KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE. SEPTEMBER 2018

KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE

Screen

Illustration by Žvėrūna

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Behind the scenes: “Tokyo Trial” in the National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art. Photo by Artūras Bulota

In terms of film, Kaunas has been disadvantaged for quite some time. Lithuanian film studio was founded in Vilnius, right after the war. After the restoration of independence, this art and industry had entered a new stage in the capital. Vilnius had Skalvija and later on Pasaka film theatres but Kaunas residents had to fight hard shady investors over the last real film bastion Romuva.

They succeeded - we had already mentioned it in the interview with an architect and sound artist Darius Čiuta in one of the previous issues.

Tsss, the screening is starting Currently, Romuva is being renovated, but the cinema team is screening films in a temporary film theatre near National Kaunas Drama Theatre.

Additional applause goes to project Lauko kinas (Outside cinema). This year‘s tropical weather contributed to its success. But the summer is already over and the screenings of the best last season‘s films are slowly replaced by long-awaited Lithuanian premieres and very thoroughly compiled festival “menus.” And there will be two of them in September: the 11th International Kaunas Film Festival that inspired the topic of this issue and Scanorama Film Forum event dedicated to historical film - First Wave.

Also, an exhibition about the person worthy of becoming the main character not only in the documentary but also a feature film - architect Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis will be opened in Kaunas and will run until November. It‘s an idea, for now,

not even a dream. But a film is a long process, a few years here and there - it doesn‘t matter. Maybe some ten years is exactly what‘s needed for all the archives to be thoroughly researched and the best possible script written about this important figure?

However, this issue is dedicated to specific film projects. The ones that have already been filmed in Kaunas and about Kaunas; those featuring Kaunas residents and those that are more academic rather than entertaining. The ones that start their second lives in blogs and those that are almost impossible to see.

So, tsss, we look at the screen, at different lives or lives of others in which we find refuge from our own and get inspired to change them. In September, October and the rest of the months.

And as we all hope, at the beginning of the next year at the renovated Kaunas Film Center Romuva.

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“Actually, the blog idea is not that original, I follow a couple of similar Instagram profiles. One of them is Filmtourismus. People travel around the world and photograph places in which the scenes of the world-famous films were filmed. And so, one day while in the shower (I get the best ideas while showering) I got an idea to record the places of Kaunas that have appeared in films. I had to team up with Teodoras Biliūnas, who is not only a Kaunas resident but also a photographer,” says Kristina Šilinytė. A Panevėžys native, who spoke about the birth of her new project, might be familiar to you from the brand Native LT - we featured its products in Merkurijus section. But now - let‘s talk about Kaunas in film. The couple reconstructs it by playing detectives - they watch a movie, pause the scenes filmed in Kaunas, print the frames and go look for them in the streets.

By the way, they take pictures with a smartphone.

The hardest task is to find the right angle, but for now, they are doing great.

Kaunas in film Gunars Bakšejevs Photos by Teodoras Biliūnas and Kristina Šilinytė

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“Adomas nori būti žmogumi“ (“Adam Wants to be a Man“), dir. Vytautas Žalakevičius, 1959

Both Teodoras and Kristina got acquainted with the beginning of Lithuanian film at Vytautas Magnus University, during their art history studies: film history was one of the subjects. However, Kaunas in Film project stems from the love for the city. “I had to watch the movies filmed in Kaunas more closely to find the frame-worthy scenes. One of the most fun discoveries during

this period of quests was the film Adam Wants to be a Man, director Vytautas Žalakevičius, 1959). It is hard to believe that it‘s a Lithuanian film. The cameraman‘s work is worth an applause. And although the interwar period in this film is not presented in the best light, you can really feel the aura of Smetona-time Kaunas,” Kristina suggests finding and watching the old film.

“Vaikai iš “Amerikos” viešbučio” (“The Children from the Hotel America”), dir. Raimundas Banionis, 1990

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“Vaikai iš “Amerikos” viešbučio” (“The Children from the Hotel America”), dir. Raimundas Banionis, 1990

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If you‘d restrict yourself to the old Lithuanian film only, the blog would soon be short of content. But Kaunas Old Town and streets also served as decorations to create a Western atmosphere in the works of Mosfilm.

“The most important scenes of the Invisible Man were filmed in Kaunas, in 1983. The film based on H. G. Wells‘ novel had to transfer the viewer to the 19th century England, and Kaunas was perfect for this journey through time.”

According to Kristina, the problem is that the quality of many old

films is miserable, therefore, not all of them can be used in an internet project of the 21st century. In addition to that - not all the buildings survived.

Is the creative team excited about the premieres of the latest movies filmed in Kaunas? Of course. Kristina and Teodoras are also waiting for Vienybės Square to be renovated, so they could capture the scene from the film The Beautiful Girl. Which, by the way, was filmed when this square was being built in the 1970s.

