10:00 – 12:00
Presentation “Reimagine the Film Industry: A Workshop on Anti-Ableism with Clare Baines”
Clare Baines, inclusion specialist, British Film Institute (UK)
The presentation will be held in English.
Are you ready to transform the film industry into a truly inclusive space? Clare Baines, BFI Inclusion Partner and founder of Crip Club, will guide you through practical steps to embed accessibility and anti-ableism into every stage of your filmmaking journey—from development to distribution. The workshop will cover key topics such as supporting disabled talent and crew, diversity standards in action, and creating accessible film festivals. Through compelling case studies and interactive discussions, Clare Baines will inspire you with actionable strategies to ensure your projects and practices champion accessibility and anti-ableism.
About speaker
Clare Baines (she/her) is an Inclusion Partner at the British Film Institute (BFI), focusing on accessible filmmaking & exhibition. She is also the founder of The Crip Club, a pioneering community and podcast dedicated to challenging ableism in film. Through these roles, Clare advocates for authentic disability representation, celebration of Disabled talent and joy and seeks to bring disability justice & anti-ableism to the screen industry.
12:00-12:15 break
12:15 – 13:15
Presentation “Universal Design in Film Communication”
Aurelija Slapšytė, branding designer (Lithuania)
Universal design principles make it possible to design services, products and environments that are accessible and user-friendly to the widest possible range of users, regardless of their abilities. And what can we do with universal design in film and communication? In this presentation we will discuss how we can use image, sound and text to contribute to making cinema open to all.
The presentation will be held in English.
About speaker
Aurelija Slapšytė – lecturer, branding and book designer, Open House Vilnius design manager, Vilnius Academy of Arts Council member.
Graphic designer with experience in different industries – from academia to advertising agency, book publishing and architectural event organisation. Aurelija is a member of the Council of Vilnius Design Academy, teaches graphic design to students of Vilnius Design College and works as a practitioner.
13.15 – 14:45 Lunch
14:45 – 15:45
Case studies on accessibility and inclusion at film events
How can festivals approach disabled communities and reflect their needs and expectations in film events? Two representatives of film festivals taking place in Lithuania and Germany will share their good practices and challenges in implementing accessibility strategies – from programming to organizational aspects.
The presentations will be held in English.
Gediminas Andriukaitis – founder and director at INCONVENIENT FILMS festival and organization. Under his leadership INCONVENIENT FILMS grew from a small-scale human rights awareness raising event to the biggest competitive documentary film festival in Lithuania. Gediminas has also been active in the field of human rights for more than 20 years and as a human rights activist contributed to a numerous projects and initiatives. Aside from management roles, he also took part in research and production, initiated and co-produced documentary multimedia project „Traces. Traversing the Past“ which was nominated for the best European online project of the year at PRIX EUROPA Continental Media Festival and won several national and international awards. Gediminas holds master’s degree in international and EU law.
Carl Lehmann – was born in Saxony (eastern part of Germany) and grew up in the city of Chemnitz. After gathering some experience in filmmaking, he studied English and Philosophy, as well as Film Cultural Heritage at Technical University Dresden and Film University Potsdam-Babelsberg. After finishing his studies, he worked in the field of film streaming, before becoming part of the continuous team at FILMFEST DRESDEN international short film festival. Since 2023, he is responsible for the industry programme and functions as assistant to the festival director at FILMFEST DRESDEN.
15:45 – 17:15
Discussion “Cinema Accessibility in Lithuania: the Perspective of People with Disabilities”
Moderator: Simona Aginskaitė (Lithuania)
Participants:
Linas Mikuta – documentary filmmaker, producer. He has been working in the field of cinema since 2009. His documentaries have been appreciated and recognised at world-class festivals such as DOK Leipzig, FIDBA (Argentina), Camerimage (Poland), Krakow Film Festival, POFF Black Nights, etc. Since 2019, Linas Mikuta has been running his own production company Lela films.
Vilmantas Balčikonis is Vice President of the Lithuanian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (LASS), actively representing the blind and partially sighted in various fields. One of his areas of activity is cultural accessibility, with a particular focus on auditory representation. LASS organises screenings of performances and films with audio-visual representation and seeks new solutions to further improve access to culture for all.
Vaida Lukošiūtė, President of the Lithuanian Association of the Deaf, expert in communication, visual media and culture accessibility for the hearing impaired.
Barbora Suisse – Founder of “Draugiški autizmui” and the autistic adult community “Mes spektre”, and mother of an autistic child. Barbora is a communication expert, co-author of the book “Autizmas – dalis manęs”, creator of exhibitions and various autism initiatives, and trainer for organisations on accessibility needs of autistic people.
Simona Aginskaitė – Advocacy and Communications Manager of the Lithuanian Disability Organisations Forum. For the last five years, Ms Aginskaitė’s main activity has been advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities in various areas, including access to information. Since 2018, she has contributed to the legislative process on accessibility of information, participated in international conferences on accessibility of information, developed a handbook on accessible information, and provided training for organisations.
The discussion will be held in Lithuanian with sign language interpretation.
17:15 – 17:30
Screening of the film “Number One” (with SDH and audio description)
Director Milda Augustaitytė, Lithuania, documentary, 2023, 15 min.
Twelve-year-old Arianas is preparing for the Lithuanian Championship of Standard and Latin American dances with his partner. The couple must understand the world of adults – learn to demonstrate masculinity, feminine seduction and self-selling. But is that enough to win the championship?
The film was awarded as the winner of the National Competition at the 17th Vilnius Short Film Festival last January.
The Industry Days are organized as part of the Vilnius Short Film Festival.
Partners: association AVAKA, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania and Baltic-American Freedom Foundation.
The 18th edition of Vilnius Short Film Festival will take place on 15-21 January 2025 in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai cinemas and on Žmonės Cinema and LRT Epika home cinema platforms. More info and updated programme at: www.filmshorts.lt
