JAFEST 2024 Film Festival
JAFEST 2024 – Kaunas, Lithuania.
Program 1
The second edition of JÁ FILM Fest featured a selection of films that celebrate the moral courage and ethical intelligence of those who bear witness to the truth in turbulent times.
The first program consisted of international films in competition, curated by Dovile Sadauskaite and Benita Paplauskaite. The winners of the competition were On the Life of the Uprooted directed by Raphael Schanz and Philipp Seifert (1st place), and Detours directed by Vida Guzmić (2nd place).
Program 2
The second program featured the documentary In Ukraine. Directors Piotr Pawlus and Tomasz Wolski journey through Ukraine, from the cities in the west to Kyiv and on to Kharkiv in the east. There is no commentary; the wide-angle images of people, bombed-out streets, buildings and bridges, food queues, mine sweepers working through a children’s playground and destroyed Russian tanks – these images speak for themselves.
Program 3
The third program was a selection of Lithuanian films highlighting a not-so-distant past in the country’s history. The films presented different stories of the Lithuanian people: a love story that overcame the distance of oceans, premature deaths imposed by Russian mobsters, and the transformation of the oak tree into a national symbol.
The event ended with the performance (UN)STABLE by the troupe ‘Escaped from the Theatre’, composed of 4th-year students of the VMU Education Academy ‘Dance and Theatre Pedagogy’.