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“Mano mažytė žmona” (“My Little Wife”), dir. Raimundas Banionis, 1984

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“I always say to Kaunasians who start to work in a production of a new film - you will swear, you won‘t sleep, you will get angry, but after seeing the result of your work in cinema, all of the hardships will be forgotten,” laughs Aurelijus Silkinis, the head of Kaunas Film Office. He rushed to meet us almost immediately after the HBO TV show Chernobyl was filmed, straight from the location of an upcoming large project.

The Chernobyl premiere is scheduled for the next autumn, and Kaunas played a role of Moscow in this film.

But that‘s not unusual. Our city has already been Tokyo, Vienna, Norway and Italy in film, and it seems that these are not the last series.

Especially if, as it is considered, the tax relief for filmmakers will be lowered - currently, it is 20 per cent. Good tax environment, comfortable locations and professional local employees are what we need for a film industry in Lithuania to grow.

A city that hasn‘t been fully filmed Kotryna Lingienė and Kęstutis Lingys

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Behind the scenes: “Tokyo Trial” in the National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art. Photo by Artūras Bulota

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Behind the scenes: “Ashes in the Snow” in Kaunas. Photo by Asta Martinonytė

As one of the busiest Lithuanian film producers in Lithuania, Lineta Mišeikytė - thanks to whom foreign companies are interested in our country - said once, Kaunas is a very convenient place for making historical films. Indeed, the city has plenty of architectural heritage and many undiscovered angles - it can play more than itself. But when it does that, the role is especially persuasive.

“When we filmed the protest scene in Emilia, everybody cried,” - claims A. Silkinis. He also adds a story told by one Kaunas resident who had actually participated in the real protest. The person told director Donatas Ulvydas, how the Soviet policemen washed their dirty hands in soda water machine that stood in Laisvės Avenue at the time. If you have seen the film, you know whether the script has been adjusted.

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Things are more complicated when it comes to foreign projects (although there have been tears - German director Saskia Weisheit cried here. She was filming a documentary about Mercedez-Benz in 2012. She got emotional after seeing the interwar architecture in Kaunas and how close everything is in the city) - they are strictly defined by time, centimetres and other parameters. Fat contracts prohibit telling the juicy stories. Most of the time it is even forbidden to take pictures on the set because it would take too much precious time to deal with actors‘ agents. So far, we had no incidents, therefore, one production is quickly changed by another. Just after watching the Emmy-nominated historical miniseries Tokyo Trial on Netflix, we learned that HBO team is coming to Kaunas. But before that, a bit more about Tokyo of 1946, right after the WW2, when high-ranking

Behind the scenes: “Pelėdų kalnas” (“Owl Mountain”) in Kaunas. Photo by Lukas Juzėnas

officials of the Japanese Empire were on trial for war crimes.

“In addition to filmmakers, costume designers and other Lithuanian professionals, the film would not have received a nomination. It might not have been filmed even! And I have a reason to say that. It‘s a very serious evaluation. It is hard to predict how many movies like that are filmed globally in a year - 1000? 3000? It‘s a wonderful feeling to be among the top four,” said to the press Kęstutis Drazdauskas, producer and founder of Artbox film company. A. Silkinis and the foreign film professionals choosing our country couldn‘t agree more. Lithuanians are honest and they really work well and hard. We can only add that it applies to more areas than the film industry.

By the way, the images of the war-torn Tokyo were filmed ... in Didžiasalis. Of course, the additional rubble props were needed. And M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas served as a war crime tribunal.

And now - about the latest events.

We could call it a misunderstanding that some Kaunas residents became restless and slightly offended after learning that the scenes of Chernobyl were filmed in their city. However, the creators of the show, who previously haven‘t provided much information said to the press that the scenes filmed in Kaunas were not of Chernobyl, but of Moscow, where the first rescuers were taken to the hospital after the explosion.

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Are there negative people who, for example, complain about the traffic because of the closed street during filming? “Maybe one in a hundred.

It‘s enough to have a one-minute chat with some people, but it might take an hour to convince others about its benefits to the city,” says the producer, generally happy about the benevolence of people. Both he and the foreign staff compliment those who have a direct impact on the speed of filming - those who control the street lighting and traffic. Of course, this smooth process is influenced by the fact that Kaunas Film Office is a municipal institution. But not only government institutions benefit from that. Hotels, eateries and other businesses earn money as well. Not to mention the museums or other objects that were chosen to serve as filming locations.

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One can say that one of the ways to revive, organize or at least emphasize the historical architecture is to let in the film crews in such buildings at least for a short time. For example, recently, Kaunas Central Bookstore and Officers’ club Ramovė were turned into Norwegian spots, where the action of the film based on Per Petterson‘s novel Out Stealing Horses is taking place.

