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
For the first time in Academy Award history, 71 countries are vying for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The submissions for 2012 include director Michael Haneke’s Amour, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival; France’s global box office sensation The Intouchables; and Nairobi Half Life, the first film ever submitted by Kenya. Check out the full list below:
Afghanistan: The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi, director
Albania: Pharmakon, Joni Shanaj, director
Algeria: Zabana!, Said Ould Khelifa, director
Argentina: Clandestine Childhood, Benjamín Ávila, director
Armenia: If Only Everyone, Natalia Belyauskene, director
Australia: Lore, Cate Shortland, director
Austria: Amour,...
Afghanistan: The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi, director
Albania: Pharmakon, Joni Shanaj, director
Algeria: Zabana!, Said Ould Khelifa, director
Argentina: Clandestine Childhood, Benjamín Ávila, director
Armenia: If Only Everyone, Natalia Belyauskene, director
Australia: Lore, Cate Shortland, director
Austria: Amour,...
- 10/8/2012
- by Adam B. Vary
- EW - Inside Movies
The Oscar season is almost upon us, and the submissions list is in for the Best Foreign Language Film category, featuring a record 71 entries, including the first submission from Kenya.
Last year, Iran’s Asghar Farhadi came away with the top prize for his acclaimed film, A Separation, and the year before, it was Denmark’s Susanne Bier with her In a Better World.
This year, there are already a handful of strong contenders amongst the pack, most notably Michael Haneke’s Amour, for Austria, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes; Olivier Nakache’s and Éric Toledano’s The Intouchables, for France, which has been breaking records at the global box office; Pablo Larráin’s No, for Chile, which also came away from Cannes with an award in hand; Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta, for South Korea, which took four awards at Venice, including (controversially) the Golden Lion; and...
Last year, Iran’s Asghar Farhadi came away with the top prize for his acclaimed film, A Separation, and the year before, it was Denmark’s Susanne Bier with her In a Better World.
This year, there are already a handful of strong contenders amongst the pack, most notably Michael Haneke’s Amour, for Austria, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes; Olivier Nakache’s and Éric Toledano’s The Intouchables, for France, which has been breaking records at the global box office; Pablo Larráin’s No, for Chile, which also came away from Cannes with an award in hand; Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta, for South Korea, which took four awards at Venice, including (controversially) the Golden Lion; and...
- 10/8/2012
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Intouchables
A record 71 countries, including first-time entrant Kenya, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. In May, Michael Haneke.s Amour (Love) won the Palme d.Or at the 65th Cannes Film Festival and was shown this past weekend at the 50th New York Film Festival. However the film I was happiest to see make the list below is from France – The Intouchables from directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. Check out our review Here.
In the Academy’s rules, only one picture will be accepted from each country. Plus the Academy Statuette (Oscar) will be awarded to the motion picture and accepted by the director on behalf of the picture.s creative talents. Ultimately five foreign language motion pictures are nominated for this award.
Director/writer Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation from Iran won the Oscar for the Best...
A record 71 countries, including first-time entrant Kenya, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. In May, Michael Haneke.s Amour (Love) won the Palme d.Or at the 65th Cannes Film Festival and was shown this past weekend at the 50th New York Film Festival. However the film I was happiest to see make the list below is from France – The Intouchables from directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. Check out our review Here.
In the Academy’s rules, only one picture will be accepted from each country. Plus the Academy Statuette (Oscar) will be awarded to the motion picture and accepted by the director on behalf of the picture.s creative talents. Ultimately five foreign language motion pictures are nominated for this award.
Director/writer Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation from Iran won the Oscar for the Best...
- 10/8/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Update: The official list has been revealed and the total is a record 71 movies. I have updated the list directly below or you can check it out here. The original article follows. I have been tracking the Oscar Foreign Language submissions again this year, as I have for the past several years, and it looks like we finally have a full field as I expect we will be seeing an official press release from the Academy some time this week. This year we have five more submissions already over last year as the total has now reached 68 submissions compared to last year's 63. This, despite, Iran boycotting the Oscars this year due to the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked so much controversy as of late. To reach the total of 68 films I have just finished adding 16 more titles to the list from the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina,...
- 10/7/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
I have been tracking the Oscar Foreign Language submissions again this year, as I have for the past several years, and it looks like we finally have a full field as I expect we will be seeing an official press release from the Academy some time this week. This year we have five more submissions already over last year as the total has now reached 68 submissions compared to last year's 63. This, despite, Iran boycotting the Oscars this year due to the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked so much controversy as of late. To reach the total of 68 films I have just finished adding 16 more titles to the list from the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, China, Georgia, Greenland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and Uruguay. To siphon out front-runners is never easy in this category, though there are a few that stick out immediately.
- 10/7/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
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