Fake News

Country
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
Language
Lithuanian
Genre
dramedy
Synopsis

January 1991. Lithuania is trying to break free from the Soviet Union, which sends its military to occupy the Lithuanian Radio and Television in Vilnius. The only still operating TV studio remains in Kaunas, unable to accommodate hundreds of TV and radio personnel from Vilnius.

Daiva, Sigis and Mykolas, the crew of The Daily Kaleidoscope, a TV programme of minor importance, come up with a plan to combine the idleness with desire to regain the TV by doing something meaningful for the country. They announce a hunger strike in a little trailer in front of the TV Headquarters.

Their protest shouldn’t last long, however, the success of the hunger strike depends on whether or not it will be shown on TV and the filming crew from Kaunas never shows up. Afraid to miss it, the protesters never leave the trailer, the size of but a few square meters. As time goes on, the hunger in the group grows and the protagonists’ true motives for locking themselves in the trailer come to the surface.

More info about the project

Director's note:

The film is based on an arch – winter turns into summer via the first days of spring dominate most of the plot. Likewise, a dark cold night at the beginning turns into warm summer days at the end. Initial disquiet and anxiousness turns into peace, hope and intimacy throughout the film. I intend to use close ups and concentrate on the faces of my characters as two parts of the film mainly constrain them in closed environments while characters expect fulfilment of their motivations but remain rather passive action-wise. Even when the action happens, the camera will seek those who observe action more than those who take part in it, their micro-gestures or glances. The afternoonish time of the day would dominate with colours and light typical to that period – rich, fat colours, sun appearing in the middle of the film and then taking over interiors with sunbeam reflections on the walls, ceilings, faces. Whereas 16 mm would be a suitable solution to capture the zeitgeist of 1991.

Director's bio:

Born in Vilnius, 1987, Karolis Kaupinis graduated from Vilnius University with an MA in Comparative Politics. Soon afterwards Karolis started writing and directing short films. Kaupinis’ first short film The Noisemaker was selected to Pardi di domani competition in the Locarno Film Festival, while his second short film Watchkeeping premiered at Indie Lisboa in 2017. His debut feature film Nova Lituania was selected to Karlovy Vary IFF 2019, the film is still running at the festivals, at the moment having 4 international awards for the Best Film and Best Director categories, also awarded with 6 National Lithuanian Film Awards. Nova Lituania has been acquired by MUBI worldwide in 2020. Since late 2019, Karolis Kaupinis has been developing his second film Fake News.

Producer's bio:

Marija Razgutė (Lithuanian film producer Marija Razgutė has been running a film production company M-Films since 2008. Meanwhile she has produced films such as Runner (2021), Nova Lituania (2019), Summer Survivors (2018), The Saint (2016). Marija works with the most talented new generation of filmmakers such as Marija Kavtaradze, Andrius Blaževičius, Vytautas Katkus, Karolis Kaupinis, and Ignas Meilūnas.

Since 2011 Marija Razgutė is an active member of Independent Producers Association of Lithuania. Marija is also a graduate of EAVE Producers Workshop 2016, Producer on the move 2020, ACE Producers 2020. She is a member of European Film Academy since 2015 and EWA Network since 2018, a host at Pop Up Film Residency Vilnius since 2020. Marija Razgutė is a Producer Tutor for Midpoint Shorts program since 2019.

Company profile:

M-FILMS is a Lithuanian film production company established by producer Marija Razgutė in 2008. At the moment M-FILMS is one of the most active companies in the country focusing on international co-productions aimed for cinemas and TV. The award-winning company’s editorial line consists of clearly bold and daring stories told by most talented new generation of filmmakers such as Marija Kavtaradze, Karolis Kaupinis, Andrius Blaževičius and Ignas Meilūnas. M-FILMS is crafting critically acclaimed fiction films mostly but is opening up for animation projects as well.

Original title
Kaspervizija
Budget
1523000 €
Financed
33000 €
Looking for
co-producers, sales agent, distributors, foreign broadcasters, public funds (national, regional, international), private funds/banks, technical in-kind participation
Director
Karolis Kaupinis
Writer
Karolis Kaupinis
Producer
Marija Razgutė
Production
M-Films
Contact name
Marija Razgutė
Contact email
marija@m-films.lt
Contact address
Šiltadaržio g. 6, LT-01124 Vilnius, Lithuania