Many Lithuanians - including the diaspora - are anxiously waiting for the premiere of the film based on Lithuanian-American Rūta Šepetys‘ novel Ashes in the Snow, which will take place on the 12th of October. Interestingly, younger Lithuanians, who worked on this project learned about the real scale and the outcome of the exile. After their shift, they would rush home to look for the information on the internet. Consequently - the viewers are not the only ones who learn.

Game of Thrones, among other places, was filmed in a spectacular Croatian resort of Dubrovnik. Now, it can be said, that this city suffers from popularity. More than ten special tours are organized in Dubrovnik and they are the reason why many foreign tourists visit Croatia. Yes, some of them come only because of the imaginary Game of Thrones, not Croatia itself, and that‘s why locals are rightly dismayed. Are Kaunas and Lithuania also at risk?

There‘s also a different side to it. The internationally famous TV show

We can agree that Lithuanian landscape - with very few exceptions - is

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not that favourable for making of such films. But...in some cases, the city gains great benefits. For example, Japanese film Persona Non Grata about a diplomat Chiune Sugihara and the time he spent in Kaunas.

Paradoxically, it was filmed in Poland, in 2013, i.e. before the aforementioned tax relief in Lithuania. But Japanese tourists, who travelled to cinemas in great numbers during the premiere weekend, are not flooding Poland.

More and more of them visit Kaunas and that can be confirmed by hotel owners, employees of Sugihara house and tour operators.

What‘s next? Only greater things.

According to the foreign press, Helen Mirren‘s project about Catherine the Great should be filmed in Lithuania, including Kaunas, in October or November. You will not find such manors as in St. Petersburg in Lithuania, therefore, some of the scenes will be filmed in the “homeland.” But as A. Silkinis says, Kaunas hasn‘t been fully filmed yet, so everything is in our hands: film and hospitality industries’ and, well, partly in the government officials’.

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Behind the scenes: “Tokyo Trial” in the National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art. Photo by Artūras Bulota

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You’ll find the programme of the 11th Kaunas International Film Festival at the end of the magazine, and to start with - let’s talk about the final event. Am I speaking in riddles?

Everything is easier with music, so, if you have the chance, I recommend opening YouTube and putting on Jóhann Jóhannsson’s performance at KEXP radio. The closing event of the festival will be the screening of “End of Summer”, a 2014 documentary directed by Jóhann Jóhannsson.

Born in 1968, the Icelandic composer unexpectedly died earlier this year in Berlin.

His name will be familiar to those who’ve been attending KIFF for at least 9 years. In 2009, the artist attended the festival’s musical workshop “Nordic Sounds in Film”, where he met Swedish colleague Erik Enocksson.

Their friendship continued, so Erik will attend KIFF this September. He will perform a piece together with a visual artist Martin Burström after the screening mentioned above.

The Scandinavian Circle Daina Dubauskaitė

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Jóhann Jóhannsson. Photo from the personal archive

Louise H. Johansen, a Danish film producer who has spent a significant amount of time by Jóhannsson’s side, kindly agreed to share some sentiments and insights into the composer’s work. The Scandinavian artists, among other projects, worked together on “End of Summer”. Louise is now living in Prague, Czech Republic. She is the programmer for the festivals CPH PIX in Copenhagen and Prague’s Intl. Film Festival FEBIOFEST, as well as working as a film journalist. She produced the feature-length documentaries “Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigridur Nielsdottir” and “Born to Lose”.

Louise met Jóhann in Reykjavik in 2004, when a local record label 12 Tónar (where she later worked) threw a release party of Jóhann’s early film score “Dís” (2004). “This is a score little known to Jóhann’s later audiences with its quite melodic electronica, so it’s a curiosity to check out”, Louise recommends.

The word “Iceland” most definitely brings music to your ears, be it Sigur Rós, Björk, Múm or any other project hailing from the distant island that has been bravely breaking the

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Still from “End of Summer”

stereotype of “commercially successful music” for decades. Jóhannsson fits entirely into the company mentioned above - one might even say it would be incomplete without his name.

In fact, music arrived in Jóhannsson’s life before cinema. He wasn’t even 20 when, inspired by the likes of Þeyr and The Sugarcubes, he formed a shoegaze band called Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. “Well, the name is a little bit of a joke, taken from Snoopy cartoons, but we like it”, the composer once explained in an interview. He also mentioned that the band started singing in English rather than in Icelandic to be able to reach large audiences in the future.

And he did, without singing a single world, with his film scores.

After Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, the artist also played in various other

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collectives including Apparat Organ Quartet and Evil Madness. Louise adds, “It’s also worth mentioning the influential art collective Kitchen Motors which he founded with Kira Kira and Hilmar Jensson – a hub for genre-crossing collaborations and an early example of how important creative collaborations always were to him”.

