What if a new Messiah appeared today, but his supernatural power was to release people’s intimate videos unprompted? Such a beguiling premise shapes Armenian Vilnius-based director Marat Sargsyan’s sophomore feature, “The Grand Inquisitor.” In it, the omnipotent creature is an AI that looks like a human being and has a human name, Vermis. Soon, his crimes pile up, the authorities are helpless, and any investigation thwarted.
The film will be presented next week at Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Agora Crossroads Co-production Forum. As a Lithuanian project, it is also part of Agora’s newest initiative, Bridge to the North, linking the European North and South for potential creative partnerships.
Sargyas’s debut fiction feature—the labyrinthian war drama “The Flood Won’t Come”—premiered in 2020 as part of the selection at Venice’s Critics’ Week. The film explored themes such as war, peace and religion, without the need...
The film will be presented next week at Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Agora Crossroads Co-production Forum. As a Lithuanian project, it is also part of Agora’s newest initiative, Bridge to the North, linking the European North and South for potential creative partnerships.
Sargyas’s debut fiction feature—the labyrinthian war drama “The Flood Won’t Come”—premiered in 2020 as part of the selection at Venice’s Critics’ Week. The film explored themes such as war, peace and religion, without the need...
- 11/2/2023
- by Savina Petkova
- Variety Film + TV
Polish production company Gigant Films will remake Titas Laucius’ feature debut, “Parade.” It will start shooting this year under the working title “Divorcees” (“Rozwodnicy”)
The Lithuanian film, inspired by Laucius’ own family, world premiered at Tallinn Black Night Film Festival in November. It sees Miglė, whose ex-husband, after years of living apart, wants to remarry in church. In order to do so, the long-divorced couple needs to get an annulment. Suddenly, they are faced with a church tribunal investigating their past. And their own memories.
“When I first heard about this project, and then watched the film, I saw the potential for feel-good comedy,” said producer Radosław Grabik.
“Poland [as a predominantly Catholic country] feels like a great fit for this story. We won’t be demonizing the clergy, but we want to gently mock the hypocrisy of everyone involved. Including all these people who claim to care about church weddings, even though they aren’t even religious,...
The Lithuanian film, inspired by Laucius’ own family, world premiered at Tallinn Black Night Film Festival in November. It sees Miglė, whose ex-husband, after years of living apart, wants to remarry in church. In order to do so, the long-divorced couple needs to get an annulment. Suddenly, they are faced with a church tribunal investigating their past. And their own memories.
“When I first heard about this project, and then watched the film, I saw the potential for feel-good comedy,” said producer Radosław Grabik.
“Poland [as a predominantly Catholic country] feels like a great fit for this story. We won’t be demonizing the clergy, but we want to gently mock the hypocrisy of everyone involved. Including all these people who claim to care about church weddings, even though they aren’t even religious,...
- 2/19/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Replete with peculiar ideas about the nightmare of modern conflict, especially in bleakly undefined, but vaguely former-Soviet territories, Armenian director Marat Sargsyan’s debut, which started its life in Venice Critics’ Week and just picked up a Special Mention in the Transilvania International Film Festival Competition, is a strange and not wholly successful mixture of confounding and compelling. But thanks to some truly original, very striking imagery and the vague sense that Sargsyan knows what he’s getting at, even if you don’t, if you’re willing to commit resources to the tense ground war between frustration and revelation, the latter just about wins out.
Read More: Best Of Cannes 2021: 15 Must-See Movies From The Festival
For one thing, the film’s genuinely magnificent opening tides you through the early longueurs: through an eerily unreal icy landscape, with the ridges of far-off mountain ranges sticking up like dinosaur bones,...
Read More: Best Of Cannes 2021: 15 Must-See Movies From The Festival
For one thing, the film’s genuinely magnificent opening tides you through the early longueurs: through an eerily unreal icy landscape, with the ridges of far-off mountain ranges sticking up like dinosaur bones,...
- 8/3/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
Philipp Yuryev’s “The Whaler Boy,” which took home the Venice Days award at last year’s Venice Film Festival, won the top prize at the Transilvania Film Festival on Saturday.
The jury praised the Russian director’s feature debut, an offbeat story of a teenage whale hunter on the Bering Strait who sets out to meet a webcam model, for being “beautiful and meticulous in its sense of time and place” while also being “really resonant and contemporary at the same time as being classic.”
