“From now on, when issued with a permit to film in Vilnius, all of the crews will commit to follow the safety recommendations,” said the director of Vilnius Film Office, Jūratė Pazikaitė.

“We are happy that Lithuania is one of the territories least affected by COVID-19. According to general statistics we are a safe country, thus we hope that the international film production will soon be able to renew its work at full speed. We continuously watch the international atmosphere,” said Kęstutis Drazdauskas, the Chairman of the Board of the Independent Producers Association.

The Government of Lithuania has allocated 68.3 m EUR for the cultural sectors of Lithuania, to combat the impact of the pandemic. Some of the funds will be used to support the infrastructure to maintain long term support of cultural sectors, some directly to support culture and art creators. The Lithuanian Council for Culture has announced an additional competition for individual one-off grants, for culture and art creators.

The Ministry of Culture has also issued 3.4 m EUR for the film sector. The Lithuanian Film Centre has announced additional competitions for film production grants as well as individual awards. Opportunities for financial support for film culture projects, film distributors, are being discussed. Companies affected by COVID-19 have been provided with partial rent compensations, and furloughing of staff has been financially compensated as well.

Vilnius City Municipality Council has announced the 4x3 plan, with a 1.5 m EUR budget for the culture. The council also plans to suspend the collection of rent from organisations and businesses, will not collect fees for events in public spaces, and greater attention will be paid to music and stage arts.

Recommendations for filming work were prepared through a close collaboration with the Independent Producers Association of Lithuania (NPA) and the Lithuanian Advertising Producers Association (LAPA).