Filming in Lithuania is no longer a novelty: several major European film companies have already taken advantage of the tax breaks available in Lithuania. What else encourages foreign filmmakers to choose Lithuania's major cities as the most popular filming locations in the Baltics? Swedish film veteran Piodor Gustafsson, who has been working in cinema for more than 30 years, shares his experience in Lithuania.

Piodor Gustavsson. Photo: A. Silkinis.

Start by telling us about yourself.

My name is Piodor Gustafsson, I'm a producer at the Swedish production company Black Spark Film & TV and we are currently filming a very interesting series here in Lithuania. It's a great country to film in, I can say that with confidence. And this is not my first time in Kaunas. In 2018, I filmed the series Moscow Noir here myself. Until last year, I also worked as a commissioning editor and programme manager at Sweden's biggest commercial TV platform TV4. While working there, I commissioned at least 7 series that were at least partly filmed in Lithuania. For example, Evil, and the drama Cry Wolf. So at least the Swedes come back here quite often.

Is this series for the domestic market or for the international market?

International. We already have a major client for this series, We Come In Peace, which is TV4. ZDF is also involved in the process as co-producer: it's the German public broadcaster. We also have a big international sales agent, a studio from Paris. They are part of a big group, so it is a big company that will sell the film to the rest of the world.

People from all over Europe work here, yes?

Yes, I mean the team is mainly Swedish, Lithuanian and Belgian. Of course, it's a co-production between Sweden, Lithuania and Belgium. I won't say exactly now, but I think there are at least about 45-50 people here every day. And then, of course, when we have extras, we have even more. All the extras in this series are Lithuanians.

So just about the series, what's the plot, what's it about?

I can tell you a little bit. It's like grounded science fiction, so it has elements of fantasy, although it's set on Earth. There is a big object moving over Stockholm, and nobody knows what it is, but it looks like a big spaceship. But in the end it is not really a ship. I will not tell you what it is. But the main question is, are they friendly or hostile? So the series is called "We Come In Peace", and that is the main question of the production. Do they come in peace or not? By the end of the first season you will know a little bit about that. Only a little bit, but because we want to make two more seasons. So the idea is that by the end of the first season, we'll sort of know why they've come, but we still don't know if it's completely friendly or not.

A still from the "We Come In Peace" set. Photo: A. Silkinis.

What are the production's working and release dates?

It's not 100% decided yet, but probably either December 2025 or early January 2026. There will be a lot of special effects in this series, so even though we will finish filming in Lithuania on 2 February, there will be a lot of work to do. There are also a few days of filming in Sweden. The final filming date is around 20 February. After that, there will be a lot of editing and sound work, as well as a lot of effects, which we are doing in Belgium. There we are working with one of the best special effects companies on the European market. We leave for Vilnius on Thursday. As I said, we will be filming in Lithuania until 2 February, but we have a Christmas break from 20 December. We start again on 6 January.

Kaunas is famous for having a lot of historical layers used in cinema. "Chernobyl was chosen because of the large amount of socialist architecture that we still have. Several series about the Nazis have been filmed here, because we also have some cool mid-century architecture. I understand that this series is set in modern-day Stockholm. How can Kaunas become Stockholm?

Yes, that's right. Of course, if the story was actually set in Kaunas, it would be much easier, but as you say, Kaunas has architecture. There is a mixture of different styles, so it is possible to find places that are the perfect Stockholm. So we work very closely with art directors from Lithuania and set designers from Sweden. The Žilinskas Gallery, where we're sitting right now, is perfect for what we're doing: it's modern but brutalist, and it's not occupied right now. When there is a crisis in the film, the government, they don't know if it's an invasion or not, they have to go down to the safe bunker, which is about three floors below. This is the perfect place to do it, the Žilinskas Gallery becomes the Swedish government's underground crisis centre. I hope that one day you will restore this beautiful building, but for the time being, it is perfectly suitable for us when it is not in use, because then we can work freely.
It's a bit cold, but it's all right.

You said that this is not the first time you have been in Kaunas and it is always a pleasure to film here. What are the pros and cons of working in Kaunas?

I think it's a big city, but at the same time it's small. And that means it has everything, but it's also easy to get around, there's not too much traffic and not too many people. The people are really friendly, there are a lot of good restaurants, so, you know, everything you need to feel good. The hotels are really nice. And the coffee places. For Swedes, coffee is number one for a good day. So if you don't have good coffee, it's impossible to work, as that saying goes.

What about the technical side? It's not a big city, and film production usually requires a lot of technical conditions, a lot of equipment, a lot of technicians.

In Lithuania, it is really good. I mean, the whole technical production team is basically Lithuanian; I don't know exactly where the people come from, whether they come from Kaunas or not. I think that the level of film staff in Lithuania is very high. And the working hours are favourable for filming. Because when you are on location, you want to film as much as possible. Here, you are allowed to work 10 hours a day, whereas in Sweden, for example, you are only allowed to work 8 hours, which is a problem, and there is a lot of talk about it among the Swedes, because our country is losing a lot of investment. Also, in Lithuania you can work so well because the filming teams are very, very good. I mean, they are so good that when we film in Sweden now, we will bring a Lithuanian team with us. Well, even most of the equipment used here is local, with only a few cameras coming from Sweden. For a country of its size, Lithuania has a large selection of equipment that we can rent and use for large-scale foreign productions.