Solo albums were what helped Jóhannsson stand out from the highly talented Icelandic crowd abroad, too. Louise admits his debut work “Englabörn” still blows her mind: “With its string quartet, percussion and electronics it stands out as a minimalist yet highly emotional work which I think completely transcends time – and it has later been featured on many film soundtracks probably because of its timeless quality”.

As Louise has been working in the contemporary film field for quite some time now, I believe she’s the right person to ask whether there are composers that are using a similar technique, perhaps inspired by Jóhannsson, that blends traditional instruments, electronica and soundscapes. My interviewee explains, “Today there is a whole scene

In “End of Summer”, Jóhann’s roles as composer, collaborator and as a filmmaker all came together, and the film was close to his heart. His first film as a director was shot in Antarctica and the surrounding islands.

“Jóhann was invited on an expedition down there as a composer on another film production, for the sake of sheer inspiration! He brought along the Super-8 camera that he had used to capture images for his concerts, together with some old film stock, and this short film is the beautiful child of that”, Louise remembers. She adds that the film’s music was composed with artists Hildur Gudnadóttir and Robert A. A. Lowe, who partly improvised over the projected image.

“I produced the film with Jóhann, and handled its further life in the festival circuit – and am very happy to bring it to the wonderful festival in Kaunas; It feels like a full circle, as Jóhann was invited here early on in his film scoring career – this is also where he connected with the Swedish composer Erik Enocksson”, Louise finishes our dialogue, taking me back to the beginning of the article. After all, a circle has no end, right?

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It’s not a new trend to value some of the most outstanding film scores as much as original music albums.

Think Angelo Badalamenti or Ennio Morricone. Louise believes, however, that a score is part of a bigger artistic work and should serve its director’s vision: “Jóhann, I think, was a master in this, and he truly enjoyed the collaborations. They inspired him – also in his solo work. He often said that he wrote better on the basis of images”. She also mentions literature, which was Jóhann’s academic background, visual arts, and in history as some of the sources of inspiration: “Just think about his solo albums “IBM 1401, A User’s Manual”, “Fordlandia” or “The Miners’ Hymns” that all have an elaborate background in real events”.

for this, and I think the world of film music is in a great place. There is attention around film music and its composers and sound designers, and even in Hollywood, it seems they are trying out new things and opening up to another way of thinking film music and sound, where the score and the sound design can naturally blend in. From early on, Jóhann took some important and influential steps and was part of paving the way for a new way of composing music for films”.

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Probably the most famous films with scores by Jóhannsson are the sensitive biopic about Steven Hawking “The Theory of Everything” (directed by James Marsh, 2014) and its opposite “Sicario”, the 2015 blockbuster directed by Denis Villeneuve. The contrariety of the films emphasizes the composer’s versatility, a quality that rises above genres. Could one say it’s also about always choosing paths, unknown? Louise agrees. “It was important for Jóhann never to repeat himself and to value the collaboration that is needed when being onboard a film production. He was in return looking for directors who valued music, not as an effect but as a voice of the film”.

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Sigitas Šidlauskas (b. 1974) is an actor well-known to the audience of the Kaunas State Drama Theater.

He performed one of the main roles in the film Breathing into Marble that was presented in the spring, and its premiere in Lithuania will take place on the 28th of September during the International Kaunas Film Festival. It is the first Giedrė Butnoriūtė‘s full-length film and the last work by late cameraman Audrius Kemežys based on the novel of the same name by Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė. We discussed this project shortly as well as the relationship between cinema and theatre, the challenges posed by actor‘s work and what gives meaning to this profession with S. Šidlauskas in the make-up room of the National Kaunas Drama Theatre.

It would be good to act only in accordance with the principles of film Julija Račiūnaitė Photos by Donatas Stankevičius

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You are a certified art critic. Do you use any of your art history knowledge in your current work?

I have a master‘s in art criticism, but I never considered myself an art critic, I don‘t think this is my vocation. We could compare art criticism with surgery. If a person, who has studied medicine and has become a surgeon, has been working in an administrative position, he will not be able to start performing surgery on people right away. In art criticism, like in other areas, professional muscles should be exercised and strengthened, therefore I wouldn’t like to emphasize the importance of my field.

But, of course, an actor always benefits from the wider perspective. Since one has to write a lot while performing various tasks during the studies, literacy is developed and the ability to formulate ideas more accurately. Also, academic studies encourage you to plan your time better, follow a certain discipline. Those really aren‘t the essential skills for an actor, but they are desirable and helpful. On the other hand, there are people who haven‘t studied similar things and yet have no problem maintaining discipline.

Let‘s talk a bit about theatre and film. Do you consider one of these areas to be closer to your heart, maybe a priority?

