Discoveries from Lithuania World Cinema

When she was younger, Zuzana thoughtlessly let her close friend Rokas take nude photos of her. Now she is married to a jealous husband, and her ex-boyfriend is blackmailing her with photos she had long since forgotten about.

Joseph paints the earth and the sky with no other ambition than to observe and to gain a better understanding of the landscape's visual structure. Shyly, the filmmaker follows her father in his work and in this so particular space which surrounds him.

This is an uncomplicated story about love. One creature on the Earth is telling his adventures and little troubles that he experiences on his way to the audience. He teaches people to enjoy everything, even a tiny drop of milk.

Animated short.

Walk in the forest: The search for mushrooms turns into a psychedelic trip for a young woman.

A visit to the cafe develops into a Dadaist parody of real socialist service.

Film about the visit of Lithuanian émigré poet Bernardas Brazdžionis to Lithuania in 1989. The poet travels across Lithuania, reciting his poetry at meetings with compatriots and speaking about life, the poet's mission, and creativity.

In a coastal climate, surrounded by pine trees, a creature strives to return to its origins. A private house in Jūrmala is an Eden set in horror, where shadows and lights create a visual poem reminiscent of a bedtime fairy tale by Hoffmann – under direction by Pakalne, it offers hope while carrying a warning.

All video poems included in the project PRVSLY RECRDED revolve around the notion that all life is “previously recorded” via inherited memory or biological encoding. The cycle of life (birth/death)—as well as the epigenetic scars inherited from ancestors’ fight-or-flight past—contribute to how we re-imagine/re-tell our narratives. Past poems (written) have now been deconstructed, re-arranged, and re-told as video poems. In the poem "1996", we hear the artist retell her journey to Lithuania as a 25-year-old graduate student—not a typical trip—as all "coincidences" in her journey seem to suggest she was being vetted as a mini diplomat or unofficial intelligence contact at the time. A trip to the borderland area of Kaliningrad, a conversation with the president, and some family secrets divulged resonate throughout the piece, causing the artist to ponder this suspicious series of events.

The title of the work derives from the term ‘aphotic zone’, also known as the ‘dark ocean’ – the depths of the ocean that are inaccessible to sunlight. In the summer of 2022, Škarnulytė premiered a video work by the same title for an exhibition in Venice. The one-off performance Aphotia at LNOBT personifies the term, combining aspects of nature, deity, human and animal, and providing a metaphorical seedbed for promiscuous forms of being to flourish. The theme at the heart of the performance – invisible worlds (depths of water and of (sub)consciousness) – continues the artist’s enduring field of interest while closely overlapping with the Biennial’s central topic of the city, seen from the perspective of a speculative future, in the face of climate change and rising water levels.

Great dreams are born and important battles broil in Elektenai Ice Palace, where the only Lithuanian female ice hockey team aspires to become strong and professional representatives of the country, despite their inner struggles and difficult circumstances.

A tiny classroom is a meeting point and a shelter for those who have come to Spain driven by the "European dream" to start a new life. Brought together by fate, these immigrants share disillusionment, alienation and yearn for a return home.

Mystical Lithuanian mythological fairies and the goddess Laima determine the fate of a newly born person. Sometimes it gives a person wealth, health, happiness, sometimes only misery, suffering, failures. Nothing can change Laima's destiny.

The film explores global issues. There is an allusion to the Berlin Wall, which is typified by a light tulle curtain with a dotted pattern of an atomic mushroom cloud which divides the area into two parts where different metamorphoses occur: a tulle curtain with concrete arches greets a poet, wraps a tank in a wedding veil, and turns into a barricade, canons and a place for ice fishing.

A self-filmed road movie about quest for lost faith. Jokubas Vilius Turas is in desperation to find strength and courage in himself to overcome hardships, frustration and self-destruction. On the dangerous and physically exhausting walk from Lithuania to Spain, he captures what is happening around and inside him on video.

Short and comical stories of plasticine people.

