The festival’s opening feature was “Poem for Little People,” a co-production with Ukraine (Babylon 13), directed by Ivan Sautkin, produced by Elena Saulich and Ringailė Leščinskienė, with co-production by Arturas Jevdokimovas (Zero Copy). We are happy to report that the film was selected by the audience and that it was the winner of the Ukrainian edition’s Audience Grand Prize. 

The protagonists of the movie are looking for and discovering the widest range of anti-Russian resistance movements in Ukraine. While volunteer Anton is seen saving the most vulnerable on the front lines, two elderly women, Taisia, a poet, and Zinaida, a practical person, are shown providing supplies and news to the Ukrainian army in addition to praying and writing poems. Lithuanian filmmakers made a noteworthy contribution to this movie not only with their production work but also with the editing of Tomas Mykolaitis and the sound design of Adas Gecevičius.

“Poem for Little People” made its international premiere in the documentary competition programming at the famed Kyiv International Festival “Molodist”. The movie was later showed at the festivals in Munich, Germany, and Košice, Slovakia. It also participated in the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival.

The second film, “Life and Death of a Christmas Tree,” is a co-production about the voyage of a Christmas tree that was made in Lithuania (Zero Copy), Denmark (Got Fat production), and Georgia (Funky production). The story explores the powerful, often unseen bonds that unite the characters and have an impact on each other’s life, starting with the seed collected in the Caucasus mountains and ending with being the Christmas decoration all over Europe. 

“Life and Death of a Christmas Tree” debuted in the Best Baltic Film Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF). It was also chosen as the closing film for the ArtDocFest documentary film festival in Riga and screened in the competition section of the Lagovo Documentary Film Festival in Poland. The movie was invited to the Cottbus International Festival in Germany and the International Festival in Batumi, Sakartvelo.

With our films at the International Ethnographic Film Festival “OKO,” we are pleased to reach a wider audience. We eagerly anticipate further premieres and screenings in the near future!