I can consider myself a professional theatre actor, but I don‘t have much experience in film. I don‘t know how I would feel and how things would be if I suddenly found myself in some high-class professional environment. But I don‘t think I had enough of film. I would love to have more of it, it is a very interesting job.

Please, compare the work in film and in theatre.

I think that in film, as in theatre, the preparation for the role is similar: analysis, getting used to the partner and the text and work with

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the director. These are basic things, more connected to the craft part of things. But the means of expression are somewhat different. In theatre, you must learn to draw the attention of a large audience - if you will mumble silently, the last row will be bored.

And while acting in a film, at certain moments, you can allow yourself to behave almost naturally.

On the other hand, a film also has certain constraints, deceptions, but that‘s mostly connected to the setting of a frame, cameraman‘s work.

For example, when shooting a scene, you need to stand very precisely in a selected spot for the frame to be properly focused, so you can‘t feel that free at that moment. And yet, the acting expressions in a film can be minimalist. I would love to adapt it to theatre. While working in small spaces, in chamber performances, I often think that it would be good to act in them solely in accordance with the principles of film.

Do you mean that each furrowed brow could become meaningful?

It could mean something, yes. For example, theatre performances could do without the arsenal of the big stage, for example, certain voice cadence. The proper voice adaptation to the stage is slowly formed over the years and is one of the important parts of theatre acting. And when you come to film, you suddenly have to get rid of it. In the film world, you often hear a remark, “I don‘t need your theatre.” Theatre acting seems superfluous in front of the camera.

Which one of your roles do you consider to be the greatest challenge? Which of them demanded the most effort?

It was Antoine‘s role in Gintaras Varnas’ production of Distant Land.

I got this part four years after graduating when I started working in the

Actor‘s profession, first and foremost, is a profession of compromises.

You learn about that in a long run and must adapt to it.

theatre again - quite a downtime. After returning to acting, it turned out that I lost my form which I gained during my studies. For some time, I felt a great deal of desperation. Of course, it is very easy to push an actor into a corner. All you need to do is tell him a few times that he‘s doing something wrong, and the person shuts down and starts feeling inadequate. And the essence of theatre is precisely that opening up. Actors profession is all about opening up to the audience, partner and director.

And at that instance, it was very hard for me to open up for some time. At my most critical moments, I thought that maybe I would not be able to perform in that premiere. But later, there came a break, I managed to overcome myself, but still, I remember this role as the most difficult one.

Has the relationship with this role changed over the years?

Yes. Eventually, Antoine‘s role has become one of my favourites. I can say that I give prominence to it because this role was a kind of a stepping stone to the future. After performing it, I started seriously working in the theatre and getting regular roles. And the play lasted for about ten years.

Compare the first year of the performance with the tenth.

Over time, I gained more trust, more nuances in the character‘s nature, I got to know my partners better. After all, when this play premiered, I was fresh in theatre and felt alone among experienced stage actors.

And what role would you say fit you perfectly and felt close to your heart?

I like the roles that allow you to identify yourself very well with the character; to get deeply immersed in it or the opposite - to distance yourself from it while maintaining a so-called Brechtian distancing effect. And the best thing is when all of that can be compatible in one role.

I would say that I currently have two such roles in The Ugly One and Promise at Dawn. The roles I play in these plays contain a whole variety of expressions: expressivity, humour, drama and many easily recognizable human behaviours. In both you need to identify closely with your character, suddenly dive into a certain state, and at the same time distance yourself from it.

Have you ever borrowed some of the features from your characters that would be useful in everyday situations?

I have never used this method on me, but, in essence, you have to be

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empathetic in this profession. Because sometimes the character you‘re trying to embody is very foreign to your nature. In order to play the role, you must first understand his inner logic, the reasons for his behaviour and why he is what he is. Empathy needs to be cultivated and perfected – it’s a part of the work.

What in this line of work gives you a sense of meaning?

Good question. It‘s hard to explain, but maybe those meaningful moments are those when, while acting in a play, you sense that the audience is listening to you and that the message you are trying to convey reaches them easily. Often, after a performance or a film, you can understand whether you managed to make a contact based on the audience‘s reaction.

Does it happen that people stop you on the street?

It happens that they stop me in a shop or at the clinic. For example, my latest memory that provided some warm emotions was the premiere of Breathing into Marble in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. We received an extremely warm response from the viewers. I was amazed by the people‘s wish to come to talk to us, thank us or shake our hands. Of course, critics are the most professional part of the audience and it‘s nice to receive a good review, but for me, the spontaneous

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expression of the audience‘s gratitude is what gives me wings.

Perhaps there are not many artists who dream about the critics as their target audience.

