
Marija Kavtaradzė
Directing
Biography
Marija Kavtaradze graduated from the Academy of Music and Theater, Vilnius, with a BA in directing. She has been making films and writing screenplays for films since 2010. Since her debut in the film industry, Marija Kavtaradze was immediately noticed and appreciated by the Lithuanian film community. Marija Kavtaradze's short films The Last Man (2011) and I Am in My Twenties (2015) were awarded Silver Crane Eggs for best student work. Marija Kavtaradze (along with director Andrius Blaževičius and her sister Tekle Kavtaradze) has also been awarded the Silver Crane for the script of the movie The Saint. Marija Kavtaradze’s best-known movie Summer Survivors appeared in theatres in 2018. It opened Toronto Film Festival in 2019, the film received a special viewer award at the European Film Festival in Lecce, Italy; it was recognized as the Best Baltic Film at the Tallinn Film Festival, and it also won Young Jury Prize at Tofifest Festival in Poland, 2019. The film was voted the best Lithuanian film at the Film Spring Awards.
Known For

Dancer Elena and sign language interpreter Dovydas meet and form a beautiful bond. As they dive into a new relationship, they must navigate how to build their own kind of intimacy.
Slow

A psychology postgraduate student escorts two patients and their nurse to a seaside psychiatric clinic. Along their journey, they break through each other's barriers, delve into the sources of their various traumas, and discover the lasting imprints left on their fragile souls.
Summer Survivors

Miglė, who married when she was very young, has for 26 years been divorced from her ex-husband who one day calls her and asks for a favour. He has found that it would be a good time to get married again after the death of his mother. But there is a small problem: their divorce is valid only in the eyes of the law, because a Catholic marriage cannot be divorced. It can, however, be annulled. All that needs to be done is to complete an application and give the “Catholic court” a good reason. But she does not know in what kind of absurd situations she is about to find herself in.
Parade

A newly appointed teacher arrives at a remote village school in 1947. The famous journalist and distinguished poet was downgraded for illegal publications and forbidden anti-Soviet verses. Suspicious locals still prefer to test his loyalties, while children wilingly recite his verses from 'To My Soviet Motherland', written under pressure to prase Uncle Lenin. Eventually, an unforgotten friend shows him a secret wintery path to the Dainava resistance platoon's underground bunker.
The Poet

29-year-old Ilona and her boyfriend have just moved into a new apartment in a block of flats. When the building’s renovation begins soon afterwards and she befriends Oleg, one of the Ukrainian construction workers, her idyllic notions of a fulfilling life as she approaches thirty start to crumble, like the old plaster on the walls.
Renovation

End of summer. Danielius (in mid 30s) makes a return to his hometown to sell his parents' flat. Having nowhere to rush, he reconnects with people and the town that's no longer his. He is confronted with a quiet sense of loneliness.
The Visitor

When Marija learns that her unstable boyfriend has disappeared, she takes to the streets in an attempt to find him.
Runner

A group of classmates celebrate their graduation in an isolated place about which a sinister story is told.
We Might Hurt Each Other

Milda is planning to spend a night with her friends, but the news of her grampa's death slowly sets in.
After Rave

Three women – a mother and two daughters – decide to spend the last summer weekend together in a remote village. As soon as they leave the city, one conflict follows another, forcing them to confront themselves and to accept this bond for what it truly is.
Through the Fields
Greta, a young woman, returns to Lithuania from abroad to find that her mother turned her room into a hair salon. While thinking of what to do next, Greta sees a TV episode on igloos and decides that the best course of action is to build one outside her mother’s apartment building and live in it. Greta’s igloo becomes the main issue of the neighbourhood – not because it causes them any inconvenience, but simply because it annoys them.
Igloo

Lithuanian provincial town is facing the economic crisis in 2008. Vytas gets fired from the factory. Pushed by his wife, he immediately starts looking for a new job, but not really successfully. After having his haircut done, Vytas starts looking for a new love affair with a hairdresser Marija, but not really successfully, either. Finally, Vytas gets involved into a third search - he starts looking for a guy who posted video on youtube, claiming he saw Jesus Christ in their town. This is the only time he succeeds.
The Saint

Film school students try to tackle the problem of the missing additional crosswalk to the Sluškai Palace.
Crosswalk That Wasn't There

Waiting that makes you grow up. Saule (15) and Liucija (6) are two sisters living alone, waiting for their parents who have temporarily gone to London in search of work. The biggest responsibility falls on older Saule's shoulders - she must take care of Liucija, look after home while dealing with the usual issues of a teenager's life. With so much on her plate and the huge stress Saule is unable to fit in with her peers. The girls do their best to live on their own and struggle with reality but sometimes being a grown-up is just too hard.
Laikinai
It’s a real challenge to get into the girls dormitory. You have to be careful, you have to be silent, nobody can notice you. Ben and Vega are sixteen years old. Ben and Vega are in love. Ben comes to Vega. Vega is waiting for Ben. You know the rest.
Youngblood

Eric and Tim discover a rusty old hand grenade while playing in the woods. But after events take a dramatic turn, Eric runs away leaving his friend behind and not knowing what happened to him.
The Bomb

Five hilarious stories in one film about three best friends - Ben, Frida and Freddie - who turn everyday challenges into real adventures. Its theme of friendship not only makes the film a great tool to talk about emotional literacy, but also gives you the chance to hear first-hand about the nuances of animation, the genre of the series and its release in cinemas as a film.
BFF

Ieva and Kasparas, sister and brother, are locked out of their home. Their mother has shut the door from the inside and is out of reach. The older sister Dovilė is their last hope, but even with her being there, there’s nothing they can do, but wait.
When Children Come Home

It is a gentle sense story about floor scraping and friends that just have moved in together.
Floor Scrapers

Normal people don't explode themselves!? Film was nominated for Sidabrine Gerve Award for Best Student Film 2013.