Africa, Maghreb) and New Cinema (Israel).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Berlin Film Festival hosted the 10 young European actors selected for the Shooting Stars program, run by European Film Promotion, at a gala event Monday. The presentation of the Shooting Stars took place prior to the screening of Claire Burger’s “Langue Étrangère,” which plays in competition.

U2 singer Bono paid tribute Saturday night to recently deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during his concert at The Sphere in Las Vegas. The frontman got the crowd to chant Navalny’s name as a memorial to the dissident’s struggle against the Russian establishment.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic U2 has been performing Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” in concert at the band’s Sphere residency recently, and before Saturday night’s show, the introduction to that song extended far longer than usual, as Bono paid tribute to the dream of Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident who died in prison days earlier. The singer spoke up for the freedom of the Ukrainian people and against Russian leader Vladimir Putin — who many believe is directly responsible for the political prisoner’s still-unexplained death — before leading the crowd in a chant of Navalny’s name. “Next week it’ll be two years since Putin invaded and tried to destroy the hard-won freedoms” of the Ukrainian people, Bono said.

Christopher Vourlias One year after sharing the stage at the European Film Market as joint Countries in Focus, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia continue to shine. Despite the downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, the lingering fallout from the ongoing war in Ukraine and the growing economic uncertainty worldwide, production across the region has been at or near record highs in recent years.

Christopher Vourlias To get a sense of the state of cinema in the Baltic countries today, you could look instead to Park City, Utah, where two of the region’s filmmakers — Estonia’s Anna Hints and Lithuania’s Marija Kavtaradze — took home directing prizes at last year’s Sundance Film Festival: Hints for her debut documentary “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” Kavtaradze for her sophomore feature “Slow.” Those wins felt somehow emblematic for the tiny Baltic nations, which — with a combined population of roughly six million — have nevertheless shown a knack for punching above their weight. Last year, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia shared the stage at the European Film Market as joint Countries in Focus, a spotlight that underscored a period of steady — even surprising — growth.

They made for an unlikely alliance. One was the playboy son of a clothing tycoon who counted members of the Pakistani government among his close relatives.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba will be coming to the big screen, along with a sneak peek at the new season.Described as an extra-sized blockbuster experience, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training- will allow fans to revisit the finale of the Swordsmith Village Arc while also getting a glimpse at the highly anticipated Hashira Training Arc (season four).The upcoming event marks the first time the finale of the Swordsmith Village Arc has ever been shown in cinemas, and also the first-ever showing of the Hashira Training Arc‘s beginning.Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training- will screen in UK cinemas from February 23.

The British Film Institute has revealed the list of TV, film, and animation companies that have won funding from its latest £3.3M ($4.2M) Global Screen Fund payout.

The European Film Academy has unveiled its new board which has been voted in under updated guidelines aimed at ensuring a more balanced geographical representation of its members.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor European Film Promotion has revealed the 10 emerging actors who will take part in the 27th edition of European Shooting Stars program, which promotes European acting talent. Past Shooting Stars have included Carey Mulligan, Alicia Vikander, Maisie Williams and Riz Ahmed. From Feb.

French director Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winning film Anatomy Of A Fall swept the awards at 36th European Film Awards in Berlin this evening, winning Best European Film, Director, Screenplay (with Arthur Harari) and actress for Sandra Hüller.

Cinema professionals from across Europe are gathered in Berlin this evening for the 36th European Film Awards.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The 36th European Film Awards are underway at the Arena in the German capital of Berlin. The awards have been voted on by the 4,600 members of the European Film Academy.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Fusion Entertainment has signed Bria Vinaite, an actress who got her breakout role as a woman living on the economic fringes in Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project.” The Lithuania-born actress was discovered by filmmaker Baker when she was working in the fashion industry and cast in the lead part of a struggling single mother raising her daughter in a motel. Her performance earned Vinaite multiple award nominations from critics groups including Chicago Film Critics Association and San Diego Film Critics Association.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor At the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, the Baltic Film sidebar has showcased an impressive range of work from the Baltic states – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – including the post-Soviet documentary “The Last Relic” and the 3D fable “Twittering Soul,” the hand-painted animation “The Peasants” and the Estonian oddity of “Spit in My Face.” A palpable urgency can be felt as these former Soviet countries find themselves once more quite literally on the frontline between Europe and Russia and seek to affirm more keenly their own identity. Leading the way this year has been “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” an intimate documentary of women ridding themselves of their demons in the smoke sauna of the title. Having picked up prizes in Sundance and now Tallinn, the film is heading into the Oscar race as Estonia’s nominee and is in the running in the documentary category also.

