Lithuanian and Central European Cinema of the 1960S Anna Mikonis-Railien

234 varia History and Symbols: Lithuanian and Central European Cinema of the 1960s anna mikonis-railien []Central Europe is not a state: it is a culture or important part of national culture that is deeply a fate. Its borders are imaginary. embedded in the collective consciousness, and Milan Kundera, 1984 the new wave of Czechoslovakian fi lm grew out of a cinema with strong national traditions, as Introduction Jan Žalman writes,[] Lithuanian cinema has It is not an easy task to write about Lithuani- not become an important part of cultural and an cinema of the 1960s. Cinema, having the sta- national consciousness or the subject of serious tus of an offi cial art and unable to fully function refl ection among society at large. Th e evaluation in underground conditions, found itself in an of Lithuanian cinema is greatly infl uenced by unenviable position. Th e ideological pressure its history. Lithuanian cinema, which essentially that Lithuanian cinema was under during the did not exist during the interwar period, talked Soviet period has been an infl uential factor as with the voice of a totally foreign ideology aft er to why important and signifi cant works on Lith- Lithuania was incorporated into the USSR. Th e uanian cinematography have yet to be written new Soviet government “brought in” the new and have failed to receive their deserved place art of cinema.[] Also lacking is a closer look in Lithuanian culture. Th e politically-motivated at Lithuanian cinema from the internal view- context of Soviet cinema does not allow Lithua- point of Lithuanian national cinematography. nian cultural historians the chance to examine During the Soviet period, Lithuanian cinema this period of cinema on a deeper level. While developed as a product of Soviet cinema, closely the Polish school of cinema is understood as an watched by Soviet critics and censors in Mos- cow. As Dina Iordanova has remarked: [1] Th is research was completed as part of the project Th e Lithuanian cinema (1956-1990). Crea- […] the study of Soviet cinema has been more or tors. Films. Contexts, carried out by the Vilnius less reduced to the study of Russian cinema, which University and funded by the European Social scholars almost exclusively treat as synonymous Fund under the Global Grant measure (Grant No. with Soviet cinema. It is extremely rare to see wri- VP1-3.1-SMM-07-K-02-019). ting on the cinemas of Ukraine, Belarus, the repub- [2] J. Žalman, Films and Filmmakers in Czechoslo- lics in the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan) vakia, Prague 1968, p. 9. or the Baltics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia). Where [3] Th e fi rst Lithuanian feature fi lm Sunrise Near do these cinemas belong today one wonders? Th ey the Nemunas (Aušra prie Nemuno, 1953) was are left in a sort of vacuum – the Russian specialists made by Soviet director Aleksandr Faintsimmer. are no longer interested in them, and scholars of Th is propaganda fi lm with an anti-religious ‘Eastern Europe’, that other periphery of Russian theme talked about the collectivization of a Lith- infl uence, think they are in the ‘realm’ of the Soviet uanian village. Th e fi lm was not well-received by specialists.[ ] the general public. Th is circumstance seemed to Lithuanian cinema is researched and written throw an ideological shadow on the entirety of about from the viewpoint of this historical-cul- future Lithuanian fi lms. [4] D. Iordanova, Cinema of the Other Europe: tural context of Soviet cinema. But if we would Th e Industry and Artistry of East Central Europe- touch down from this bird’s eye view and take an Film, London, New York 2003, p. 14. a closer look at the reality, we would see that IImagesmages XXVIVI - rrewizja.inddewizja.indd 223434 22015-09-07015-09-07 111:54:291:54:29 varia 235 Lithuanian cinema is markedly diff erent from ma will provide context for discussing Lithua- Soviet cinematography. As Bjorn Ingvoldstad nian cinematic works. In analyzing Lithuani- states, despite Soviet occupation, Lithuanian an cinema, I will focus attention on the most cinema existed, was made, and showed various representative fi lms of the 1960s. I will discuss aspects unique to it, though Lithuania did not in greater detail the most important and inter- exist as a state.