Competition Programme: Lithuanian Animation
2025 archive

Again at BLON, we are also announcing a competition programme of Lithuanian animated films! From the most memorable works by students to virtuoso short films, the entries will be judged by a panel of international experts, and audiences will be able to discover for themselves the diversity of Lithuanian animation!

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Jury:
Karla Nor Holmbäck

Karla Nor Holmbäck

Director of the film "Rosa and the Stone Troll", Lithuanian Competition Jury · Denmark

Karla Nor Holmbäck studied animation at the National Film School of Denmark in 2018. In this context, she has worked on content for children, in the form of TV series, video games and world-building. She also works as a children’s book illustrator and, since 2020, as an author with leading Danish publishing house Gyldendal.

Agneta Tumė

Agneta Tumė

TV Content Manager at Telia Lietuva, Lithuanian Competition Jury · Lithuania

Agneta Tumė is TV Content Manager at Telia Lithuania with over a decade of experience in the TV and film industry. She leads the strategy for Telia Play, collaborates with major and independent studios to acquire high-quality content, oversees original projects for Telia Play+, and actively seeks to showcase work from local creators.

Karin Drake

Karin Drake

Animator, Lithuanian Competition Jury · Sweden

Karin Drake has degrees in both animation, and gender studies with a focus on film. Has worked with curating film programs and distribution of artists moving images and has made a large number of animation projects in collaboration with artists, theatres, archives. Special areas of interest include explorations of combining historical and contemporary expressions of animation and moving images beyond screens.

Participants:
Ignotas Kuprys

Ignotas Kuprys

Director · Lithuania

Ignotas Kuprys creates animation as a way to speak through silence, distance, and what often remains unspoken. His work is shaped by slow observation, internal states, and a relationship with the environment. In both his creative and theoretical explorations, he quietly reflects the importance of nature - not as a background, but as a sensitive, equal part of being. He is drawn to the intersections of noise and silence, presence and withdrawal, and the inner world of a person.

Matas Pakutinskas

Matas Pakutinskas

Director · Lithuania

Matas Pakutinskas is a Lithuanian animator and illustrator, holding a Bachelor's degree in Animation from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. His work explores surrealism through the lens of historical context and personal experience, employing metaphor, composition, and symbolism to craft compelling visual narratives.

Martynas Genkovas

Martynas Genkovas

Director · Lithuania

Martynas Genkovas is a 3D artist with a passion for photography, visual arts, and graphic design. His inspiration comes from bringing ideas to life—whether through the lens of a camera or the limitless canvas of the digital world. His journey in the creative realm began with a fascination for light and form, which naturally led him to explore the intricate details of graphic design and the immersive possibilities of 3D art. He thrives on blending these disciplines: his painted works often reflect the mood and composition of his 3D renders, while his design sensibilities shape the visual storytelling across all his projects. From crafting intricate 3D models and environments to designing compelling graphics, he enjoys the challenge of transforming concepts into captivating visual experiences. Always striving to push creative boundaries, he continually explores new techniques and seeks innovative ways to tell stories. Martynas graduated in Graphic Design and later continued his studies in Photography and Media Art at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where he successfully completed his degree.

Mantas Jurgis Talmantas

Mantas Jurgis Talmantas

Director · Lithuania

Mantas Jurgis Talmantas is a media artist working in the fields of 3D, animation, photogrammetry, 360° panoramas, and virtual reality. In 2023, his VR piece “Imaginary Beings” was exhibited in the show “Primordial Sky” in Šiauliai Art Gallery, as well as in the exhibition “Bardo. Three States” at the VDU Arts Gallery “101”. His 2022 VR work “Legal Entities” was selected for the Merck Award for Innovation in XR at the “goEast>” festival. Mantas Talmantas’s short 360° film “The Fall” was shown at the “VR Theater Forest”, the Future of StoryTelling conference, and was named one of the monthly favorites on the Littlstar virtual reality video distribution platform. He earned a degree in Digital Media from the International School of New Media at the University of Lübeck (Germany) and studied Photography and Media Art at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

Sonata Vilkevičiūtė

Sonata Vilkevičiūtė

Director · Lithuania

Sonata Vilkevičiūtė is a stop-motion animator who also works with various textile techniques. From a young age, she was interested in animation and doll-making. She attended Kaišiadorys Art School and later graduated from Kaunas Art Gymnasium with a specialization in textiles. For her final arts exam, she decided to explore animation and created her first stop-motion animated short film, "In the Rhythm of a Clock. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Animation at the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VDA), works as an educator with the Animatest team, and occasionally collaborates with the animation studio Kadrų Skyrius.

Jorė Černiauskaitė

Jorė Černiauskaitė

Director · Lithuania

Jorė Černiauskaitė - beginning animation director who started her creative journey at Animatest with the film "Can't Bear It".The main themes of her artistic work are the relationship with oneself, the environment and other people.

