– Vytautas Katkus’s debut feature has won Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay; Holy Destructors took home four awards, including Best Documentary
The Visitor by Vytautas Katkus
Lithuania’s Silver Crane Awards (Sidabrinės gervės in Lithuanian) – the nation’s top film prizes – were presented during a ceremony at Vilnius’s LVSO Concert Hall on Sunday night, where Vytautas Katkus’s debut feature, The Visitor, took home the Award for Best Feature Film. The Visitor, which tells of a young Lithuanian father living abroad who is confronted by old friends and memories when he returns home, also bagged Katkus the Silver Crane for Best Director as well as the gong for Best Screenplay, shared with co-writer Marija Kavtaradze.
While the film is continuing to travel the festival circuit, The Visitor has already been crowned with the Award for Best Director at Karlovy Vary upon its world premiere last year, the Best Baltic Film Award at Tallinn Black Nights and Best Feature Film at Riga. The young Lithuanian auteur even received honours in a third category of artistry, taking home the Award for Best Cinematographer for his work as the DoP for Aistė Žegulytė’s Holy Destructors. The latter movie also won the Silver Crane for Best Documentary Film and had its world premiere at IDFA.
With four Silver Cranes, Holy Destructors got the most gongs of the night; the other two awards came in the form of Best Editor for Danielius Kokanauskis and Best Composer for Gediminas Jakubka. Another documentary that fared well at the Silver Cranes was IDFA Best Film winner Trains by Maciej J Drygas, created entirely from archival footage and with no dialogue. The film won Best Sound Design for Saulius Urbanavičius and also Best Minority Co-production.
In the performance categories, Ula Liagaitė received the Silver Crane for Best Actress as the leading performer in Dovilė Gasiūnaitė’s They Call Me Danka. Gabrielė Urbonaitė’s relationship dramedy Renovation won Best Supporting Actor for Ukrainian thesp Roman Lutskyi, while Ignas Jonynas’s thriller Borderline collected both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Šarūnas Zenkevičius and Urtė Povilauskaitė, respectively.
As for the other mise-en-scène-related categories, Karolis Kaupinis’ absurdist historical drama Hunger Strike Breakfast took home Best Make-up (Jurgita Globytė) and Best Costume Design (Monika Vėbraitė). Additionally, Nerijus Narmontas received the Silver Crane for Best Production Design for the gritty “Baltic noir” film China Sea by Jurgis Matulevičius.
Here is the full list of winners:
Best Feature Film
The Visitor – Vytautas Katkus (Lithuania/Norway/Sweden)
Best Director
Vytautas Katkus – The Visitor
Best Actress
Ula Liagaitė – They Call Me Danka (Lithuania)
Best Actor
Šarūnas Zenkevičius – Borderline (Lithuania)
Best Supporting Actress
Urtė Povilauskaitė – Borderline
Best Supporting Actor
Roman Lutskyi – Renovation (Lithuania/Latvia/Belgium)
Best Screenplay
Vytautas Katkus, Marija Kavtaradze – The Visitor
Best Cinematographer
Vytautas Katkus – Holy Destructors (Lithuania/France/Latvia)
Best Editor
Danielius Kokanauskis – Holy Destructors
Best Composer
Gediminas Jakubka – Holy Destructors
Best Make-up
Jurgita Globytė – Hunger Strike Breakfast (Lithuania/Latvia/Czech Republic)
Best Costume Design
Monika Vėbraitė – Hunger Strike Breakfast
Best Production Design
Nerijus Narmontas – China Sea (Lithuania/Poland/Taiwan/Czech Republic)
Best Sound Design
Saulius Urbanavičius – Trains (Poland/Lithuania/Netherlands)
Best Short Film
After Fentanyl – Rinaldas Tomaševičius (Lithuania)
Best Minority Co-production
Trains – Maciej J Drygas
Best Documentary Film
Holy Destructors – Aistė Žegulytė
Best Animated Film
Creation of the Worlds – Kristina Buožytė, Vitalijus Žukas (Lithuania, short VR film)
Silver Crane Egg for Best Student Film
Signal Path – Eglė Razumaitė (Lithuania/Germany, short film)
Audience Award
Family in Nature – Marius Rimkus (Lithuania)
Award for the Promotion of Film Culture
Renata Miškinienė (head librarian at Anykščiai Jonas Biliūnas Gymnasium)
Golden Crane for Lifetime Achievement
Gytis Lukšas
