The film premiered in the Berlin Film Festival and won three Silver Cranes - Lithuanian national film awards. Klavdiya Korshunova was acknowledged the best actress, Šarūnas Bartas was titled the best director, and the film itself received the award of the best Lithuanian film 2010.
"Paradoxically, it is not an easy matter to open a Lithuanian international film festival with a Lithuanian film," said Ilona Jurkonytė, director of Kaunas International Film Festival. "This premiere is special for us, not least because the film is exceptional in the context of other films by Šarūnas Bartas. It is completely different and may take the audiences by surprise with intense action and even sexuality. On the other hand, sworn fans of Šarūnas Bartas will undoubtedly recognise the filmmaker's thoughtfulness."
Bartas was also the cinematographer, co-writer and lead actor of the film which tells about the former drug dealer Gena's nomadic search for new life, intimacy and freedom stretching among Vilnius, Moscow and Paris.
Eastern Drift was created by an international crew of film professionals. The Lithuanian filmmaker's supporting actress Klavdiya Korshunova is already titled the face of the independent Russian cinema. Elisa Sednaoui, a model and actress of Italian-Egyptian origin, was Bartas' another partner in the film.
The picture also features Lithuanian actors Arūnas Storpirštis, Ineta Stasiulytė and Raimundas Šilanskas.
The 4th Kaunas International Film Festival (www.kinofestivalis.lt) will take place on October 1-17 in film theatres "Forum Cinemas", "Pasaka" and "Skalvija" in Kaunas and Vilnius.