"Hot Čeburėkai, cold beer" -- is probably the best known slogan of illegal Lithuanian bussines. The slogan comes as a set together with the vacation at the seaside resorts for more than twenty years. But who are those young people selling čeburėkai at the seaside? How many of Čeburėkai one needs to buy to collect a kitten? How many of čeburėkai needs to be taken to the policemen at the hotel so that the next time he wouldn't chase you through the sand dunes? These questions will be answered by three old friends -"Čeburėkai sellers" - Sigis, Asta and Rokas. They will lead us to the secret world of Čeburėkai sellers, where it's hard to get and even more difficult to get out.

The film about the famous Lithuanian sculptor Dalia Matulaitė - the author of many decorative sculptures, monuments and small sculptures.

More than a hundred members of the Lithuanian film community have joined together in a voluntary film project "Letter to Ukraine", which aims to record what is happening in our country at this difficult time. The film focuses on a person close to the war: a passer-by, a protester, a volunteer, a medic, an artist.

He filmed her. They dreamt of living together between Bangladesh and Lithuania, making films together, opening a five-course restaurant and adopting orphans. Now he looks back on his life and his broken love affair.

A musical short film about shame, made at the "Dominykas" Film Camp.

Film explores the intricate relationship between mothers and daughters, offering solace to those who have felt alone despite their shared existence. Set against the backdrop of a brief homecoming, the film intimately captures the complexities of physicality and the challenges faced by daughters raised by fragile mothers. Through silent moments and heartfelt conversations, it unveils the unspoken longing and profound emotions that define this timeless bond, reminding us that love often finds its true expression in whispers.

A micro-opera based on the novel "The Glass Shroud" by American writer Sylvia Plath and biographical elements. A young girl, reflecting on society and her emotional state, begins to turn towards self-destruction

A story about the everyday life of five lonely friends filmed in an ironically grim documentary manner. Each of them has their own separate world of loneliness, but when they are together, they complement the company with their individual quirks. Having the same friends, they don't feel alone.

We follow Roberta's transition from youth to adulthood. It is an intimate portrait of a person who is floating in time and space, without finding purpose in life. She doesn't want to be bothered by society, but cannot deny that she's dependent on it.

A film about the unknown world of Horses.

KOK 109 in Vienna is a kickboxing event that took place on Saturday, 18 February, 2023 at the Eventhotel Pyramide in Vienna, Austria. The event is headlined by a KOK Middleweight title fight between Austrian Karim Mabrouk and Loic Njeya of Switzerland.

When picking up rubbish, one is plunged into memories of situations in which one felt helpless. Guilt overwhelms him.

Wacky zany ludicrous gameplay (Artistic endeavor)

Most girls are not satisfied by size or shape of their boobs. There is something shocking about this fact - Film narrator invites you to do an experiment and find it out by yourself.

This is a story about an orphan girl Alizava and her unfamiliar father, whose soul inhabits various things. In an abandoned mansion a childish ritual commences, erasing the line between the living and the dead. A silent dialogue between the girl and her father summons others. Who are they?

Animated film based on a poem by Justinas Marcinkevičius. A mighty army of mushrooms is ready to take over the forest. But aren’t they too small for the battle?

„Cycling Across Mongolia“ – is a documentary adventure film about six people cycling in the country, which has lowest population density on Earth. This country is immense and lies firmy within the top 20 biggest countries of the wolrd, by land mass, however, it only has 3 million people living in it. Cyclists had days, within this vast country, when they met noone. They arrived in the first town only on the third week of the trip. Cell connection?.. What cell connection?..

A music band was filmed in its sensitive change period before and after the creation of their second album.

With every moment – one more memory. But memory sometimes goes blind and what is left becomes hazy.

Vulkanovka is a poor village in Crimean steppe, as local people say, forgotten by God and by people. Nonetheless that place came very much alive when famous Lithuanian film director Sharunas Bartas crew stayed here for almost two years filming Seven Invisible Men. Most of local people helped filmmakers a good deal. But the Grand Cinema left and probably won’t come back. So the life of Vulkanovka returned to its usual routine. But it’s not for everyone. Film director Giedre Beinoriute with her crew came to Vulkanovka nine months later. In her documentary people speak about their “cinematographic” experience with great enthusiasm. They tell about how it was and how it was different from their earlier understanding about filmmaking. Different moods and people’s openness in the film are interwoven into daily life of Vulkanovka with its rituals of caws’ feeding, shopping in the only shop “Produkty”, collecting metal and other.

