Vilnius Short Film Festival Industry Days: focus on accessibility, film criticism and Bill Morrison’s masterclass
Every year, Vilnius Short Film Festival presents Industry Days dedicated to the representatives of the audiovisual industry. On 16–17 January, the 18th edition of the festival will host a masterclass by American filmmaker Bill Morrison, who analyses archival images, a lecture on film criticism and events dedicated to accessibility and inclusion within the film industry. All the events will take place at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. Entrance free of charge.
The first day will start with the renowned independent filmmaker Bill Morrison’s (USA) masterclass Bill Morrison: Consider the Source of the Image, presented by the Baltic-American Freedom Foundation. Bill Morrison is an American director who has been named the “Poetic Laureate of Lost Films” (The New York Times, 2021) for creating films that reinterpret long-forgotten moving images. The artist is widely known for his innovative approach to filmmaking and his use of decayed and archival film footage. According to professor of visuality and film studies Natalija Arlauskaitė, B. Morrison’s films have two poles: narrative, which seems to be growing in his work alongside his focus on the political past and present, and the poetic structures for which he has become famous. His most recent short film, Incident (2023), has won awards at international film festivals including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the Florida Film Festival, and the International Documentary Association’s (IDA) 2023 Best Short Documentary Award. This year the festival presents a Bill Morrison retrospective Footprints of Images: Bill Morrison Films.
Programme will be followed by Christina Newland’s (UK) film criticism lecture Writing Personal Criticism. Christina Newland, lead critic at the ‘i Newspaper’ and a contributing editor to Empire Magazine, will discuss her career in freelance film criticism, focusing on creating a niche/specialty as a writer, pitch writing, researching and developing communication opportunities; adapting to the frequently and rapidly changing world of cultural journalism and film discourse, while maintaining a personal voice. Christina Newland’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, including: VICE, Sight and Sound, MUBI Notebook, Reverse Shot, and others. Her Substack newsletter, Sisters Under the Mink, on women in crime film and television, won a UK Freelance Writing Award in 2021. The lecture is presented by the European Network for Film Discourse “The END” and the European Workshop for Film Criticism.
The second day will be opened by Clare Baines, an inclusion specialist at the British Film Institute (UK). She will hold an in-depth presentation Reimagine the Film Industry: A Workshop on Anti-Ableism, aimed at helping make the film industry a truly inclusive space. Clare Baines will present practical steps on how to incorporate accessibility principles into every stage of filmmaking, from production to distribution. The presentation will cover topics such as empowering talent with disabilities, diversity standards in practice, and accessibility at film festivals. Through case studies, Ms Baines will seek to inspire practical strategies to ensure that participants’ projects and practices promote accessibility and combat ableism, a form of discrimination against people with disabilities. Clare Baines is the BFI’s Inclusion Partner, mostly focusing on accessible filmmaking and film screening. She is also the founder of The Crip Club, a pioneering community and a podcast dedicated to tackling ableism in cinema. 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.
Next on the programme will be a branding designer from Lithuania, Aurelija Slapšytė, with a presentation Universal Design in Film Communication. Universal design principles make it possible to come up with services, products and environments that are accessible and user-friendly to the widest possible range of users, regardless of their abilities. The presentation will discuss how the use of image, sound and text can contribute to the openness of cinema for all, and what can be done with universal design in cinema and communication. Aurelija Slapšytė is a lecturer, branding and book designer, Open House Vilnius design manager with experience in different industries – from academia to advertising agency, book publishing and architectural event organisation. Aurelija is also a member of the Council of Vilnius Design Academy, teaches graphic design to students of Vilnius Design College and works as a practitioner.
Industry Days will continue with case studies on accessibility and inclusion at film events. Two experts will share their experiences: Gediminas Andriukaitis, director of Inconvenient Films, a festival famous for its focus on accessibility, as well as Carl Lehmann, representative of the Filmfest Dresden International Short Film Festival. The case studies will be followed by the discussion Cinema Accessibility in Lithuania: the Perspective of People with Disabilities, moderated by Simona Aginskaitė, Manager of Advocacy and Communication Projects at the Lithuanian Disability Forum. Accessibility of cinema for people with disabilities is no longer a novelty in Lithuania as more and more filmmakers and film festivals turn to this audience aiming to ensure that at least a part of their films reach the viewer with the necessary adaptations. AI and IT innovations simplify the process of accessibility and significantly reduce its costs. Changes in the Lithuanian legal system are also having a positive impact in this area, but we still have little idea whether the disability community is experiencing any significant change. This discussion will provide an opportunity to hear insights from representatives of the disability community on good examples of accessibility, remaining obstacles and ways to overcome them. The discussion will be held in Lithuanian with sign language translation.
Participating in the discussion will be: Vilmantas Balčikonis, Vice-President of the Lithuanian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired and active representative of the blind and visually impaired in different fields; Vaida Lukošiūtė, President of the Lithuanian Society of the Deaf Persons and expert on visual media and culture accessibility for the hearing impaired; Barbora Suisse, Founder of non-profit NGO “Draugiški autizmui” (Autism Friendly) and autistic adults community in Lithuania; and Linas Mikuta, documentary filmmaker whose films often features people with disabilities.
The Industry Days will be concluded with a screening of the Lithuanian short film Number One (dir. Milda Augustaitytė), winner of the National Competition at the 17th Vilnius Short Film Festival. The film will be screened with subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) and audio description for vision impaired and blind people.
More on the Industry Days programme.
The Industry Days are organized by the Vilnius Short Film Festival in collaboration with the association AVAKA. Partners: 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 VoD platform Žmonės Cinema and LRT Epika (geo-blocked to Lithuanian territory)s.
More info at www.filmshorts.lt
The festival is organised by Lithuanian Short Film Agency LITHUANIAN SHORTS. The festival is partially sponsored by: Lithuanian Film Centre, Creative Europe Media, Vilnius City Municipality. Institutional partners: Audiovisual Works Copyright Association AVAKA, Creative Europe Media desk in Lithuania, LATGA Association, Baltic-American Freedom Foundation, Institut français de Lituanie. Main media partner: LRT Epika.