Yuryev, who had not attended the festival, was hastily flown to Cluj from Moscow on Saturday morning, telling the audience: “It is really something surprising to be here, and to have a chance to visit this place and to see you all.” He dedicated the award to the remote whale-hunting community in Chukotka where the movie was filmed, as well as to its young...
The jury praised the Russian director’s feature debut, an offbeat story of a teenage whale hunter on the Bering Strait who sets out to meet a webcam model, for being “beautiful and meticulous in its sense of time and place” while also being “really resonant and contemporary at the same time as being classic.”
Yuryev, who had not attended the festival, was hastily flown to Cluj from Moscow on Saturday morning, telling the audience: “It is really something surprising to be here, and to have a chance to visit this place and to see you all.” He dedicated the award to the remote whale-hunting community in Chukotka where the movie was filmed, as well as to its young...
- 8/1/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Jury includes ‘Amores Perros’ screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga.
Transilvania International Film Festival has revealed the 12 films that will screen in its official competition and its international jury.
Each title competing for the Transilvania Trophy will receive its Romanian premiere at the 20th edition of the festival, which is set to take place in-person in the city of Cluj-Napoca.
They include What Do We See When We Look At The Sky?, by Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze, which played in competition at the Berlinale, and Lili Horvát’s Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time, which was Hungary’s Oscar submission.
Transilvania International Film Festival has revealed the 12 films that will screen in its official competition and its international jury.
Each title competing for the Transilvania Trophy will receive its Romanian premiere at the 20th edition of the festival, which is set to take place in-person in the city of Cluj-Napoca.
They include What Do We See When We Look At The Sky?, by Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze, which played in competition at the Berlinale, and Lili Horvát’s Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time, which was Hungary’s Oscar submission.
- 7/2/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The Santa Barbara Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Aaron Maurer’s documentary Invisible Valley, which profiles the stories of the disparate people that make up the Coachella Valley. It kicks off a festival that will run March 31-April 10 with a hybrid edition that includes online elements and screenings at a pair of pop-up beachside drive-in venues.
The full lineup revealed Tuesday features 47 world premieres and 37 U.S. premieres from 45 countries alongside the fest’s annual tributes featuring the likes of Bill Murray, Carey Mulligan, Sacha Baron Cohen and Amanda Seyfried which will be livestreamed online.
Every film screening will be offered for free this year, with a ticketed online component that will showcase the entire film lineup along with the tributes, industry panels and filmmaker Q&As.
The fest will close with a series of short documentaries by local filmmakers.
Here’s the trailer for Invisible Valley,...
The full lineup revealed Tuesday features 47 world premieres and 37 U.S. premieres from 45 countries alongside the fest’s annual tributes featuring the likes of Bill Murray, Carey Mulligan, Sacha Baron Cohen and Amanda Seyfried which will be livestreamed online.
Every film screening will be offered for free this year, with a ticketed online component that will showcase the entire film lineup along with the tributes, industry panels and filmmaker Q&As.
The fest will close with a series of short documentaries by local filmmakers.
Here’s the trailer for Invisible Valley,...
- 3/9/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Reel Suspects has acquired world rights to Renata Pinheiro’s sci-fi thriller “King Car,” which recently world premiered at Rotterdam in the big screen competition.
The elevated genre movie revolves around Ninho, the son of a taxi company owner who has an extraordinary connection with cars and can talk to them. Ninho became friends with the car that saved him from a traffic accident as a child, and now he can also hear the old wrecks complain about the law banning them from the roads. Together with his uncle, Ninho converts the write-offs into futuristic vehicles with consciousness.
Reel Suspects will be handling international on the film outside of Brazil. The movie stars Luciano Pedro Jr, Jules Elting, Clara Pinheiro and Adelio Lima, among others. “King Car” was produced by Sérgio Oliveira.
“With its retro-futuristic cars and ecological tale, [‘King Car’] shows that Brazilian genre cinema is something to keep a close...
The elevated genre movie revolves around Ninho, the son of a taxi company owner who has an extraordinary connection with cars and can talk to them. Ninho became friends with the car that saved him from a traffic accident as a child, and now he can also hear the old wrecks complain about the law banning them from the roads. Together with his uncle, Ninho converts the write-offs into futuristic vehicles with consciousness.
