The true story of Loreta Gedvilaitė, BARAKUDA weaves together violence and love, desperation and self-acceptance, power and surrender. Loreta, a Soviet Lithuania mob wife, sues her husband's murderer for defamation after he calls her a ‘barracuda’ on national television in 2015. The court procedurally dissects Loreta’s youth - the dangerous love affair, motherhood, status-driven excess - and rules against her. She becomes the first legally established Barracuda of Lithuania - a promiscuous ‘unfamiliai’ temptress of influential men

Tomas Vengris is a Lithuanian/American filmmaker. He received his BA from Columbia University and completed his M.F.A. in directing at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, CA.  

His directorial debut MOTHERLAND, a Lithuanian, Latvian, German and Greek co-production, won the EUROPEAN AUDIENCE AWARD in the ArteKino Film Festival, BEST FILM in the Baltic Competition at the PÖFF Black Nights Film Festival and was selected in the Narrative Category for the 2020 European Film Awards.  ​ 

FIVE & A HALF LOVE STORIES IN AN APARTMENT IN VILNIUS, his second feature won BEST FILM award in the Rebels With A Cause Competition at the PÖFF Black Nights Film Festival. His AFI Thesis film, KALIFORNIJA, was a national finalist in the Student Academy Awards. His most recent short, SQUIRREL, premiered in the  Berlin International Film Festival followed by a US premiere at SXSW.  ​ 

Tomas has worked as an editor under several internationally acclaimed writer/directors, including Terrence Malick, Kelly Reichardt, and Lena Dunham. His feature editing work has garnered significant praise, most recently, the Grand Jury Prize at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival for I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE.