For the second time in history: a film by a Lithuanian director selected for the Cannes Film Festival will compete for the prestigious prize | Culture

This is the second time in the history of Lithuanian cinema, when a Lithuanian short film enters the official competition program of the Cannes Film Festival.

The plot of the film “Ootidė” takes you to an isolated resort, where for a mysterious reason Viltė leaves the summer camp surrounded by forests, the rest of the girls begin to raise different versions of what happened to their friend. The film touches upon the themes of femininity, becoming, and alienation in a multi-layered cinematic language, which are enveloped from the first moments by the magical atmosphere created by the author, who has a bright character.

Eglė Razumaitė (born 1993) in 2016 received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Vilnius University in 2017. was a participant of the alternative education program at the “Rupert” art center, and this year will receive a master’s degree in video directing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater.

Eglė is a laboratory assistant at the Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute, Sacred Art Heritage Department, and together with Vytautas Juoženas, Brigita Kazlauskaite and Kipris Dubauskas, she is the founder of the independent moving video studio “Spongė”. Eglė’s work balances between humanitarian profile research, interdisciplinary art and film creation by integrating hybrid forms of film language.

Films previously directed by E. Razumaitė have already been screened at international film festivals. Short film “Notes from the Underground” 2020 was screened at the Vilnius international film festival “Cinema Spring”, the short film “Falling” – after 2023. presented at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Fair, was shown at the Vilnius International Film Festival “Cinema Spring”, the Riga International Short Film Festival, and was also nominated for the “Silver Crane’s Egg” award for the best student work in the same year.

Organizers’ photo/Shot from director Eglė Razumaitė’s film “Ootidė”

“Plopsas” is a growing production company founded by young generation film producer Lineta Lasiauskaitė, which helps young directors to develop and realize their film ideas both nationally and internationally. The film “Ootidė” is the second short film produced by producer Lineta Lasiauskaitė, which will have its world premiere at the A-class film festival. The premiere of the producer’s first film “-15” (dir. R. Tomaševičius) took place at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (2023).

Organizers’ photo/Shot from director Eglė Razumaitė’s film “Ootidė”

The film “Ootide” is a co-production film created together with Videoformes, a visual arts center in France.

Author of the film script, director and editing director Eglė Razumaitė, cinematographer Nojus Drąsutis, producer Lineta Lasiauskaitė, sound director Auksė Jurevičiūtė, composer Thomas Franz Seber, graphic designer Šarūnė Nečiūnaitė, co-producer Gabriel Soucheyre. The film stars Smiltė Einingė, Auksė Bružaitė, Liepa Paliulytė, Ema Venckutė, Emilija Sabaliauskaitė and others.