Biography
Uldis Cekulis created the independent production company VFS FILMS 24 years ago. In 2007 he was named among seven filmmakers, selected for their creativity, innovation and personal vision in the world of documentary making, to receive International Trailblazer award at MIPDOC in Cannes. He has worked on almost 50 creative documentaries and author-driven prime time TV docu-series both as a producer and sometimes as a cameraman. Most of his produced films have travelled around the world and many have received prestigious awards, such as Shanghai IFF Golden Goblet
(“Bridges of Time”, by Audrius Stonys and Kristine Briede), Karlovy Vary IFF Crystal Globe (“Immortal”, by Ksenia Okhapkina), Best Documentary award at Warsaw FF and Trieste FF (“Wonderful Losers”, by Arunas Matelis), IDFA Special Jury prize (“Ukrainian Sheriffs”, by Roman Bondarchuk), Best Documentary award at Latvia National Film Festival (“Liberation Day”, by Morten Traavik and Ugis Olte) and European Film Academy nomination (“Dream Land” by Laila Pakalnina). Just recently his Lithuanian-Latvian-French coproduction “The Jump” by Giedre Zickyte have received Best Documentary
award at 36th Warsaw FF and Italian-Latvian coproduction “The Rossellinis” by Alessandro Rossellini have premiered at 77th Venice IFF. Four VFS co-productions have been selected as the official country entries for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category from Lithuania and Ukraine. He is a member of the European Film Academy. Other activities include tutoring at documentary workshops in Europe, Caucasus and Asia. He is currently working on four full-length documentary co-productions as well as on his first fiction and animation.