Until August 21st supervising location managers from the USA, Canada, and Europe will be working intensively in the Baltic countries. The aim of well-known professionals from the film industry is to discover places, buildings and interiors In Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia suitable for shooting TV series and films. The managers, who spent three days in Lithuania, previously already helped to find locations for such globally renown films as “Men in Black”, “Mission Impossible”, “Ace Maverick”, “V for Vendetta”, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. ” etc.
In Lithuania, the supervising location managers visited various places and buildings in Vilnius, Kaunas, Trakai, and Užutrakis, as well as in Palanga. Foreign guests could get to know both the big cities and the seaside from different perspectives: they were shown buildings of various historical periods, architectural styles and functions: Lithuanian Writers’ Union, Vilnius University, Lukiškės Prison, Vilnius House of Culture, Entertainment and Sports, Administrative building of the Lithuanian Cooperative Union, Fabijoniškės district, TV tower, Lithuanian Folk Household Museum in Rumšiškės, Pažaislis Monastery, the Old town districts of Vilnius and Kaunas, Kaunas Bank and Kaunas Central Post Office buildings, Trakai Castle and Užutrakis Manor as well as other cinematic locations.
John Rakich, president of the International Guild of Location Managers, will continue his tour of the Baltic countries next week. “Vilnius is architecturally very diverse and, I think, has great potential. I understand why film crews from other countries choose Lithuania: they are attracted not only by the professionals working here and various tax benefits but also by versatile locations. Many different architectural styles can be found in Vilnius: from older historical elements to modernism or futurism elements.”
One of the location supervising location managers the Baltic countries is Lori A. Balton, a member of the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who is partly of Lithuanian descent. Having worked on such films as “Ace Maverick”, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Babilon”, and “Godzilla” she spoke very warmly about Lithuania and Vilnius. “I see the opportunity to be here in Lithuania as a great gift. Vilnius has everything that a comfortable, livable city might need. Everything is easily accessible, which is very important when looking for suitable shooting locations. I was impressed by brutalist architecture in Vilnius, while in Kaunas the art deco style really stood out”.
The tour in the Baltic countries was initiated by the Vilnius Film Office and “Baltic Locations”. According to the heads of these institutions, Jūratė Pazikaitė and Jonas Špokas, the idea of inviting world-renowned professionals came up when thinking of how to pave the way for even more film projects in the Baltic countries: with recent years having been successful for the film industry, Lithuania is ready to implement even more ambitious ideas.
“We have been developing the idea of inviting world-renowned professionals who have worked on the biggest cinema projects of the last decade to the Baltic countries for some time. We wanted to show how diverse Lithuania is and present our country’s film industry. We are glad that the supervising location managers willingly agreed to come to our country – cinematic locations reflecting many eras, corporate tax relief, and the professionalism of those working in the field of cinema are increasingly recognized and appreciated abroad,” says Pazikaitė.
On Wednesday morning supervising location managers organized a seminar for Lithuanian film industry professionals to talk about the management of shooting processes and the peculiarities of creative location scouting. Good practices were shared by Lori Balton, John Rakich, Becky Brake, Markus Bensch, Klaus Darrelmann, and E.J. Richards.
“Baltic Fam Tour” is organized by Vilnius Film Office and “Baltic Locations”. Event partners: Lithuanian Film Centre, Go Vilnius, Kaunas In, Kaunas Film Office, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Location Managers Association of Latvia, City of Liepaja, Tartu Filmifond and Viru Filmifond.