Reel Suspects will be handling international on the film outside of Brazil. The movie stars Luciano Pedro Jr, Jules Elting, Clara Pinheiro and Adelio Lima, among others. “King Car” was produced by Sérgio Oliveira.
“With its retro-futuristic cars and ecological tale, [‘King Car’] shows that Brazilian genre cinema is something to keep a close...
- 2/16/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The French sales agent has added Marc Fouchard’s film, which won the Grand Prix at the Cognac Crime Film Festival, to its line-up and will unveil it online at the 23rd Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. Specialising in "elevated genre", French international sales agent Reel Suspects managed to get through 2020, a complicated year for us all on account of the health crisis. Indeed, it inked some great deals for the thriller Ropes by Spaniard José Luis Montesinos and a real revelation in the Venice International Film Critics’ Week, the intense, warped Lithuanian war film The Flood Won’t Come by Armenian director Marat Sargsyan, among other movies. In addition, Matteo Lovadina’s team is about to play another trump card with Out of This World by Marc Fouchard, which will have its market premiere at the 23rd Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris, an event that, in a change to the usual.
Paris-based outfit Reel Suspects has acquired “The Three,” directed by up-and-coming Armenian-Russian filmmaker Anna Melikyan. “The Three” will have its international premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and will be distributed in Russia by Disney in December.
Penned by Melikyan and Evgenia Khripkova, “The Three” revolves around a husband, a wife and another woman.
The cast is headlined by local stars Konstantin Khabenskiy, Viktoriya Isakova, and Yulia Peresild, a young Moscow theater actor. Melikyan produced the film through her banner Magnum film company, along with Natella Krapivina and Artem Vasilyev.
“We are really exited to work on Anna’s most recent work. A subtle romance driven by an amazing cast and signed by a wonderful cinematographic camera work. Festivals and buyers will fall surely under the charm,” said Matteo Lovadina, the CEO of Reel Suspects, who will start selling the film at the American Film Market, which kicks off Monday.
Penned by Melikyan and Evgenia Khripkova, “The Three” revolves around a husband, a wife and another woman.
The cast is headlined by local stars Konstantin Khabenskiy, Viktoriya Isakova, and Yulia Peresild, a young Moscow theater actor. Melikyan produced the film through her banner Magnum film company, along with Natella Krapivina and Artem Vasilyev.
“We are really exited to work on Anna’s most recent work. A subtle romance driven by an amazing cast and signed by a wonderful cinematographic camera work. Festivals and buyers will fall surely under the charm,” said Matteo Lovadina, the CEO of Reel Suspects, who will start selling the film at the American Film Market, which kicks off Monday.
- 11/6/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The debut feature by Armenian filmmaker Marat Sargsyan is world-premiering in competition in Venice's 35th International Film Critics’ Week. A blue screen informs that war has begun. What will be needed? Collect the men, find guns, or maybe someone will give them. We need a location, a country where the war would take place. No problem, the Colonel is a real pro, he has caused wars to order, or on orders, on multiple occasions in different countries. Now his followers have grown up and caused a war in his country. He doesn’t want to, but he has to fight. He is old and tired of war. He wants to be at the table with a steaming pot of tasty mutton ribs and stare at an innocent TV screen with the news on, and the dressed-up news reporter announces that the war has begun. This is the plot of The Flood.
Wife of a SpyThe programme for the 2020 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Gia Coppola, Lav Diaz, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Alice Rohrwacher, Gianfranco Rosi, Frederick Wiseman, Chloé Zhao, and more.COMPETITIONIn Between Dying (Hilal Baydarov)Le sorelle Macluso (Emma Dante)The World to Come (Mona Fastvold)Nuevo Orden (Michel Franco)Lovers (Nicole Garcia)Laila in Haifa (Amos Gitai)Dear Comrades (Andrei Konchalovsky)Wife of a Spy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)Sun Children (Majid Majidi)Pieces of a Woman (Kornél Mundruczó)Miss Marx (Susanna Nicchiarelli)Padrenostro (Claudio Noce)Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)Never Gonna Snow AgainThe Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane)And Tomorrow The Entire World (Julia Von Heinz)Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Zbanic)Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesThe Ties (Daniele Luchetti)Lasciami Andare (Stefano Mordini)Mandibules (Quentin Dupieux)Love After Love (Ann Hui)Assandria (Salvatore Mereu)The Duke (Roger Michell)Night in Paradise (Park Hoon-jung)Mosquito...
