For the seventh year in a row, the initiative Book + Cinema has been inviting audiences to celebrate Lithuanian literature and explore its new forms. The project, which fosters closer collaboration between Lithuanian writers and filmmakers, has announced this year’s winners of the book adaptation option competition. The winners were awarded a prize established by the Vilnius City Municipality.
This year, the jury selected Akvilė Kavaliauskaitė’s novel Feelings as the top choice. The screen adaptation rights have been acquired by producers Greta Akcijonaitė, Ramojus Petrauskas and Aurimas Pukevičius, together with their creative team – director Domas Petronis and screenwriter Saulė Bliuvaitė.
Feelings tells a story of inner search, coming of age, and the attempt to understand oneself and one’s relationship with the surrounding world. The novel reflects the experiences of a younger generation shaped in the period between two eras – against the backdrop of economic crisis, emigration, and a rapidly changing world.
The upcoming adaptation is expected to preserve the story’s intimate, authentic tone, unfolding across multiple timelines and locations to reveal the characters’ inner experiences and relationships.
“I’ve already done what depended on me – I wrote the book. I feel no pressure or responsibility, only joy that Feelings is alive and inspiring others to create,” says author Akvilė Kavaliauskaitė.
The writer notes that the themes of the book remain highly relevant: “The further we go, the more I realize that people expect too much from meaning. We are happiest when we think about it the least.”
Speaking about creative freedom, Kavaliauskaitė adds: “There are no two people in the world who see things identically, but the director read Feelings very similarly to how I wrote it. Everything else is just details.”
Director Domas Petronis also reflects on the film’s direction. According to him, while writing the screenplay, it can become difficult to distinguish where the original ends and the creator’s interpretation begins. What matters most is authenticity: “If you start creating in order to please someone, the film becomes fake. It’s important to stay true to yourself – that’s when a real connection with the audience emerges.”
The director hopes the film will allow viewers to recognize themselves: “For me, the greatest success would be if the audience leaves with a sense of identification – with that time, with the characters, with their own experiences.”
The film will strongly highlight contrasts between different locations: “Vilnius is full of movement, shaped by the 2008–2009 crisis and constant change, while a Norwegian island is quiet, almost frozen. These oppositions help reveal the characters’ inner processes even more clearly.”
The Book + Cinema project was first conceived in Lithuania in 2019 with the aim of strengthening ties between the worlds of literature and film. Each year, a specially assembled jury selects the most cinematic works by Lithuanian authors, which are then presented to the film industry during the Vilnius Book Fair.
The Vilnius City Municipality established the prize, awarded to a Lithuanian film production company for acquiring the adaptation option for the selected book, thereby encouraging the development of new Lithuanian film projects.
The Book + Cinema project is organized by the production company Fralita Films together with the Vilnius Film Office, the AVAKA association, the Lithuanian Publishers Association, and the Creative Europe Desk Lithuania. The project is partially funded by the Lithuanian Film Centre.
Photograph by Saulius Žiūra
