Classic Lithuanian Films 1957-1990
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Digitized and Restored CLASSIC LITHUANIAN FILMS 1957-1990 1 CONTENT 1957 BLUE HORIZON 4 1959 ADAM WANTS TO BE A MAN 5 1959 THE LIVING HEROES 6 1964 MARCH, MARCH! TRA-TA-TA! 7 1964 THE GIRL AND THE ECHO 8 Lithuanian Film Centre works 1966 STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN 9 consistently to digitize and restore the 1966 NOBODY WANTED TO DIE 10 heritage of Lithuanian classical cinema 1968 FEELINGS 11 for preservation and public access, 1969 THE BEAUTY 12 providing distribution of these films 1971 THE SMALL CONFESSION 13 nationally and abroad. All presented 1972 NORTHERN CRUSADES 14 restored films are available in DCP 1974 THE DEVIL’S BRIDE 15 format. 1974 SADUTO TUTO 16 1978 WALNUT BREAD 17 1980 FACT 18 1981 SUMMER ENDS IN FALL 19 CONTACT: 1983 FLIGHT OVER THE ATLANTIC 20 1983 WOMAN AND HER FOUR MEN 21 Dovilė Butnoriūtė Head of Department of Film Promotion, 1988 I NO LONGER REMEMBER YOUR FACE 22 Information and Heritage 1989 OPEN THE DOOR TO HIM WHO COMES 23 [email protected] 1990 CHILDREN FROM THE HOTEL “AMERICA” 24 www.lkc.lt 1990 BALTIC WAY 25 2 3 1957 1959 BLUE HORIZON ADAM WANTS TO BE A MAN Žydrasis horizontas Adomas nori būti žmogumi Directed by Vytautas Mikalauskas Directed by Vytautas Žalakevičius 70’ / Lithuanian Film Studio 87’ / Lithuanian Film Studio Original version: Lithuanian Original version: Lithuanian Subtitles: English, Russian Subtitles: English, French, Polish Genre: Adventure Genre: Drama Written by Romualdas Lankauskas Written by Vytautas Sirijos Gira, Vytautas Žalakevičius Cinematography by Algimantas Mockus Cinematography by Algimantas Mockus Music by Eduardas Balsys Music by Eduardas Balsys Cast: Jonas Sutkus, Vakaris Lopas, Vytautas Buizys, Eustachijus Cast: Vytautas Puodžiukaitis, Audronė Bajerčiūtė, Juozas Miltinis, Stasys Aukštikalnis, Romas Lietuvaitis, Napoleonas Bernotas, Zuzana Petronaitis, Valerijonas Derkintis, Vaclovas Blėdis, Donatas Banionis Masiulevičiūtė, Bronė Kurmytė, Gražina Balandytė, Elena Jackutė, Juozas Jaruševičius In a pre-WWII Lithuanian town, occupied with unemployed workers and crooks of various kinds, lives Adam, a naive young man with no job and a Two friends-boys Vitukas and Saulius decided to run to the sea and lot of dreams. His closest friend is the Captain, an old sea wolf with many become brave sailors. Rascal and swindler Tiburtius, hoping to make good tales to tell about Singapore, Hawaii and other equally exotic and sunny money on this matter, offered them his help, introducing himself as an “old places. Inspired by his stories, Adam manages to get a job in an emigration sea wolf”. Telling the parents that they are going to relatives, the boys go bureau and starts saving for his ticket to leave abroad. on the road. 1959 – “Great Amber” prize at 1st Baltic and Belarus Film Festival 1960 – Second prize for Cinematography and Set Design at the All-Union Film Festival 4 5 1959 1964 THE LIVING HEROES MARCH! MARCH! TRA-TA-TA! Gyvieji didvyriai Marš! Marš! Tra-ta-ta! Directed by Arūnas Žebriūnas, Balys Bratkauskas, Directed by Raimondas Vabalas Vytautas Žalakevičius, Marijonas Giedrys 78’ / Lithuanian Film Studio 80’ / Lithuanian Film Studio Original version: Lithuanian Subtitles: English Original version: Lithuanian Genre: Political satire Subtitles: English Genre: Drama Written by Raimondas Vabalas, Grigorijus Kanovičius, Ilja Rud-Gercovskis Cinematography by Donatas Pečiūra Written by Marijonas Giedrys, Vytautas Žalakevičius, Algimantas Music by Benjaminas Gorbulskis Čekuolis, Henrikas Šablevičius Cast: Leonas Stanevičius, Valdemaras Jatautis, Birutė Žebaitė, Donatas Cinematography by Donatas Pečiūra, Robertas Verba, Algirdas Araminas, Banionis, Raimondas Vabalas, Henrika Hokušaitė Viktoras Kriaunevičius, Jonas Gricius, Algimantas Mockus, Algirdas Šimkus Music by Eduardas Balsys The openly conditional satire of pre-war militarization of Lithuania and the Cast: Eduardas Čepulis, Regina Zdanavičiūtė, Kazimieras Vitkus, Nijolė first coloured film from our country. Narijauskaitė, Nerijus Narkis, Vytautas Buizys, Gediminas Pauliukaitis, In two neighbour enemy countries Centia and Groshia lives Zigmas and Balys Bratkauskas, Živilė Jakelaitytė, Bronius Babkauskas, Leonidas Jadzė, who truly loves each other. They are secretly going on dates, as Milašauskas, Valentinas Taujanskas, Antanas Gabrėnas, Steponas the identical border guards let them pass. One morning major of Groshia Kosmauskas, Vladas Jurkūnas Varnalėša accidently falls in a sewer hole, he then points to Zigmas and Jazdė as the guilty ones. This accident becomes pretext for yet another Four novels, portraying kids in different Lithuania’s epochs: before the war, war conflict between Centia and Groshia. during the war, after the war and 50s. From the little Juozukas is forced to go to work to the neighbourhood farmers we move to the little Laima, who lives by the lake and suddenly meets a soldier. 1960 – “Great Amber” prize at 2nd Baltic and Belarus Film Festival 1960 – FIRESCI prize at the XII International Karlovy Vary Festival 6 7 1964 1966 THE GIRL AND THE ECHO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN Paskutinė atostogų diena Laiptai į dangų Directed by Arūnas Žebriūnas Directed by Raimondas Vabalas 58’ / Lithuanian Film Studio 96’ / Lithuanian Film Studio Original version: Lithuanian Original version: Lithuanian French Distributor: Subtitles: English Subtitles: English, French ED Distribution / [email protected] Genre: Drama Genre: Drama Written by Jurijus Nagibinas, Anatolijus Čerčenko, Arūnas Žebriūnas Written by Raimondas Vabalas, Mykolas Sluckis Cinematography by Jonas Gricius Cinematography by Jonas Gricius Music by Algimantas Bražinskas Music by Vytautas Barkauskas Cast: Lina Braknytė, Valerijus Zubarevas, Bronius Babkauskas, Kalju Karmas Cast: Gražina Balandytė, Balys Barauskas, Aleksas Jonikas, Vaclovas Blėdis, Irena Garasimavičiūtė, Mamertas Karklelis, Laimonas Noreika, Eugenija The story revolves around Vika, a dreamy girl on vacation (hence the Pleškytė, Henrikas Kurauskas, Rolandas Butkevičius other title) who loves the sea, mountains and echoes, and does not want to fit in with local kids, and Romas, a boy also on vacation, who does Based on the Mykolas Sluckis’ novel, the film tells the story of a dramatic want to fit in, but cannot. The boy becomes her confidant and their and painful reality of the post-war Lithuania. Starting with young couple friendship blossoms, but then she is harassed by bullies and the boy walking in ruins of Vilnius oldtown, action moves in the village Žvirbliūnai. doesn’t muster up courage to stand to her, which ruins their relationship Ramunės Indriūnaitės family is in tense situation – Ramunė’s father Petras forever. is hiding her brother from partisans and from Soviet militia. Young writer Jaunius follows Ramunė to her hometown, what he finds there disturbs him deeply. Raimondas Vabalas creates multi-layered characters and conveys 1965 – Special Prize of the Jury of the XVIII Locarno International Film Festival atmosphere full of fear and disappointment. “Majority’s Silver Sail” 1965 – Grand Prize at the 6th Cannes International Youth Film Festival 1965 – Prize for Directing and Cinematography and Set Design at V Baltic, 1967 – “Great Amber” prize at VIII Baltic, Belarus and Moldova Film Festival Belarus and Moldova Film Festiv * Photo from the archive of The Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum * Photo from the archive of The Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum 8 9 1966 1968 NOBODY WANTED TO DIE FEELINGS Niekas nenorėjo mirti Jausmai Directed by Vytautas Žalakevičius Directed by Algirdas Dausa, Almantas Grikevičius 107’ / Lithuanian Film Studio 90’ / Lithuanian Film Studio Original version: Lithuanian Original version: Lithuanian Subtitles: English, French, Polish Subtitles: English, French, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian Genre: Drama Genre: Drama Written by Vytautas Žalakevičius Written by Vytautas Žalakevičius Cinematography by Jonas Gricius Cinematography by Jonas Tomaševičius Music by Algimantas Apanavičius Music by Vytautas Barkauskas Cast: Kazimieras Vitkus, Regimantas Adomaitis, Juozas Budraitis, Bruno Cast: Regimantas Adomaitis, Juozas Budraitis, Regina Paliukaitytė, Eugenija Oja, Donatas Banionis, Algimantas Masiulis, Vija Artmanė, Eugenija Šulgaitė Bajorytė, Bronius Babkauskas, Laimonas Noreika, Algimantas Masiulis Dramatic post-war situation in a small Lithuanian village community, whose Film, based on a story by Latvian novelist Egons Līvs, focuses on the members are divided: some support the Soviet government while others back resolve of a human being and the whole Lithuanian nation in the face of the partisans fighting against the new regime. The film shows each character’s cataclysmic events to find the time and room for simple emotions. Film desire to survive and secure safe and peaceful life. It is a story of revenge: the depicts a chaotic period through the relationship of the two brothers, head of the village council is killed by partisans and his sons decide to seek one dedicated to his family and conscience; the other dedicated to a justice. It is also about those who do not want to die: about lay people, who find political ideal. These divided brothers can be read as a representation of a themselves in a terrible fight for survival and have to choose whose side to take. country torn in two, of a history rudely divided. Lithuania has a history of occupation and the struggle to survive is as much personal as it is cultural. 1966 – “Great Amber” prize at VI Baltic, Belarus and Moldova Film Festival 1966 – Prize (III place) for the best male role for Donatas Banionis