Lithuanian Hotels Roll out Red Carpet for Film Festival

Guests pose on the red carpet during the opening ceremony of Vilnius International Film Festival at the Hotel Pacai in Vilnius, Lithuania. (AFP)
Guests pose on the red carpet during the opening ceremony of Vilnius International Film Festival at the Hotel Pacai in Vilnius, Lithuania. (AFP)
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Lithuanian Hotels Roll out Red Carpet for Film Festival

Guests pose on the red carpet during the opening ceremony of Vilnius International Film Festival at the Hotel Pacai in Vilnius, Lithuania. (AFP)
Guests pose on the red carpet during the opening ceremony of Vilnius International Film Festival at the Hotel Pacai in Vilnius, Lithuania. (AFP)

With Lithuania's cinemas still shut due to the pandemic, local movie-lovers will be able to enjoy a cherished film festival in a novel way -- from the comfort of a hotel room.

Organizers of the International Vilnius Film Festival, which began last week, are inviting residents of the capital to check into one of its hotels to watch the films beamed to their rooms.

"The pandemic took a toll on mental health and people need entertainment. It also gives some support to the hard-hit hotel industry," festival CEO Algirdas Ramaska told AFP.

"Some 200 rooms were booked in hotels for an opening night and they are almost sold out for weekends," he said, before greeting guests in dinner jackets and dresses for their tailor-made festival experience.

The hotel rooms are decorated with festival signs and there is a hand-written postcard from the organizers. Prices for the experience, which runs until April, vary from $95 to $350 per night.

Vilnius businesswoman Kristina Sermuksnyte-Alesiuniene said she would visit three different hotels in the coming weeks. "I did not miss a single Vilnius film festival in the last decade and cannot miss this one. And this year it offers once-in-a-lifetime experience," she told AFP in her room, as she settled in to watch the opening ceremony online.

Lithuanian actor Gabija Siurbyte, another festival fan, said the experience will be helpful towards returning to the habit of leaving home to watch movies when the pandemic ends.

"It felt so good to open a wardrobe for a dinner dress and put on heels again," she said at hotel PACAI, a converted 17th-century palace located in the heart of Vilnius's baroque old town.

Last year's edition of the festival had to switch to an online-only format and organizers had been hopeful that the 26th edition in 2021 could be different.

But cinemas in Lithuania have been shut since November.

The festival was opened with "People We Know Are Confused," a drama produced by Dagne Vildziunaite about life in Vilnius as a sign of much needed solidarity. "The feeling is rather strange as we would like to have a usual festival. But we decided to move ahead with the premiere in a show of solidarity to the festival and actors," she told AFP.



Fire Engulfs Main Stage of Belgium’s Tomorrowland Music Festival Ahead of Friday Start

 Smoke caused by a fire billows above the site of the Tomorrowland electronic music festival in Boom, northern Belgium on July 16, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke caused by a fire billows above the site of the Tomorrowland electronic music festival in Boom, northern Belgium on July 16, 2025. (AFP)
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Fire Engulfs Main Stage of Belgium’s Tomorrowland Music Festival Ahead of Friday Start

 Smoke caused by a fire billows above the site of the Tomorrowland electronic music festival in Boom, northern Belgium on July 16, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke caused by a fire billows above the site of the Tomorrowland electronic music festival in Boom, northern Belgium on July 16, 2025. (AFP)

A huge fire on Wednesday at Belgium's Tomorrowland music festival site has “severely damaged” the main stage two days before the event was due to start, organizers said.

No one was injured in the incident. Images shared on local news sites and social media showed flames and plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland.

The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, which is scheduled to start Friday, draws tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe.

“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged,” the organizers posted on the event's website. “We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident.”

The statement said the focus is now on “finding solutions” for the festival weekend. The cause of the fire was not given.