Olga Abramova

Olga Abramova

Director · Lithuania

Olga Abramova graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where she studied animation. She is interested in urban spaces and their development, and her work is inspired by urban dystopian imagery. "Glimpses among parallels" is her bachelor thesis and debut film.

Aurelijus Čiupas

Aurelijus Čiupas

Director · Lithuania

Aurelijus Čiupas is an animator, director, and audio-visual artist from Lithuania. His practice is driven by relentless exploration and tinkering with new media technologies, reflected in his work with VFX in animated films, interactive installations, and recently - generative AI. Through his MA degree in animation, obtained at Estonian Academy of Arts in 2024, Aurelijus refined his practice as a filmmaker and combined it with unconventional digital animation techniques, seeking to employ generative AI with purpose and finesse. His MA thesis was realized through an ongoing educational blog that seeks to demystify AI technology in the context of animation art while presenting contemplative insights and critique.

Rebeka Salomėja Kavaliauskaitė

Rebeka Salomėja Kavaliauskaitė

Director · Lithuania

Rebeka Salomėja Kavaliauskaitė (25) grew up in a creative family in Ignalina – a small town surrounded by nature and lakes where her artistic worldview began to take shape. Her inclination toward introspection, combined with the influence of her surroundings, became fundamental to her creative expression. Personal memories of relatives and neighbors, along with a sensitive observation of global events, naturally blended into her work. Animation became a natural medium through which she could express these experiences. After completing her vocational studies in media design, she continued her education at Vilnius College of Technologies and Design (now VIKO), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in animation. Currently, Rebeka is pursuing a master’s degree in animation at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. In recent years, she has created two animated short films – Notes (2023) and Home (2024).

Antanas Skučas

Antanas Skučas

Director · Lithuania

Antanas Skucas, a film director and data artist, lecturer at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. His debut animation short “Childhood Diary” was awarded by the Lithuanian Silver Crane Award. In 2015 he established a film production company “Tylus kinas”. Also works with new media, XR, VR, AR, AI.

Julius Zubavičius

Julius Zubavičius

Director · Lithuania

Julius Zubavičius obtained a Multimedia Director BA degree. In 2011, Julius moved to London to further his film sound designer career, where he continues to live and work. Julius has been working on more than 30 film projects as a sound designer, recordist, and composer.

Aistė Misiūnaitė

Aistė Misiūnaitė

Director · Lithuania

Aistė Misiūnaitė is an emerging animation director who graduated in 2025 with a Master’s degree in Animation from the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Her debut short animated film, Night Confession, was created as her graduation project. In her work, Aistė explores psychological themes – how inner states, traumas, and fears can be brought to the surface through animation, and how art can become a tool for confronting rather than suppressing them.

Ugnė Žvirblytė

Ugnė Žvirblytė

Director · Lithuania

Ugnė Žvirblytė is currently a second-year animation student at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. What drew her to animation was the complete creative freedom it offers to create eccentric and unconventional things. In her creative work, she often seeks to address issues and questions that are relevant both to herself and to those around her. She is particularly interested in the relationship between humans and their environment – one of the central themes in her work. She frequently transforms parts of the human body, combining them in unexpected ways to enhance emotional impact. For her, art is a way to create a personal world – one full of strange chaos and madness. This world helps her explore emotions, identity, and the boundaries of reality.

Beatričė Jackutė

Beatričė Jackutė

Director · Lithuania

Beatričė Jackutė is an animator, director, and actress working in Lithuania. She started her creative journey at Justinas Vienožinskis Art School in Vilnius and “Animatest”, where she acquired basic animation skills. Beatričė is currently studying at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in the second year of the Animation Studies programme and is deepening her knowledge of character creation and performing arts as a member of the theatre company “Insiti”.

Elijas Požidajevas

Elijas Požidajevas

Director · Lithuania

Elijas is an animation student at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, working in the stop-motion technique using and combining different mediums such as clay, puppet animation and video footage. His primary interest when creating animations is re-purposing ready-made objects or existing media to create new environments, characters, and narratives.

Rusnė Dragūnevičiūtė

Rusnė Dragūnevičiūtė

Director · Lithuania

Rusnė Dragūnevičiūtė is an animator from Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2022 she graduated from University of the Arts London with a bachelor's degree in Animation Arts and chose to continue her artistic development at the Royal College of Art. In her work Rusnė focuses on themes of nostalgia and friendship, creating textured and colourful worlds of light through both traditional and digital means. Currently, she is interested in developing an animated series.

Robertas Nevecka

Robertas Nevecka

Director · Lithuania

Film director, animator, illustrator based in Lithuania. Creates animated films, underground music videos, draws film industry meta comics, works as an assistant director on movie sets.