The Peasants would already be a daunting project in the best of times. Like their previous film, Loving Vincent, directors Hugh and DK Welchman oversaw a team of animators painting each frame of the film based on live-action reference material. Hugh, who came to Los Angeles from Poland just for his 12-minute Contenders panel, said The Peasants also had to work around COVID and the Ukraine War.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor “Being from a small country is not an obstacle but a plus because you have a story no one has heard of,” Lithuanian actor and showrunner Gabija Siurbyte (“Troll Farm”) told the TV Beats panel during this week’s Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, hosted by the Black Nights Film Festival. It was the kind of optimism and can-do spirit that characterized the industry forum, which comprised an impressive range of industry panels, workshops and pitching sessions, as well as including a few innovations of its own.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Belgium’s Stenola Productions, behind Joachim Lafosse’s 2022 Cannes Competition player “The Restless” and this year’s San Sebastian’s Golden Shell contender “A Silence,” has boarded “Elena,” written by Cannes Camera d’Or winner César Díaz (“Our Mothers”) and a potential highlight at this month’s Ventana Sur Proyecta forum. Stenola, which looks set to handle part of post-production, joins Norwegian lead producer Staer, founded by Elisa Fernanda Pirir, and Lithuania’s Just a Moment on a film which marks the anticipated feature debut of Dalia Huerta Cano, whose “Flesh That Remembers” won best doc short at Mexico’s Morelia Film Festival and DF Docs.

Agora, the industry section of Greece’s Thessaloniki International Film Festival, kicks into gear this weekend with an eye on expansion as industry head Angeliki Vergou and her team introduce a series of changes to the established event.

Swedish director Ruben Östlund has been announced as a guest of honor at the 15th edition of France’s Les Arcs Film Festival, in the role of its Talent Village Ambassador.

Savina Petkova What if a new Messiah appeared today, but his supernatural power was to release people’s intimate videos unprompted? Such a beguiling premise shapes Armenian Vilnius-based director Marat Sargsyan’s sophomore feature, “The Grand Inquisitor.” In it, the omnipotent creature is an AI that looks like a human being and has a human name, Vermis. Soon, his crimes pile up, the authorities are helpless, and any investigation thwarted. The film will be presented next week at Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Agora Crossroads Co-production Forum.

Emiliano De Pablos In standout results that suggests the strength of select Spanish arthouse films on the current international market, Bendita Films Sales, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife-based boutique world sales agency, has closed a formidable raft of deals to Galician auteur Lois Patiño’s multisensory journey film “Samsara.” Winner of a Special Jury Award at Berlin’s 2023 major sidebar Encounters and the Audience Award at Mexico’s Ficunam festival, “Samsara” has just screened in main competition gathered “Samsara”(Oct. 20-28), running up more than a dozen international film festival selections. Bendita Film Sales has clinched commercial release pacts in the U.K.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While artificial intelligence has been one of the biggest points of contention in the WGA and the SAG-AFTRA strikes, back in France, Newen Studios has taken a deep dive into AI to deliver daily soaps, as well as source talent and pitch projects in their own metaverse space. During Mipcom, Newen’s head of innovation, Marianne Carpentier, launched the second edition of the banner’s Meta Pitch Contest.

Naman Ramachandran A total of 39 European companies, surpassing 2022, will promote and sell films from the continent at Busan International Film Festival‘s accompanying Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM). Of these, 32 will be onsite while seven more will participate online.

There’s a crisis at the border: migrants stranded in desperate conditions, steel and barbed wire barriers thrown in their path. 

EXCLUSIVE: The Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s industry-focused AGORA section has selected 15 projects from 14 countries for this year’s Crossroads Co-production Forum. Scroll down for the full list of projects. 

EXCLUSIVE: Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, which has just been submitted as Romania’s official entry into the International Oscar race, has been picked up by Mubi for multiple key territories.