Probably. There‘s one more thing though. Critics come to premiere performances and they can be very different from the play performed for a third or tenth season. Premiere success is a bit like a lottery. And the larger part of the audience sees the performances in different stages. What we show after five years can be very different from what we were showing in the first five premiere nights. Some roles improve, develop and others fade over time. But if our audience returns to see our play annually, it‘s like a sign confirming the maturity of the play.

Various things happen over the years and not necessarily the performances praised by the critics remain good and mature after a few years.

I think that it should be interesting for a critic to experiment with reviewing the play repeatedly after several or even ten years.

It would, but no one does that.

What are you currently working on?

At present, I am rehearsing the role of Jacob Gens in Gintaras Varnas’ production of Yehoshua Sobol‘s play Ghetto. But, as usual, it is hard to talk about future work.

A bit about Breathing into Marble.

Was it difficult to tame the role of Liudas?

Speaking about Liudas, I think we should begin with the woman he lives with. She‘s an over-achiever, Ibsen‘s woman. They are together for many years, and it is he who had to become more flexible because otherwise, they would have gone separate ways pretty fast. The situation in the family changes with the arrival of the adopted child.

This event changes the established balance between a man and a woman and reveals the things that were hidden or suppressed in their relationship.

As I have mentioned before, perhaps the biggest challenges in this project were probably to do with my lack of experience in film. The director and her knowledge of how everything should be, helped me a lot. It was also helpful that we rehearsed a lot in the presence of the cameraman, so I had enough time to get used to my partner (actress Airida Gintautaitė). We had figured out many things before the filming started. And in terms of the role of Liudas, both I and the director wanted for this character to be very human-like so that the viewer could easily identify with him.

Could you compare the character in the book with the one in the film?

Essentially, the character didn‘t change much. There are many preteritions in the novel. You must read things in between the lines, there aren‘t many conversations - it‘s not a dialogue novel.

Still, when you read it, you see a wide and varied panorama of these characters‘ inner worlds. In the film, and especially after editing, it becomes less.

But there were no extreme changes, the essence remained the same.

Was it hard to work alongside child actors?

It wasn‘t easy, but of course, the most work was done by the director. She has

will and experience in this area and knows how to communicate with children.

You have been nominated for the actor of the year award for this role. How do you feel about the official honours and recognition?

It can be viewed in two ways. On the one hand, I like the attention - it‘s human-like.

On the other hand, though, it would be strange to give too much prominence to awards. In addition, when looking at the context of Lithuanian film from a distance, you realize that the difference between the awarded best and worst films is pretty slim because it is still a developing industry.

About the team you worked with: was it easy to listen to each other and reach compromises?

Actor‘s profession, first and foremost, is a profession of compromises. You learn about that in a long run and must adapt to it. Especially in cinema, you are dependent on many factors. And the subordination is pretty clear - a film is made by the director.

It all starts with her, so the final decisions also belong to her. Giedrė sees the nuances perfectly and tries to get to know the actors - which she chose after observing them for some time in theatre or film - better. Airida is a wonderful partner, we quickly established a connection and that helps a lot during filming. Professionalism requires to achieve togetherness and understanding with any partner, however, it is much better when you get to work with people with whom you can communicate easily and sense them from the smallest gesture, or those who can neutralize a tense situation with humour. These things are not mandatory, but if they arise between partners - great. Therefore, for a long time, I will remember this work as a pleasant process.

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Siūlų street, a protest in Vienybės Square, Tulpė, Artists‘ House cafe, film theatres in Šančiai.

The coexistence of Islam and Catholicism in Kęstutis Zenonas Šafranavičius‘ family, Dobrė Rezenbergienė making it to the “right side” during the killing spree of Jews at Demokratų Square, hams hanging in shop windows and fourdoor buses that got entrenched in the memory of little Galina after she moved to Kaunas.

The photograph of Galina‘s family on the War Museum‘s lion. Coffee, neighbours, prices, issues, joyful moments - all of these things are layered in a solid memory of Kaunas. This time, we talk about two closely related projects sharing the same name - Atminties vietos (Places of Memory) and Atminties biuras (Memory Office).

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Gunars Bakšejevs Drawings by Vytis Snarskis

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Memory Office is one of the main programs of Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022, and its predecessor - project Places of Memory - was started in order to unite all the existing initiatives on the memory of the city. Curator of the Memory Office Dr Daiva Citvarienė will tell us about how “places” turned into “office” and how to capture what hasn’t been previously filmed, written, narrated or captured in another way, but has been existing in the city in a very perceptible way. She is also the initiator of the Places of Memory project and still has time to teach the students at the VMU Faculty of Arts.

Before Kaunas 2022, Places of Memory texts were mostly illustrated by photographs that can be uploaded by anyone who wants to share their story. But Memory Office also has video narratives and unscripted interviews. This program covers a variety of projects that deal with memory: meetings, concerts, art events, publications, films and other initiatives.

