Vilinius: Lithuania’s president Sunday said Mantas Kvedaravicius, a prominent film director in the Baltic country, has been killed in Ukraine, reportedly in the besieged port city of Mariupol where he was working on a documentary.
President Gitanas Nauseda said the country had “lost a creator who worked in Ukraine and was attacked by aggressor Russia”.
The 45-year-old filmmaker was killed in Ukraine on Saturday according to news outlets. The circumstances of his death couldn’t immediately be confirmed.
Kvedaravicius was known for his documentaries on military conflicts in Chechnya and Ukraine. His film “Mariupol” premiered at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival.
News of Kvedaravicius death were met with grief and shock in Lithuania’s artist community.
“Terrible loss to the Lithuanian film community and the whole world. Our hearts are broken,” Giedre Zickyte, Lithuanian documentary film director and producer, wrote on Facebook.
IANS