Marija Kavtaradzė's film “Slow” will have its world premiere at the prestigious Sundance Festival

The world premiere of “Slow” by the Lithuanian filmmaker Marija Kavtaradzė will take place at the prestigious international Sundance Film Festival next year. On Wednesday evening, after the announcement of the program of the festival that will take place 19-29 January 2023 in the USA, it was revealed that Kavtaradzė's work will compete in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition (WCDC) along with 11 other films from around the world.

"Sundance is my dream festival, so it's a double joy and, to be honest, it's still hard to believe that we'll be presenting the film there," smiles the film's director Marija Kavtaradzė. "Thank you so much to the whole team – I will probably not stop thanking them for a long time. When you are making a film, you don't really think about how to be interesting to the whole world, because when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. You just make it, and if you do it in a really sincere, accurate and timely way, the story can become universal and interesting for many."

Lithuanian audiences are already familiar with Kavtaradzė through her debut film “Summer Survivors” (2018), which received a lot of praise from the audience and critics. Her latest work, Slow, will be released in Lithuania in autumn 2023.

In the love drama “Slow”, Elena, a contemporary dancer, meets Dovydas, a sign language interpreter assigned to interpret in her classes for young people who cannot hear. Their bond is sudden, dynamic, immediate and, despite the distractions of everyday life, they grow closer to each other – platonic relationship turns romantic. But as they get more and more close together, sacrifice and compromise become increasingly difficult – each one is forced to find the limits of their generosity to the other. 

The director of Slow, Marija Kavtaradzė, is also the screenwriter; Cinematographer of the film: Laurynas Bareiša, Production Designer: Sigita Šimkūnaitė, Producer: Marija Razgutė. Production of the film is partially funded by the Lithuanian Film Centre; it is a co-production with Sweden and Spain.

The film is the second feature-length work of Marija Kavtaradzė. Her first work, “Summer Survivors” (2018), had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and later, after gaining recognition at home, the film has toured numerous international festivals, won audience and jury awards, and has been acquired by television stations in Italy, Latvia, Albania, Slovenia and other countries, as well as home cinema platforms in the UK and the USA.