Other events in Baltic States

Internationally renowned Italian director Gabriele Salvatores will complete shooting his latest film Siberian Education in the capital of Lithuania this week. German Spiegel TV has started filming its documentary drama The Land of Siberia in Vilnius as well, Vilnius Municipality said.

"While other locations try to attract foreign filmmakers with sun and sand, Vilnius has succeeded in gaining their interest with frost and snow. Low temperatures and plentiful snowfall have proven to be a boon for the filmmakers who can use what nature has so generously provided and they do no have to use artificial snow machines that are costly," stated Vilnius Film Office Director Jurate Pazikaite. She also stresses that there are many places in Vilnius that can recreate extremely realistic locations. "Gabriele Salvatores has been shooting Siberia in our districts where old wooden houses are located. Spiegel TV has set up the first Siberian department store in a manor house near Vilnius and even shot the mountains of Alaska in a quarry located within the city limits," recounted Jurate Pazikaite., writes LETA/ELTA.

Director Salvatores started shooting Siberian Education this summer in Vilnius. Famous U.S. actor and producer John Malkovich stars in the film. The story takes place in a remote region of the former Soviet Union and spans the period from 1985 to 1995. The film is about a group of boys passing from childhood to adolescence and the community in which they live. Almost the entire movie has been filmed in Vilnius.

The German television company Spiegel TV is currently completing filming two episodes of the documentary drama The Land of Siberia. The story tells of the courageous people and their lives in Kamchatka, Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Both films are being shot in cooperation with Lithuanian film production companies – Nordic Productions and Baltic Film Services.