- 8/3/2020
- MUBI
With Telluride Film Festival forced to cancel their yearly event, what is now the first of the major fall festivals, Venice, has announced their complete lineup. Along with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which was revealed yesterday, the lineup includes more of our most-anticipated films of the year, including Frederick Wiseman’s City Hall, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, Abel Ferrara’s Sportin’ Life, Lav Diaz’s Genus Pan, Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman, Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno, and more.
There were also a few surprises in the lineup. Luca Guadagnino has directed a new documentary titled Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, while Alice Rohrwacher and Jr have teamed for the new short film, Omelia Contadina. Quentin Dupieux’s Mandibules will also premiere out of competition.
In perhaps the best surprise of all, a new, recently uncovered film by Orson Welles,...
There were also a few surprises in the lineup. Luca Guadagnino has directed a new documentary titled Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, while Alice Rohrwacher and Jr have teamed for the new short film, Omelia Contadina. Quentin Dupieux’s Mandibules will also premiere out of competition.
In perhaps the best surprise of all, a new, recently uncovered film by Orson Welles,...
- 7/28/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Reel Suspects has acquired world rights to Marat Sargsyan’s feature debut “The Flood Won’t Come” which will have its world premiere at Venice in the Critics’ Week section.
Produced by Ieva Norvilienė at Tremora, “The Flood Won’t Come” revolves around a famous colonel who has acted as a war consultant in different countries for many years and returns to his homeland when a civil war breaks out.
The movie is headlined by popular Lithuanian actors Valentinas Masalskis and Remigijus Vilkaitis. The lithuanian drama “Sargsyan” marks the feature debut of Sargsyan, who previously directed the short film “Lernavan” in 2009.
Reel Suspects’ slate also includes “Une Dernière Fois” (“One Last Time”), the debut feature of Olympe de G, a well-known French director of commercials and music videos; as well as Maximiliano Contenti’s Uruguyan horror movie “Al Morir La Matinée,” and Anthony Scott Burns’s Canadian science fiction thriller “Come True.
Produced by Ieva Norvilienė at Tremora, “The Flood Won’t Come” revolves around a famous colonel who has acted as a war consultant in different countries for many years and returns to his homeland when a civil war breaks out.
The movie is headlined by popular Lithuanian actors Valentinas Masalskis and Remigijus Vilkaitis. The lithuanian drama “Sargsyan” marks the feature debut of Sargsyan, who previously directed the short film “Lernavan” in 2009.
Reel Suspects’ slate also includes “Une Dernière Fois” (“One Last Time”), the debut feature of Olympe de G, a well-known French director of commercials and music videos; as well as Maximiliano Contenti’s Uruguyan horror movie “Al Morir La Matinée,” and Anthony Scott Burns’s Canadian science fiction thriller “Come True.
- 7/27/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
There are not as many new films being made and some completed films are holding out until 2021 to make their festival premiere, but there’s no shortage of new restorations coming to film festivals soon. Cannes recently revealed their Classics lineup of titles screening this fall and hopefully coming to discs in the near future, and now it is Venice’s turn.
They’ve revealed the new restorations that will first screen at Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna, Italy on August 25-31, followed by screenings at Venice Film Festival soon after. New restorations include work by Martin Scorsese, Souleymane Cissé, Michelangelo Antonioni, Shôhei Imamura, Fritz Lang, Sidney Lumet, Jean-Pierre Melville, Nikita Mikhalkov, and more. Some of these films already have forthcoming disc releases announced, including Claudine, coming to Criterion this fall.
Check out the lineup below (via Deadline) as well as the Venice Critics’ Week slate, which includes the Terrence Malick...
They’ve revealed the new restorations that will first screen at Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna, Italy on August 25-31, followed by screenings at Venice Film Festival soon after. New restorations include work by Martin Scorsese, Souleymane Cissé, Michelangelo Antonioni, Shôhei Imamura, Fritz Lang, Sidney Lumet, Jean-Pierre Melville, Nikita Mikhalkov, and more. Some of these films already have forthcoming disc releases announced, including Claudine, coming to Criterion this fall.
