As countries went into lockdown in March to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus, airports looked like ghost towns and shuttered cinema halls wore a deserted look.

Two months later, organizers of a film festival in Lithuania, a Baltic state, came up with an idea—provide cinematic entertainment while maintaining social distancing.

Organizers of the Vilnius International Film Festival (Vilnius IFF) teamed up with the city’s airport to create the Aerocinema drive-in, reports news agency AFP.

Hundreds of fans flocked to Lithuania’s main international airport on May 6 to a drive-in cinema created in the shadow of planes grounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

Tickets for Oscar-winning film, South Korea’s Parasite, were sold for 15 euros (Rs 1200 approximately) per car with proceeds going to the Vilnius IFF, which operates on a non-profit basis. 

“This is the first Mask Fashion Week in “We’re offering people a new type of travel through the cinema on the airport tarmac,” organizer Algirdas Ramaska told AFP, standing in front of a screen as tall as a five-storey building.

Organizers ensured social distancing norms were adhered to with cars, around 150 of them,  made to park two metres apart with windows rolled up at all times.

“I felt both strange and excited, when I saw the sun setting, a big screen and planes all around,” movie-goer Jolita Vaitkute, 24, told AFP after the screening.

Lithuania was among the first EU members to ease lockdown restrictions in early May, opening open-air restaurants and cafes, shops and libraries.

In another initiative, Artists in Lithuania invited residents of the capital Vilnius to a “Mask Fashion Week” on May 5, encouraging them to have fun wearing the now-mandatory facial accessory.

Billboards dotted the city featuring posters of artists wearing their own uniquely styled masks. Each is captioned “Creativity Cannot be Masked”.

People had fun with elegant embroidery, pearls and lace or tailored finishes that matched a business suit.

Coronavirus, since its first detection in China’s Wuhan, spread quickly all across borders bringing the world to a halt as lockdowns were imposed to check its spread.