Anu-Laura Tuttelberg

Anu-Laura Tuttelberg

Director · Estonia

Anu-Laura Tuttelberg graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2013 with an MA in Animation, specializing in stop-motion. Her graduation film Fly Mill won 20 prizes globally. Her first post-graduation film, On The Other Side Of The Woods, premiered at the Annecy International Animation Festival and won 12 awards across 85 festivals. Winter in the Rainforest, the first in her nature trilogy, premiered at Annecy in 2019, winning 13 festival prizes and the Estonian Cultural Endowment Award. Anu-Laura, known for her set designs in stop-motion films, won the 2022 Estonian Film and TV Award for Best Production Design. She teaches animation at her alma mater.

Partners:
The Diffusion Pilot
The Diffusion Pilot

2024 / Estonia / 7 min 12 s If traditionally the animator is a master illusionist, conjuring motion through static mediums, what does this process look like when they are given a machine of infinite images? "Diffusion Pilot" is the name of author's ongoing research project, AI animation toolkit in development, and a short film that follows author's contemplative journey through said project. This journey is fuelled by the conflicting nature of AI technology - that which both empowers and overpowers the very notion of creativity. Directed by Aurelijus Čiupas Screenwriter: Aurelijus Čiupas Producer: Aurelijus Čiupas Company: Estonian Academy of Arts

In the future a man will live 300 years
In the future a man will live 300 years

2025 / Lithuania / 2 min 10 s An old sculptor is creating a bust of Friedrich Nietzsche in his workshop for a grand ceremony of finishing the bust by attaching Nietzsche's moustache which are larger than they should be. Citizens observe the sculptor as he carries moustache towards the pedestal, all kinds of people are waiting for the solemn finalization of the bust, the priests are confused not knowing what they are doing here. Wave of applause erupts as sculptor walks towards the tribune after attaching moustache. “In the future a man will live 300 years!” - says sculptor. Directed by Elijas Požidajevas Screenwriter: Elijas Požidajevas Producer: Elijas Požidajevas Company: Vilnius Academy of Arts

Inverted
Inverted

2025 / Lithuania / 4 min 35 s "Inverted" unfolds like an origami — a delicate inward construction of one’s world behind closed doors. The film reflects on hikikomori existence, where physical withdrawal is interwoven with cultural immersion. Media, imagination, and subtle disruptions shape a fragile space balancing solitude, participation, and quiet resistance to societal rhythms. Directed by Ignotas Kuprys Screenwriter: Ignotas Kuprys Producer: Ignotas Kuprys

Home
Home

2024 / Lithuania / 4 min 38 s A lonely man lives in a city full of people, but the man does not see them. Black colour covers his consciousness and he loses touch with reality. Since the constant journey up and down repeats in his daily life, trying to search for some meaning, the man finds a red stone, but the meaning is not created. Not finding a way out of the city, the man freezes like a stone himself. Directed by Rebeka Salomėja Kavaliauskaitė Screenwriter: Rebeka Salomėja Kavaliauskaitė Producer: Rebeka Salomėja Kavaliauskaitė Company: Vilnius College of Technologies and Design

On Weary Wings Go By
On Weary Wings Go By

2024 / Estonia, Lithuania / 10 min 34 s A wintry poem about the Nordic nature. The sun moves low and days get shorter. Birds fly South, porcelain animals and insects hide from the freezing wind and snow. Only a small porcelain girl wanders the abandoned landscape with no way out. Directed by Anu-Laura Tuttelberg Screenwriter: Anu-Laura Tuttelberg Producers: Marianne Ostrat, Agnė Adomėnė, Anu-Laura Tuttelberg Company: Fork Film, Art shot

Little October
Little October

2025 / Lithuania / 7 min 46 s In Soviet-occupied Lithuania, two young pioneers—one a true believer, the other a skeptic—are promoted to serve on the legendary 'Red Wall.' But as they journey through a decaying industrial nightmare, they uncover a horrifying truth: the Wall is built from living flesh. Faced with eternal torment, they make a desperate bid for freedom. Directed by Matas Pakutinskas Screenwriter: Matas Pakutinskas Producer: Matas Pakutinskas Company: Willem de Kooning Academie

Night Confession
Night Confession

2025 / Lithuania / 4 min 51 s Liucija, who lives according to the rules of the Church, faces an inner struggle with her sexual identity. Her internal conflict is reflected in her dreams, where she travels through different rooms marked with inscriptions expressing societal and familial judgments: "whore," "ungrateful," "liar." These rooms also symbolize the Ten Commandments. In reality, Liucija searches for answers online and watches an interview with the Pope, in which he states that homosexuality is not a crime. Ultimately, after symbolic trials in both her dreams and real life, she is faced with the most important decision of her life – to accept herself. Directed by Aistė Misiūnaitė Screenwriter: Aistė Misiūnaitė Producer: Aistė Misiūnaitė Company: Vilnius Academy of Arts