Check out the lineup below (via Deadline) as well as the Venice Critics’ Week slate, which includes the Terrence Malick...
- 7/22/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
High-profile doc “The Rossellinis,” described as a tongue-in-cheek autobiographical look at the descendants of iconic Italian director Roberto Rossellini’s extended family, is among the standout world premieres in the lineup of the upcoming Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini’s grandson, Alessandro Rossellini, the doc is unspooling out of competition and will close the separately-run Venice section that will feature seven first works in competition. It’s not yet know whether Isabella Rossellini will be on the Lido to promote the film.
The competition titles — all first works as well as world premieres — include “Topside,” the feature film debut of U.S. directorial duo Celine Held and Logan George, which is described in promotional materials as a drama set deep in the underbelly of New York City, where a five year-old girl and her mother live among a community that has claimed the abandoned subway tunnels as their home.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini’s grandson, Alessandro Rossellini, the doc is unspooling out of competition and will close the separately-run Venice section that will feature seven first works in competition. It’s not yet know whether Isabella Rossellini will be on the Lido to promote the film.
The competition titles — all first works as well as world premieres — include “Topside,” the feature film debut of U.S. directorial duo Celine Held and Logan George, which is described in promotional materials as a drama set deep in the underbelly of New York City, where a five year-old girl and her mother live among a community that has claimed the abandoned subway tunnels as their home.
- 7/21/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s opening film is The Book Of Vision, the debut fiction feature from frequent Terrence Malick collaborator Carlo Hintermann.
Carlo Hintermann’s The Book Of Vision will open this year’s Critics’ Week strand of the Venice Film Festival in September, playing out of competition. Critics’ Week will run from August 2-12.
The debut fiction feature from the frequent Terrence Malick collaborator stars Dutch actress Lotte Verbeek as a young doctor who becomes obsessed with the work of an 18th-century physician on dreams and visions. Charles Dance plays her tutor.
Alessandro Rossellini’s The Rossellinis, a documentary produced...
Carlo Hintermann’s The Book Of Vision will open this year’s Critics’ Week strand of the Venice Film Festival in September, playing out of competition. Critics’ Week will run from August 2-12.
The debut fiction feature from the frequent Terrence Malick collaborator stars Dutch actress Lotte Verbeek as a young doctor who becomes obsessed with the work of an 18th-century physician on dreams and visions. Charles Dance plays her tutor.
Alessandro Rossellini’s The Rossellinis, a documentary produced...
- 7/21/2020
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
Venice Critics’ Week, the independent sidebar of the Italian festival which is pressing on with its physical edition September 2-12, has unveiled a line-up of seven debut features and two special events in its competition program.
Joining the previously announced opening film The Book Of Vision are features from the U.S., Mexico and Denmark. Closing the event will be Alessandro Rossellini’s Italy-Latvia co-production The Rossellinis, which is the debut feature of Alessandro Rossellini, the grandson of revered director Roberto Rossellini. The full line-up is below.
As per usual, awards will be handed out including the Grand Prize, this year overseen by jury members Wendy Mitchell, Eugenio Renzi, and Jay Weissberg, as well as the Verona Film Club Award, and the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution. A Lion of the Future “Luigi De Laurentiis” is also given to a debut film from the entire Venice program,...
Joining the previously announced opening film The Book Of Vision are features from the U.S., Mexico and Denmark. Closing the event will be Alessandro Rossellini’s Italy-Latvia co-production The Rossellinis, which is the debut feature of Alessandro Rossellini, the grandson of revered director Roberto Rossellini. The full line-up is below.
As per usual, awards will be handed out including the Grand Prize, this year overseen by jury members Wendy Mitchell, Eugenio Renzi, and Jay Weissberg, as well as the Verona Film Club Award, and the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution. A Lion of the Future “Luigi De Laurentiis” is also given to a debut film from the entire Venice program,...
- 7/21/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
As I was leaving Vilnius and its film festival, I ventured into FilmBox Lt, the Vilnius Airport movie theatre, and I was transported directly to the Visions du Réel Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland.
