Competition Programme  

Field of Magic is a docu-poem about people living for over two decades in the Buda forest near the closed down Kariotiškės dump, 40 km from Vilnius, Lithuania. A result of four year's work, the film captures the perspective of the dump dwellers in telling the story of a dissolving community, its uniqueness, daily rhythm, peculiar way of life, every-day joys and sorrows. “The Field of Magic” is the first movie by Mindaugas Survila, to tell the story of people, not animals.

Festivals and Awards

Golden Funnel Award for the best developed project, ExOriente Film Wokshop, 2009
Kaunas International Film Festival, 2011
Trieste Film Festival, 2012
HotDocs International Documentary Film Festival, Canada, 2012
Silver Crane Award for the Best Documentary by Lithuanian Film Academy, 2012

Mindaugas Survila

In 2005 he took a bachelor degree in biology at Vilnius University, faculty of Natural Sciences, and in 2007 – a master’s degree in ecology and environmental research. He has been photographing nature since childhood and during his studies he started filming. Since 2007 he has spent half of his workweek working as an operator in various TV channels, and the other half – filming and photographing nature. He has worked as an assistant operator to A. Kemežys in the movie “The Fire” by the well-known Lithuanian documentarian A. Stonys. The first independent movie of Mindaugas Survila about the rare birds ospreys – Meeting the ospreys (2007) – was voted as the best Lithuanian documentary of nature of 2007 and received the award of filmmaker Petras Abukevičius.

Filmography

Meeting the Ospreys / Susitikimas su žuvininkais (2006)