Yellow Bread

The Vilnius Short Film Festival has announced the lineup of its National Film Competition for its 16^th edition taking place from 18 to 24 January 2023 in Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius as well the cities of Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai. Films will be screened at cinemas as well as virtually for audiences within Lithuania.

Over six days, one of the largest short film festivals in the Baltic States will present a thoughtful selection with a wide range of genres and moods to rouse the audience’s imagination from its winter slumber. With its motto “Short Yet Films,” the festival will kickstart the 2023 film-going season by offering over a dozen different short film programs from all over the world, consisting of around eighty short films that have been the most critically acclaimed and popular in recent years.

Below is the full National Competition lineup.

National Competition I

According to programmer Ieva Šukytė, relationships are the main theme found in the five films in this program of the National Competition: “A retreat into oneself in nature after breaking up with a loved one, an attempt to find out in a parking lot why a relationship has failed, or to preserve a fading love that no longer seems to stand a chance. These stories show how important it is sometimes to confront oneself in order to understand the flow of a relationship.”

• Drylands by Urtė Sabutytė
• Elena by Birutė Sodeikaitė
• Parking Lot by Jorė Janavičiūtė
• Tell Me You Love Me by Elena Rožukaitė
• Through Gloom by Arnas Balčiūnas

National Competition II

Programmer Monika Gimbutaitė thinks that the latest Lithuanian short films in this program make for a worthy exploration of the relationship with oneself and others while “overcoming crisis, crossing borders and relentlessly looking ahead.”

• Mora Mora by Jurga Šeduikytė
• Mothers by Birutė Kapustinskaitė
• Once Upon a Time in Vilnius by Eitvydas Doškus
• Sh by Julius Stakišaitis
• The Pushers by Simona Jurkuvėnaitė
• The Trip by Jorūnė Greičiūtė

The films in the National Competition program were selected by film director, screenwriter and educator Andrius Blaževičius, film critic and curator, publisher Monika Gimbutaitė, and film critic and journalist Ieva Šukytė.

Over the past sixteen years, the Vilnius Short Film Festival has established itself as the biggest short film showcase in Lithuania. It is organized by the Lithuanian Short Film Agency Lithuanian Shorts.