There, an impressive and comprehensive retrospective of Audrius Stonys’ work was held, from his first film, "Open the Door to Him Who Comes" (1989), to the most recent, "Gates of the Lamb" (2014). Indeed, with this event, Lithuania was one of the festival’s focus countries with a total of twenty films – eighteen that pertained to the aforementioned retrospective and two that screened in the official program.
The initiative came from the director of Visions du Réel, Luciano Barisone, who is an admirer of Lithuanian cinema, and especially of Audrius Stonys.
“The relationship with Lithuania is a relationship with Audrius Stonys who is a filmmaker I have liked for a long time; he is a filmmaker who has always underlined the importance of the invisible which is, for me, a fundamental notion of cinema. What is often interesting in Film is not what appears on screen but rather what does not. And so, the work that Stonys does in that regard is essential… And, I like Lithuania because it is a country of extreme contrasts. It is the last country to have been Christianized, so there is an immense influence of paganism and paganism brings a notion of magic and nature. So, there is the rational world of Man and the magical world of nature, together,” Barisone stated.
Stonys’ films "Fedia: Three Minutes After the Big Bang" (1999), "Alone" (2001), "Ramin" (2011) and Cenotaph (2013) were previously screened at Visions du Réel but his works have never been showcased on a similar scale at the festival before. So, according to Barisone, it was the right time to present a full retrospective. For the occasion, the Lithuanian Film Centre commissioned the restoration of the copies of "Open the Door to Him Who Comes" (1989), "Baltic Way" (1990) and "Harbor" (1998) while the restoration of the remaining two copies was done by Meno Avilys, an Ngo based in Vilnius, Lithuania that specializes in the area of film education and film preservation. In total, five new digital copies – previously unseen – were presented at Visions du Réel. “It was kind of an obvious choice,” said Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson, the head of the department of Film Promotion, Information and Heritage of the Lithuanian Film Centre, who supports the restoration of old copies of Lithuanian films “I see the benefit. There are a lot of fantastic films that we would like to restore, especially those made since 1991 because it was kind of a chaotic time when it comes to film heritage. There was no film center at the time and a lot of copies were nearly or totally destroyed. And, with a limited budget we have to be very focused on which part we take now and help restore it,” she noted.
The retrospective was introduced by Audrius Stonys himself and Arūnas Matelis who has collaborated on and produced several of his films. The director also held a masterclass during the festival. Mentored by Henrikas Šablevičius, Audrius Stonys is considered one of the most creative, accomplished and productive Lithuanian filmmakers. His works are often attributed to the genre of poetic documentary and according to him, his films aim to preserve fading dreams. Stonys’ career began in 1989 and he has produced over twenty documentaries since, most of which have won awards at various festivals. In 1992, his film "Earth of the Blind" received the European Film Award for Best Documentary of the Year from the European Film Academy.
As far as the other Lithuanian films that screened at the festival are concerned, Visions du Réel also held the world premiere of "I’m Not from Here" by Giedrė Žickytė and Maite Alberdi, a coproduction between Lithuania, Denmark and Chile. The film’s development started in 2013 at the Dox:lab workshop of Cph:dox. It is the first result of the cooperation between the Lithuanian Film Centre and the Copenhagen festival. "I’m Not from Here" tells the story of Josebe, an elderly Basque woman from San Sebastián who resides at a retirement home in Santiago de Chile. Everyday she believes that this is the first day of her visit at the home, and everyday she struggles to realize it is not – as well as the fact that she is no longer living in her homeland with her family. The film won the Sesterce d’Or – Fondation Goblet for Best Short Documentary Film. “It's very nice to receive this kind of news because we invested in this film, we developed this project within the Dox:lab at the Cph:dox festival. It was the first edition when we entered the network and became member and Giedrė Žickytė was selected as the first young filmmaker from Lithuania to be connected with filmmakers from other countries other than Europe. I was at the world premiere and I could see well invested money and the audience reacted in a very nice way,” Ruokytė-Jonsson commented.
Mantas Kvedaravičius’ film "Mariupol" was selected in the “Regard Neuf” section of the festival. It had its world premiere at the Berlinale in the “Panorama – Dokument” program. "Mariupol" is an essay about the industrial port in the Donetsk Region in Ukraine. The everyday life depicted in the film is framed by the constant anticipation and proximity of war.