“One of the Memory Office’s main goals is to get people to know about Kaunas residents - Jewish, Tatar, Armenian, Polish, Russian, German and other - who shaped the city. We want to include Kaunas residents, wherever they may be - the US, Israel, Germany or Ireland - to share their stories, talk about their families and their life in Kaunas and the world,” encourages Daiva Citvarienė. She and the project team are hoping that the ever-increasing amounts of material in the Places of Memory will become alternative history lessons for schoolchildren, students and all fans of the city and its history as well as a historical archive and the source of inspiration for cultural and art projects of 2022.

It is important for D. Citvarienė for Kaunas’ stories not to be imprisoned

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in texts, video recordings or heavy history books of some little town.

“Yes, many communities are proud of these history volumes, but will the young generation ever open them? We would like them to become community-based performances, alternative routes or non-traditional works of art.

We want them to be lively, interesting and relevant. Because these stories not only help us learn about the past - they help us understand who we are and where we’re going.”

In autumn, Memory Office will offer a program Kino detektyvai (Film Detectives) for Kaunas and Kaunas district students. It’s the filming and editing workshop that was already tested in July during the Kaunas 2022 International Youth Camp - 100 First Times. The aim of the workshop is to encourage the young Kaunas residents to explore their surroundings, get to know local people and their stories, and have a fresh look at their home city or little town.

“We wanted to leave the community with something that wouldn’t fade after the campers left. And that is how the workshop idea was born.

Many new settlers are studying in Kulautuva as well as children from the nearby towns. And their knowledge of this interwar resort town is quite limited. We wanted to encourage them to talk to their neighbours or people they haven’t met before.

We were pleasantly surprised when it appeared that filming and editing wasn’t a great challenge for the campers, it was more difficult to “discover” the people of your town and have courage to talk to them,” the Memory Office curator points out the real and key challenge of the program. She acknowledges that campers, who have come to Lithuania from different countries, were fascinated by the things that local

“Talking to a person about his life is a very sensitive moment. If the interview is successful, we can open the door to another person’s world, his/her life. Art is probably the most suitable means for capturing these sensitive moments. No historical document will provide us with such a combination of imagination and emotion as drawings that are made during these interviews. Indeed, often these drawings seem like stop-motion from films - frames from a difficult and scary film,” our insight is confirmed by D. Citvarienė.

“The idea to invite the artist came to us after we heard the story of one artist working with the Yugoslav war victims. The artist told about one instance when she had to listen to an incredibly painful story of her

The lecturer of the Faculty of Arts at the Vytautas Magnus University emphasizes that V. Snarskis’ drawings are his very own look - as a young artist - at the history. Vytis decides on his own which moment to draw and how to portray it. It is his own reflection which lives its own life - the life of an artwork.

“It isn’t a “real” document because it cannot depict “how things were”, it’s simply a meeting of a live narration and artist’s imagination. That’s what makes it interesting because it allows us to think about how these stories are heard and “seen” by the artist and the young generation; what do they find important in these stories, what’s worth remembering and capturing?”

Do you want to write a novel? A film script? Perhaps create a computer game? You already have a plot but you lack some underlying details for your characters? Or maybe you dream of publishing an interwar cookbook?

Perhaps you’re not sure what, but maybe something truly related to Kaunas, something that wouldn’t be made up? The Memory Office invites you to knock on their window and claim your ticket of inspiration.

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One more aspect that makes the Memory Office stand out from many longer or shorter-lasting documentary initiatives is Vytis Snarskis’ illustrations complementing the stories told by the Office’s respondents. On the one hand, they are like a storyboard of a film that no one had time to finish, and on the other hand, they seem to capture the statements of the witnesses of the historical court process. I wonder how it was decided to add this measure to the program of Memory Office?

respondent, during which she was unable to turn on the video camera or photograph the interlocutor. The only tool that seemed fitting for such a sensitive moment was a pencil.”

kaunas2022.eu

people probably don’t notice anymore, for example, abandoned interwar period villas.

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In May 1932, several hundred people gathered into one of the former Kaunas exhibition pavilions (currently a small oak grove where Kaunas County Public Library is located) all hoping to become stars of the big screen. In the studio founded there, Jonas Vaičkus was preparing actors who, sooner or later, were to act in his epic film about Kražiai Massacre. It didn‘t take long for the press to refer to this place “above Kaunas” - half jokingly and half ironically - as the Hollywood of Kaunas. But let‘s start from the beginning - from the origins of Lithuanian feature film that started in a much more modest, lower Kaunas.

