Vilnius Mon Amour
I am in love with that city. After years away I came back for three days in the Lithuanian capital. It was indeed a lovely re-visit. I have been there so many times but it has been a while ago. I was there invited by Giedrė Beinoriūtė, filmmaker and teacher at the film school, and like me, I found out, franchophile, so we said bonjour and merci and bonne nuit and talked films – also for that reason I chose the headline of this homage to a visit and (some of) its citizens.
There IS a special atmosphere in Vilnius. Spiritual. You feel it when you walk in the old city on the cobblestones. Wherever you turn your head there is a church that catches your eyes. And wherever you walk you can be sure that there is a courtyard. Next to my hotel in the narrow street there are a couple of courtyards, that I entered – small houses where people live, where laundry is being dried in the sun, where potted plants are being watered quite often, I guess as the wind has its strong and cool moments, at least the days I was there. And the Literatu Street with the Saint Germain Restaurant and the art works on the wall. I was having a vermouth outside with Audrius Stonys, who picked me up in the airport. A film director who deserves his international recognition. Happy to have known him since the early 1990’es, when he came to the island of Bornholm for the Balticum Film & TV Festival together with his pal Arunas Matelis. They were the young talents from Lithuania and came to the island with their teacher, legendary Henrikas Sablevicius. Now they are the veterans, teaching, directing and producing.
I also met Arunas in Vilnius, in the “independent republic” of Užupis, at the square with the angel. We had a beer in the famous bohemian bar and passed the courtyard, where Arunas shot his masterpiece “Ten Minutes Before the Flight of Icarus” in 1990. It has not changed! Arunas used to tell me that he was the unofficial minister of foreign affairs at the Republic! Well he has co-produced several Southern European documentaries and the Giro d’Italia film “Wonderful Losers” (with late Danish cyclist Chris Anker Sørensen on the poster). They all show his humanistic approach to filmmaking.
Back to Audrius who has described the filmmaking tradition in Lithuania in this way: ““What is called the poetic school of Lithuanian documentary “…created an independent world, free from Soviet ideology, lie and propaganda. It was a declaration of inner freedom. The black and white world of poetic documentary films was full of colours. Sadness was full of joy. And joy was touched by deep existential sadness. These films reminded us about what is Cinema—to film and to enjoy the beauty of the leaves, moving in the wind.”
“Bridges of Time” that Audrius made with Latvian Kristine Briede documents this Baltic Poetic Cinema and younger filmmakers than Audrius and Arunas represent fully the continuation like (SEE PHOTO) my host Giedrė Beinoriūtė and Aiste Zegulyte. Giedre’s last film “On Sacred and Profane” is traveling as is Aiste’s “Holy Destructors”. Poetic humanistic interpretations of reality.
I was sitting on a bench in the morning in Vilnius the other day. Quiet life, some having a coffee in a café, people on their way to work, kids hand in hand with mum or dad, or grandmother or grandfather, no drama, pure calm everyday life…
Will it stay like that?
I was invited by Giedre to talk to students from the DocNomadsPlus programme, to give back to their pitching including small trailers/teasers/clips. The theme given to them was Love/AMOUR and I was shocked that several of the students, coming from all over the world, felt that something was happening among people in Vilnius and beyond… in their minds… they were prepared… a war could be just around the corner. Belarus and Russia are neighbours. By the way, the projects presented were all of quality and actual, the panelists (PHOTO) expressed that they were impressed.
Yes, not everything is in order in Lithuania, to say the least. Yesterday it was like this, taken from FB:
“Around 30,000 people gathered in Cathedral Square in Vilnius on Saturday in defence of free speech. Demonstrators turned their anger on both the ruling Social Democrats and President Gitanas Nausėda over proposed changes to the law governing Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT.”
Talking to the filmmakers I met in wonderful Vilnius, they had nothing positive to say about the government and the president… Pro-Russia, right wing…
They have a beautiful film tradition in Lithuania, they adore literature and music, art in general and there is a good support system but if politicians put in their own people to run the institutions, it could end up like in Georgia or Hungary. Hopefully that will change after Orban is away from power.
We want to continue to enjoy the beauty of the leaves, moving in the wind.
Photo: Vilnius! Wonderful Vilnius! Arranged by Giedre B. To the right. Panelists of a pitching session of DocNomadsPlus : Audrius Stonys, Linas Mikuta, Aiste Zegulyte, and me.