Combing is a meditative act leading to contemplation and introspection. It is an animated self-portrait sculpted in motion and time about memory and relationship with the other. Hair becomes a symbolic thread that connects past and present, memories and the current father-daughter relationship.

Urban Dance Theatre presents the performance-film inspired by Julio Cortázar’s vivid literary legacy.

Almost all Jews in South Africa originally came from Lithuania. As early as the 19th century, a handful of them reached the shores of South Africa. Those who made the trip became successful artists, entrepreneurs and activists, while those who stayed behind were massacred by Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators. The film explores how these bittersweet circumstances have constructed the identities of South African Litvaks. Personal recounts and anecdotes paint the tragedy of the Holocaust, hopes of a new life in South Africa, as well as unique bonds for the future. (Lithuanian Film Center)

There is probably no stronger, more desirable feeling than love. But why does it bring not only happiness, but also pain and dramatic experiences? This is the subject of the animated film Žilvinas and Eglė, based on the work of the same name by Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas.

After the 1941 Lithuanian deportations to Siberia, this is a story of a woman who grew up there and watched her parents struggle through the aftermath of the traumatic events.

In the last 7 years I lived in 5 countries, in 7 cities and in 16 homes. Now I only have three days to pack my things. It‘s my sixteenth home, sixteenth room from which I‘ll move myself out. I am packing things and through my window I see another 215 windows. Through these windows I see immigrants, couples, misfortunes. Some read, some play, some sleep, some learn to walk on the balance beam, they come in, they go out. I am filming so I wouldn‘t forget about them.

Ieva and Kasparas, sister and brother, are locked out of their home. Their mother has shut the door from the inside and is out of reach. The older sister Dovilė is their last hope, but even with her being there, there’s nothing they can do, but wait.

Albertas, a lift-operator, sits all day waiting for someone to ring the elevator. His wait transcends his sense of community and symbolism, a sign that someone needs him. The film, rife with surreal humor, is the documentary version of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Family drama about children's sexual education and its impact on children's lives.

About betrayal and revenge. A loving couple in the woods is suddenly caught by a runaway thief and his two companions. Some of the weird five will have to start a new life, some will stay in the dark woods forever.

Two brothers and their cousin are preparing an etude based on Lord Of The Rings. Patrik finds it hard to concentrate, Robert is teasing Demin and Demin himself is head over heels trying to explain the secrets of stage art to his younger relatives.

A documentary commemorating the 100th birthday of Czeslaw Milosz, the Nobel Prize-winning Polish-Lithuanian poet. Famous cultural figures, friends, and family retrace the life and work of this extraordinary thinker, joined by Milosz’s own words and a wealth of archival material. Born in a cross-border region of Lithuania in 1911, Milosz grew up a polyglot, fluent in Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, English, and French. During World War II he wrote for underground presses. Surviving Nazi rule, he went on to serve as a cultural attache of Poland in Paris. In 1951, he defected to the West and wrote his most famous prose work, The Captive Mind. By 1960, Milosz had emigrated to the U.S. to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, Milosz returned to Poland, where he passed away in 2004 at the age of 93. This film is a lyrical reflection on a life spent in exile yet filled with humor, passion, and big ideas that often went against the spirit of the age.

A middle-aged woman arrives at a hotel where important events from her past took place. The visit takes an unexpected turn when she meets a young man.

Her love tells about gerontophilic relations, all of which was not allowed in Soviet professional movies.

The fifth episode of the sports documentary series follows Saulius Ambrulevičius and Allison Reed on their incredibly challenging journey toward their dream of competing in the Winter Olympics. From mastering difficult spins to selecting costumes, music, and training with some of the world’s top figure skating coaches.

A lighthouse is looking for its new keeper. As Fred and Aphrodite apply for the position, they face unexpected challenges and secrets.