Written by Lori Balton on Sep 25, 2023. Posted in Contributors

The Baltics - A Most Memorable FamTour

The Baltic States initial foray into the world of FamTours was off the charts. Borne from years of speaking with my Lithuanian colleague Jonas Spokas, it all came to fruition at 2022 Focus.  I was talking with Jonas and Jurate Pazikaite, the Vilnius Film Commissioner, about how I had just seen the Lithuanian submission for the Academy’s Best Foreign Film selections.  As an International Film juror, I enjoy the locations and original storylines of foreign films.  They asked if I might be available for a summer trip.

 

For me this journey was special—more of a personal quest on two levels.  I was invited to arrive early and we travelled north of Vilnius to the Kurkliai village of my grandparents.  Amazingly Pazikaite located a living relative…my 93 year old second cousin whose grandfather was my great-grandmother’s brother.  She walked us through the cemetery and took us to the land where she grew up, where my great great grandparents’ tiny village no longer exists…a gift I could never have imagined.  I’m still smiling….

 

The second joy was the karmic pleasure of reaping what you sow.  We strive to give back with gratitude and camaraderie on these trips, and happily agreed to panel discussions with location and production pros in each country. Each was different due to the varied audiences, Sharing our experiences of working in foreign countries, creating sustainable film industries beyond Hollywood. The stories and opportunities for sharing and learning together were inspiring.  I think we need to do a world tour!  In addition to these sessions, we met a cavalcade of talent over the course of our travels.  The people, the food, the locations—all of it expertly coordinated—made this FamTour a smashing success.  

 

“The main idea of organizing the Baltic Fam Tour was to present the rich and diverse countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and

Estonia,” explains Pazikaite. “It was also an excellent way to reveal the potential of Vilnius city for international location professionals. We explored a variety of sites, from abandoned industrial places and social modernism architecture to cobbled old town streets, elegant manors and castles.”

 

The attention to detail was particularly noted in the unconventional settings and styles of many of our meals.   Starting at Ertlio Namas in Vilnius, Lithuania, we enjoyed authentic dishes of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque epochs, interpreted as modern cuisine, accompanied with amusing anecdotal histories.   Other memorable meals included dinner at the Liepaja Concert Hall following a private concert of work by a Latvian composer, a pop up lunch in the Liepaja Karosta Tower, a water tower converted to artist space, and a taco bar in the Estonian countryside with the most amazing variety of homegrown tomatoes, and a Ukrainian restaurant just across the Russian border in Narva.

 

Fellow travellers included German location meisters Markus Bensch and Klaus Darrellman, EJ Richards from the UK, Canadian John Rakich, and Becky Brake and yours truly representing Hollywood.  From Czarist to art deco, to classical, to socialist modernism to art nouveau, to modern to sweeping landscapes and UNESCO designated old town streets; prisons, mansions, opera and concert halls, castles, forgotten factories and shipyards, state of the art repositories of knowledge and culture—the depth and breath of the locations was astounding. The organization that went in to compacting so many visuals into such a limited time speaks volumes of the capability of the region’s production support.

 

 

 

 

Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, is known for the baroque architecture of its medieval Old Town. Kaunas, the historical capital of Lithuania, experienced new construction with the rebirth of independent Lithuania.  Its most productive spurt was in the 30s, heavily influenced by the Bauhaus movement and Art Deco.  So many examples remain, that sections of Kaunas seem to be fixed in time.

 

The architectural wonders continued throughout the trip, with an Art Nouveau explosion in Riga, comprising roughly a third of the city centre—predominantly multi-level apartment buildings.  Latvia’s capital has the highest concentration of Art Nouveau in the world.

 

The once derelict Lukiskes Prison in Vilnius offered a wide variety of looks in one fascinating location, as it is being revamped as an art and music centre.  Kaunas' Pazaislis Monestary recently won the EUFCN’s location of the year and did not disappoint. In Palanga, on the Baltic Sea, we stopped at Villa Auska, a brutalist 70s-era hotel favoured by Soviet leaders back in the day.

 

 

 

Location Manager Ingrida Nagle, member of the Latvian Filming Objects Managers Association, organized the trip to Liepaja and Riga. Nagle enthused, "The Liepaj Metalurgy Factory and Tosmare Harbour shipyard were a great counterpoint to  the baroque Rundale Palace and the modern Castle of Light--the Latvian National Library.  It was gratifying to have our guests share their industry expertise with local talent.  We learned so much from each other.  FAM trips are a very useful and necessary industry element."

Piia Tamm, Coordinator at Estonia’s Viru Film Fund, agreed, “This Fam tour was very useful to help our different regions and professionals work together.  We managed to surprise our guests with a location or two—the English-style factory complex Kreenholm, the underground mining tunnels in Kohtla-Nõmme, the ‘secret city’ of Sillamäe, and the endless waterways and hills in Aidu quarry.

 

 

"Hosting location experts of the film world provided us the opportunity to look behind the scenes of Hollywood, understanding how work is done and how to meet the expectations of major films coming to the region," Tartu Film Fund manager Kulli Hansen said.  Signe Somelar-Erikson, Development Manager, added, “This trip was full of discovery for us!  We saw familiar places—post-Soviet residential areas, social and industrial buildings—from a completely different angle! We began to better understand why such sites could potentially be film locations.  The endurance, curiosity and professionalism of the people who came here is admirable.”

 

 

The Baltic states, borderlands of Europe, are creating a mutually supportive film network. “Visiting twelve cities and multiple locations in the three Baltic countries will pave the way for fruitful collaborations in the future,” hopes Vilnius Film Commissioner Pazikaite.  I believe she is correct!

 

              

 

For more images, Instagram: @wideworldlocations.com, @lbalton