[] However, the nation and its esting fi lms that garnered international recog- culture did exist, though it was in the structure nition: the cycle of short stories entitled Living of a foreign empire. Lithuanian cinema, chained Heroes/Gyvieji didvyriai, the artistic director of to an ideological doctrine, as I will attempt to which was Vytautas Žalakevičius, along with show, was strongly tied to cinematic ideas from his epic work Nobody Wanted to Die/Niekas ne- another part of Europe. No doubt this relatively norėjo mirti. I will also mention fi lms impacted small-scale cinematography, under the watch- by censorship (for example, Feelings/Jausmai ful eye of Moscow and almost unknown be- directed by Almantas Grikevičius and Algirdas yond the borders of the Soviet Union, could Dausa.) or fi lms that are well-known only to not make an impact on European cinema at Lithuanian audiences (A Staircase to the Sky/ the time; however, it adopted much from the Laiptai į dangų directed by Raimondas Vabalas). trends that were dominant at the time. We can What was Lithuanian cinema like when it appreciate the Lithuanian fi lms made in the was locked in the clutches of ideological cen- 1960s as a unique phenomenon, the essence sorship? What themes did it examine? Despite of which is comprised of unique, artistic and censorship, did it achieve the same level as the cultural traditions together with the necessary cinema of the Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians context of a national history, culture, and men- during the same period? We will attempt to tality permeated with the artistic traditions of answer these questions. European cinema. Th is text discusses the most creative period A new generation of fi lmmakers – of Lithuanian cinema: the 1960s. Th is analysis infl uences or inspirations?[] is an attempt to frame the historical, artistic, One could say that one common trait of and thematic changes in Lithuanian cinema 1960s European cinema was the debut of works within the context of the changes that occurred from young talented directors during almost in Polish, Hungarian, and Czech cinema during the 1960s. Revealing the strength of the cine- [5] B. Ingvoldstad, „Th e Paradox of Lithuanian matic infl uence of the neighbouring countries National Cinema“, [in:] Via Transversa: Lost of Central Europe allows us to show the ex- Cinema of the Former Eastern Bloc, Place and ceptional nature of Lithuanian cinema in the Location: Studies in Environmental Aesthetics and Semiotics VII , ed. Eva Näripea, Andreas Trossek context of the policy on the arts in the Soviet 2008, pp. 137–154. Union. Th e cinematographic context of Central [6] A.J. Liehm, Th e Polititics of Culture, trans. European countries provides an opportnity to P. Kussi, New York 1973, p. 171. look at 1960s Lithuanian cinema from another [7] Th is text will not look at the national cine- perspective. As Antonin Liehm has remarked, matographic infl uence of the Soviet Union on “whenever an aesthetic viewpoint is dictated 1960s Lithuanian fi lm. Without a doubt, the from above, the only way to step out of this Georgian, Ukrainian and Russian New Wave circle is by means of a diff erent aesthetic view- of the 1960s had a certain eff ect on the work of Lithuanian directors. However, this is an entirely point […]”.[ ] diff erent topic. One should note that today, the Th e themes of Lithuanian feature fi lms and term “Soviet fi lm” demands new theoretical con- the unique aspects of its cinematic language, as siderations because this concept in essence was well as some of the fi lms from the new wave in artifi cial, and of a political nature, and the cen- Polish, Czechoslovakian, and Hungarian cine- tralised cinematographic policy strove to strongly IImagesmages XXVIVI - rrewizja.inddewizja.indd 223535 22015-09-07015-09-07 111:54:291:54:29 236 varia the same period. Th ese young directors had connected to political changes. A turning point successful starts not only in countries with occurred in 1956 when Nikita Khrushchev gave long-standing cinema traditions like France, a speech denouncing the crimes of the Stalin England and Italy, but also in Central and East- regime at the 20th Congress of the Communist ern European countries. A series of talented Party of the Soviet Union. It was not yet a real directors arose in Polish, Czechoslovakian, and thaw, the name of which was provided by Ilya Hungarian cinema who earlier did not have Erenburg’s book; however, it was already pos- any opportunities to make their debut. Th e sible to see change. Th e denouncing of the Sta- fermentation of artistic groups was started by lin myth, the beginning of the Khrushchev era, the Polish fi lm school, and aft erwards was con- and the decisions of the 20th Party Congress tinued by the Czechoslovakian and Hungari- also had an impact on Central Europe. Th e an New Wave. A new generation of directors political thaw and attempts to reject Socialist also debuted in Lithuanian cinema. Th e new Realism principles in art led to new phenome- fi lm movements, with Lithuanian fi lm among na appearing in the cinematography of Poland, them, expressed the goal of a new generation Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Lithuania, with of freedom and important aesthetic changes in fi lm directors urging people to look deeper into terms of the dominant traditions.

Load more