Visions du Réel has always kept a keen eye on Lithuanian films. In the past, the festival featured works of other Lithuanian filmmakers such as "Barzakh" by Mantas Kvedaravičius (2011) and "Father" by Marat Sargsyan (2013). “Visions du Réel has been keeping an eye on Lithuanian documentaries because Lithuanian documentaries are strong. We are strong in documentaries first of all… Henrikas Šablevičius, the father of poetic documentary, is an idol for young filmmakers like Stonys. There is a school created in Lithuania and that's why the tradition continues. And, you don't need many resources to make good films, especially in terms of poetic documentary films. I mean, his filmmaking kind of aims to restore or preserve dreams from fading as he always says and it's this tradition or view on reality and reflection of reality that makes sense to younger generations who are inspired by filmmakers like Audrius Stonys and Henrikas Šablevičius”, observed Ruokytė-Jonsson.
In terms of potential coproductions between Switzerland and Lithuania, there is none yet in the works but Ruokytė-Jonsson is confident that it will happen sooner or later: “It will come in time, in a natural way. If two creative people want to coproduce, nobody can stop them – no funds, no structure, no policies can stop them,” she added, hoping that one day, the Baltic countries will be in focus at Visions du Réel, just like Chile was this year, “that would be really fantastic because all three Baltic countries have strong documentary film traditions and it's a good idea...” Ruokytė-Jonsson admitted.
This is not the first time Lithuania was the focus country at a film festival. Indeed, last year, the T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival and the Krakow Film Festival both had a focus on the Baltic country. And, it will most certainly not be the last as the next focus on Lithuania will be at the upcoming Transilvania International Film Festival (unspooling from 27/05 to 05/06 2016) that will consist of thirteen films and will include classics, three films by Šarunas Bartas as well as contemporary documentaries and features. And, after that, the focus will move on to the Molodist International Film Festival in Kiev, Ukraine.
The presentation of Audrius Stonys’ retrospective and the films "I’m Not from Here" and "Mariupol" was supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre.
There, an impressive and comprehensive retrospective of Audrius Stonys’ work was held, from his first film, "Open the Door to Him Who Comes" (1989), to the most recent, "Gates of the Lamb" (2014). Indeed, with this event, Lithuania was one of the festival’s focus countries with a total of twenty films – eighteen that pertained to the aforementioned retrospective and two that screened in the official program.
The initiative came from the director of Visions du Réel, Luciano Barisone, who is an admirer of Lithuanian cinema, and especially of Audrius Stonys.
“The relationship with Lithuania is a relationship with Audrius Stonys who is a filmmaker I have liked for a long time; he is a filmmaker who has always underlined the importance of the invisible which is, for me, a fundamental notion of cinema. What is often interesting in Film is not what appears on screen but rather what does not. And so, the work that Stonys does in that regard is essential… And, I like Lithuania because it is a country of extreme contrasts. It is the last country to have been Christianized, so there is an immense influence of paganism and paganism brings a notion of magic and nature. So, there is the rational world of Man and the magical world of nature, together,” Barisone stated.
Stonys’ films "Fedia: Three Minutes After the Big Bang" (1999), "Alone" (2001), "Ramin" (2011) and Cenotaph (2013) were previously screened at Visions du Réel but his works have never been showcased on a similar scale at the festival before. So, according to Barisone, it was the right time to present a full retrospective. For the occasion, the Lithuanian Film Centre commissioned the restoration of the copies of "Open the Door to Him Who Comes" (1989), "Baltic Way" (1990) and "Harbor" (1998) while the restoration of the remaining two copies was done by Meno Avilys, an Ngo based in Vilnius, Lithuania that specializes in the area of film education and film preservation. In total, five new digital copies – previously unseen – were presented at Visions du Réel. “It was kind of an obvious choice,” said Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson, the head of the department of Film Promotion, Information and Heritage of the Lithuanian Film Centre, who supports the restoration of old copies of Lithuanian films “I see the benefit. There are a lot of fantastic films that we would like to restore, especially those made since 1991 because it was kind of a chaotic time when it comes to film heritage. There was no film center at the time and a lot of copies were nearly or totally destroyed. And, with a limited budget we have to be very focused on which part we take now and help restore it,” she noted.