So, um, what about the cons? What can we do better?

I couldn't name anything so specific, you could probably do what every other city could do. Nevertheless, Kaunas has been very good for production. Firstly, it's easy to get permits to move. In Vilnius, for example, I think it has become much more difficult than it is in Kaunas. But both here and in the capital, we are working with Dansu Films and it is a fantastic company.

Why is it easier to film in Kaunas?

Smaller city, naturally. And the municipality understands that it creates added value, investment, visibility. The last series I filmed, Moscow Noir, we filmed at the same time as the others here, Chernobyl. It also had a Swedish director. So we met many times in restaurants and other places. It's probably a good indicator if you find colleagues a couple of thousand kilometres away in the same city working on other projects.

What about other places in Kaunas where you are still working? Have you had to adapt a lot of things, such as changing street names, decorations and so on?

We filmed a lot in another place that was supposed to look like the Swedish government building. One of the most famous buildings in Kaunas. It was the Bank of Lithuania building. We had to change some of the furniture, we had to put different pictures on the walls, but apart from that, it's very similar to what it looks like in Stockholm, because it's also an old palace. It is called Rosenbad and it was built around the same time as the bank, so it was extremely useful for us. I have already seen some of the montage and, amazingly, I could not believe that it was not Sweden.

Photo: A. Aleksandravičius.

As for Lithuania, why here? Why not Riga, for example, which is even a little closer? It is a bigger city, a really historic city. It has a lot of beautiful architecture.

To be honest, I don't know, but I think it's more natural for me, because the Swedes have been working here for many years. Lithuanian teams are used to working with Swedish companies. Maybe it's all about precedent and previous experience? I would say it's three main things: you have the infrastructure; you have the teams, which are very professional; and you have the incentives, the tax incentives, which work really well. I think that when I look at the incentives in Estonia and Latvia, for example, they are much more complex. Here everything is automated. You spend and you get your money back. Well, in other countries I have a limit and then you don't know if you will get it back. So here, as soon as it's approved, you know you're going to get the money, which is a super huge plus to come here.

Do you also work with local actors? Or is it just the technical side that is Lithuanian?

Of course, it depends on the project. When I was filming my next series, we did a lot of scenes with locals. Because, you know, if you're looking for something specific, and in that case it was set in Moscow in 1999, we needed Russian speakers, and most of the actors who are recognised here did a really good job. And in this series, most of the actors are Swedish, because it's set in Sweden, but we also have some smaller roles. In general, you are great. I mean, it's a small country, it's difficult for local platforms and broadcasters to fund local series, but I hope you will do more in the future.

Filming is an investment. You invest a lot of money in locations, preparation and everything else. Is it a secret how much you invested in Lithuania?

I can't say exactly, but in total we will spend about 4 million euros in Lithuania. And of course it's a win-win situation. We spend here and it benefits the local community, and we benefit from recovering some of the money through tax breaks. The good thing is that we know exactly how the system works here - it means that we can know exactly how much we need to put into the big financing plan before we go into full production.

When did you start preparing for filming in Kaunas?

It's really hard to say and it depends on what you have in mind, but some of the things you see around here we started building back in October, not on the set. We came here only 2-3 weeks before filming and we did a monster job of putting everything together. It's fascinating, I mean. It's also very technical, because here in the series there is not only a security room, but also a whole control room for the satellites and all the cameras in the city. It's like in the films you see the big rooms of NASA or the CIA with screens. We need to create all those images on all those monitors in advance, to run them in time. A lot of things.

What about the logistics? Kaunas is not a big city. It does not have a big airport. I guess you need a lot of flights, you need to bring a team. Is it convenient to come here?

It's very easy, it's only an hour and a half from Vilnius. But I think most of the actors came here directly, there are some direct flights to Kaunas as well. Sometimes you need drivers, but it's still nice. We're staying in a hotel in the centre, even a Lithuanian team. Everything is convenient and quick.

And what locations do you use in Vilnius?

We have apartment interiors. We have a newspaper office interior. We will also be filming in a high-tech laboratory. And then these aliens, as we call them, end up in the forest, so I bet you have some great forests. So we have a lot of exterior scenes in nature. It takes time to find the right places, but if you have good local scouts you will be fine. Also, we have experience from previous productions, we filmed a lot of exteriors for Cry Wolf last year. So we already have some familiarity with the Lithuanian landscape.

You spent a lot of time here in 2018, and now it's 2024. What has changed in Lithuania?

You don't stop growing when others seem to stagnate. Your cities are booming. 
There has been a lot of construction, and every time you land it's hard to believe. And I think restaurants have changed; I mean, it's just amazing. They're top notch, some of the restaurants have unreal local food. It seems that Lithuanians have become real gourmets. So, you know, it's really nice to see.