Baltic Sea Docs/ Stonys & Sautkin & Niewiera

There were many new talents at the Baltic Sea Docs – and there were filmmakers, who have been awarded many times for their works. Audrius Stonys is one of them. He was a new talent, when the Baltic Sea Docs started, the Forum it was called at that time, the 1990és, when it took place on the island of Bornholm in the middle of the Baltic Sea. Now, here in Riga, he came with a project that is going to be produced by his daughter, Marija! “Bright of the Invisible” is the title and let me quote Audrius from the catalogue:

… a meditation on faith, doubt, and the search for sacredness in a disencharted world. It invites the viewer to pause and consider whether the presence of God might still dwell among us – not in miracles, but in the humble grace of ordinary people…

When Audrius came to Bornholm, he showed excellent short documentaries like “Antigravitation”. I suggested him to go back to this format before making the feature that he pitched here in Riga. A great trailer indeed.

Ivan Sautkin is the Ukrainian filmmaker who made “A Poem for Litlle People”, that I reviewed here on this site concluding “…a rich and beautiful film in the fragmented way it is made – Sautkin is the cinematographer himself I understand – with the way it embraces those who help and those who are helped. And its audience.”

“DNA of the Nation” is the film that he pitched here in Riga with two young female producers, Ukrainian Ivanna Khitsinska and Lithuanian Ringailé Lešcinskiené. It features the “father of the Nation”, the poet Taras Shevchenko, who lived in the 19th century, same decades as Hans Christian Andersen, and it involves the story of a man, who is willing to take a DNA test to prove that he is “a direct descendant” of Shevchenko. On the photo you see a woman looking in cards telling us that the film will be a success! Yes, we want a new cinematic embracement!

Niewiera with the first name Elwira will be known by readers of this site – for “The Prince and the Dybbuk”, that opened the Magnificent7 Festival back in 2018, and for “The Hamlet Syndrome”, both films praised for their artistic quality and the latter for its actuality. Here Elwira came to pitch “Women and War” introducing three Ukrainian women, survivors of captivity, torture and sexual violence – now undergoing therapy… Needless to say more

BUT claiming that Elwira Niewiera is a HERO. This morning she told me and my wife, we follow her on FB, that she has collected 1 million Euros in connection with the screenings of “The Hamlet Syndrome”, to help the Ukrainians with material etc., for the paramedics in the war. Amazing. A great filmmaker and an activist.