The retrospective was introduced by Audrius Stonys himself and Arūnas Matelis who has collaborated on and produced several of his films. The director also held a masterclass during the festival. Mentored by Henrikas Šablevičius, Audrius Stonys is considered one of the most creative, accomplished and productive Lithuanian filmmakers. His works are often attributed to the genre of poetic documentary and according to him, his films aim to preserve fading dreams. Stonys’ career began in 1989 and he has produced over twenty documentaries since, most of which have won awards at various festivals. In 1992, his film "Earth of the Blind" received the European Film Award for Best Documentary of the Year from the European Film Academy.
As far as the other Lithuanian films that screened at the festival are concerned, Visions du Réel also held the world premiere of "I’m Not from Here" by Giedrė Žickytė and Maite Alberdi, a coproduction between Lithuania, Denmark and Chile. The film’s development started in 2013 at the Dox:lab workshop of Cph:dox. It is the first result of the cooperation between the Lithuanian Film Centre and the Copenhagen festival. "I’m Not from Here" tells the story of Josebe, an elderly Basque woman from San Sebastián who resides at a retirement home in Santiago de Chile. Everyday she believes that this is the first day of her visit at the home, and everyday she struggles to realize it is not – as well as the fact that she is no longer living in her homeland with her family. The film won the Sesterce d’Or – Fondation Goblet for Best Short Documentary Film. “It's very nice to receive this kind of news because we invested in this film, we developed this project within the Dox:lab at the Cph:dox festival. It was the first edition when we entered the network and became member and Giedrė Žickytė was selected as the first young filmmaker from Lithuania to be connected with filmmakers from other countries other than Europe. I was at the world premiere and I could see well invested money and the audience reacted in a very nice way,” Ruokytė-Jonsson commented.
Mantas Kvedaravičius’ film "Mariupol" was selected in the “Regard Neuf” section of the festival. It had its world premiere at the Berlinale in the “Panorama – Dokument” program. "Mariupol" is an essay about the industrial port in the Donetsk Region in Ukraine. The everyday life depicted in the film is framed by the constant anticipation and proximity of war.
Visions du Réel has always kept a keen eye on Lithuanian films. In the past, the festival featured works of other Lithuanian filmmakers such as "Barzakh" by Mantas Kvedaravičius (2011) and "Father" by Marat Sargsyan (2013). “Visions du Réel has been keeping an eye on Lithuanian documentaries because Lithuanian documentaries are strong. We are strong in documentaries first of all… Henrikas Šablevičius, the father of poetic documentary, is an idol for young filmmakers like Stonys. There is a school created in Lithuania and that's why the tradition continues. And, you don't need many resources to make good films, especially in terms of poetic documentary films. I mean, his filmmaking kind of aims to restore or preserve dreams from fading as he always says and it's this tradition or view on reality and reflection of reality that makes sense to younger generations who are inspired by filmmakers like Audrius Stonys and Henrikas Šablevičius”, observed Ruokytė-Jonsson.
In terms of potential coproductions between Switzerland and Lithuania, there is none yet in the works but Ruokytė-Jonsson is confident that it will happen sooner or later: “It will come in time, in a natural way. If two creative people want to coproduce, nobody can stop them – no funds, no structure, no policies can stop them,” she added, hoping that one day, the Baltic countries will be in focus at Visions du Réel, just like Chile was this year, “that would be really fantastic because all three Baltic countries have strong documentary film traditions and it's a good idea...” Ruokytė-Jonsson admitted.
This is not the first time Lithuania was the focus country at a film festival. Indeed, last year, the T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival and the Krakow Film Festival both had a focus on the Baltic country. And, it will most certainly not be the last as the next focus on Lithuania will be at the upcoming Transilvania International Film Festival (unspooling from 27/05 to 05/06 2016) that will consist of thirteen films and will include classics, three films by Šarunas Bartas as well as contemporary documentaries and features. And, after that, the focus will move on to the Molodist International Film Festival in Kiev, Ukraine.
The presentation of Audrius Stonys’ retrospective and the films "I’m Not from Here" and "Mariupol" was supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre.
- 5/24/2016
- by Tara Karajica
- Sydney's Buzz
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