Doomsday radio
Doomsday radio

2025 / Lithuania / 3 min 0 s On April 15, 2025, a forgotten Soviet "Doomsday" radio suddenly comes to life, broadcasting encrypted messages. An abstract animated film about echoes from the past disrupting the present. Directed by Antanas Skučas, Julius Zubavičius Screenwriters: Antanas Skučas, Julius Zubavičius Producers: Antanas Skučas, Julius Zubavičius

To the lake
To the lake

2024 / United Kingdom / 4 min 48 s A phone conversation between friends, reminiscing about their plan to go skinny dipping at night, secretly from others on a weekend getaway. However, they end up enjoying the planning itself so much that they never execute the plan. Directed by Rusnė Dragūnevičiūtė Screenwriter: Rusnė Dragūnevičiūtė Producer: Rusnė Dragūnevičiūtė Company: Royal College of Art

Reflect, Protect, Neglect
Reflect, Protect, Neglect

2025 / Lithuania / 2 min 52 s This short animation explores the importance of caring for ourselves and others through the relationship between a person and their plant. Through everyday life, the protagonist faces the challenge of helping his withering plant and realises the importance of small changes, finding a healthy way to balance love for others and themselves. Directed by Beatričė Jackutė Screenwriter: Beatričė Jackutė Producer: Beatričė Jackutė Company: Vilnius Academy of Arts

Between Flashes
Between Flashes

2025 / Lithuania / 1 min 18 s This experimental animation is a journey into a mind overloaded with information during a sleepless night. Flashes of light, chaotic imagery, imagined games and thoughts replacing one another faster than they can be grasped—all contribute to a dreamlike, tense atmosphere. The piece explores the moment between wakefulness and sleep, when reality begins to fragment and everything becomes unclear. Sound becomes an equally important means of expression—broken phrases, voice messages, and fragmented noises echo the unstoppable stream of thoughts. It’s a state where you can’t fully wake up, yet sleep remains out of reach—as if caught between two worlds. Directed by Ugnė Žvirblytė Screenwriter: Ugnė Žvirblytė Producer: Ugnė Žvirblytė Company: Vilnius Academy of Arts

Dragas
Dragas

2025 / Lithuania / 4 min 44 s A music video made for the punk-orchestra Lapkričio dvidešimtosios orkestras, based in the underground of Vilnius, Lithuania, embraces chaos as its aesthetic. It transforms glitches, fragmented scans, and digital noise into a raw, unpredictable visual experience. Using Blender and a simple scanning app, the video distorts reality, rejecting polished CGI in favor of a pixelated, unfiltered world. The band’s fusion of distorted sound and glitchy imagery mirrors their experimental approach to music. In this “Glitchpunk Odyssey,” imperfection becomes an art form, proving that rebellion thrives in digital disorder. Directed by Robertas Nevecka Producer: Robertas Nevecka

Can't Bear This
Can't Bear This

2024 / Lithuania / 2 min 12 s "Can't Bear This"- a short film about the uncontrollable impulse to commit violence against oneself. In a fast-paced world full of information and experiences, the protagonist faces self-destruction. Is it worth it to ignore, hide, cover up one's faults? Or is it possible just accept them? Directed by Jorė Černiauskaitė Screenwriter: Jorė Černiauskaitė Producer: Eva Rodz Company: Animatest

Stinging Nettle
Stinging Nettle

2025 / Lithuania / 2 min 8 s This film is analyzing the psychi of a misunderstood human being. How trauma affects ones behavior and memories Directed by Sonata Vilkevičiūtė Screenwriter: Sonata Vilkevičiūtė Producer: Sonata Vilkevičiūtė Company: Vilnius Academy of Arts

Glimpses among parallels
Glimpses among parallels

2024 / Lithuania / 6 min 0 s The film explores the impact of urban development and infrastructure decisions in Vilnius on the needs of the population and environmental sustainability. Using the tools of contemporary animation, the work creates a dystopian vision that raises questions about the human relationship to the city and its well-being in the contemporary urban world. Directed by Olga Abramova Screenwriter: Olga Abramova Producer: Olga Abramova Company: Vilnius Academy of Arts

Different time lines
Different time lines

2024 / Lithuania / 1 min 38 s This abstract animated short questions our perception of existence as a coherent timeline. It is an exploration of contrasts and connections, depicting the juxtapositions between possible spaces and threads of time. Film depicts layers of time as they peal from city’s walls, once new and modern, now the reminder of past, once new and shiny. It also shows strings of time that start as Illuminated initials, expand and open a vast space of possible futures or pasts. Directed by Martynas Genkovas, Mantas Talmantas Screenwriters: Martynas Genkovas, Mantas Talmantas Producer: Martynas Genkovas