Hollywood in Žaliakalnis: towards the first Lithuanian sound film Paulius Tautvydas Laurinaitis

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J. VaiÄ?kus in 1927. Archives of the Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum

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The plans to create a national cinema are almost as old as the modern state of Lithuania. Like in most parts of the world, the new medium in Kaunas has become the most popular entertainment form available to many. Soon there were many wishing to start the national film production. In 1926, Kotryna Senkevič establishes the Lithuanian Film School, and in the same year, a company named Akis (Eye) is opened with a film school next to it.

The first Lithuanian full-length silent films were produced by Akis: Kareivėlis - Lietuvos gynėjas (Soldier - Defender of Lithuania, director Jurgis Linartas) and Jonukas ir Onutė (John and Ann). Although these films are currently missing, the press of the time says a lot about their quality. To it, the only positive side to the films was the effort of creating the national cinema.

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One of the pioneers of Lithuanian theatre, the founder of the first acting studio, Jonas Vaičkus returned from Hollywood in 1931 after spending several years there. He had a great deal of ambition: to make a first Lithuanian film, an epic about Kražiai Massacre.

In the following year, the Assembly of Lithuanian sound film producers took place in the Chamber of Agriculture.

It involved about 90 people of “various professions” interested in the project.

Among them: engineer Steponas Kolupaila, priest Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, colonel Juozas Šarauskas, colonel Braziulevičius and poet Faustas Kirša. According to the protocol of the assembly, many wanted to create a film that would not only educate people but would also promote the moral norms of the time as well as counterweigh the imported production. Vaičkus himself saw the US cinema as the best example of how a film was able to change society, “The US has put all the effort into making the right film and it achieved its goals - it turned an American into a sensitive patriot and a solid member of a family.”

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Vaičkus soon set up a film studio to prepare the actors. According to him, it aimed to “prepare cultured employees - actors - for a Lithuanian film and sound film. The studio will become a laboratory where everyone who has an innate talent will be able to develop it.”

One month of studies in a three-year school cost a considerable amount of money at the time - 50 litas. But it was promised that the especially talented but lacking in funds will receive support. The studio opened its doors on the 7th of May, and the interest was vast. 115 people from Kaunas of “both genders, various, and you could say almost all ethnicities present in Lithuania, with different types of education” had signed up for the school. Meanwhile, the interest from the province was so high that the rest of the admission was moving very slowly. There was even a rubric in Kino naujienos (Film News) magazine of the time titled Am I suitable for film? In it, people were able to hear the studio head’s verdict after sending their photograph. The work at the studio would last for full six hours, and it was criticised by the students. Apparently, there was not enough time for self-education which meant film watching.

Vaičkus’ film studio didn’t last long.

After receiving a lot of criticism in the press for an unsuccessful student performance on the occasion of its oneyear anniversary, it was forced to close.

According to Vytautas Mikalauskas, one can conclude that the sound film acting wasn’t J. Vaičkus’ strongest suit.

Also, the director himself has expressed an opinion that in the future, most of the world’s film production should be made up of silent film.

Still, the director was devoted to Kražiai project. He travelled to 163 larger settlements in Lithuania where he gave a lecture The Necessity of a Lithuanian Film for the Nation and the Production of Film Kražiai Massacre. After the talk,

An ad from 1932

the committees were formed with the key local personas in each area. 60 of such committees were supposed to promote the idea of the film, support it materially and to “make every effort for the film to be produced as a wreath of honor to the whole nation and the first rebels - poor villagers - whose blood was spilled by Russian Cossacks in an unequal battle for their faith and well-being of the nation.” The central committee was founded in Kaunas, and it was supposed to be the centre of the project. However, the lack of government support was stopping the production of the film. Vaičkus died in 1935, unable to complete his grand project. Although, according to the obituary, he fought until his last breath for Kražiai Massacre to see the light of day: he had already planned a trip to Hollywood where he had arranged to look for financial support.

Cameraman Stepas Uzdonas also had plans to make a feature film. He had written a script in 1934 for Kruvinieji keliai (Bloody Roads) also referred to as Kruvinoji laisvės daina (The Bloody Song of Freedom) - a film about the years of German occupation and a rebellion in a prison camp. In January of 1934, the scouting for locations and trial filming had started. The film was not made because of the lack of financial support. Later, the director remembered how he gave roles to people who had nothing to do with theatre. Back then, he was already aware of the theatre acting issue in sound film which continues to haunt our national film scene until today. A bit earlier, S. Uzdonas also had plans on making another film, the working

title of which was Kęstučio mirtis (The Death of Kęstutis).

In 1937, Mr. Gorsky - press only referred to him by the surname - came to Kaunas from one Austrian film production company and started looking for actors and filming locations for a potential Lithuanian film. They enlisted another patriarch of Lithuanian theatre Borisas Dauguvietis - to write a script.

According to Dauguvietis, people from Vienna became interested in the possibility of creating a film about Lithuania - a country that is very little known to foreign viewers. They also guaranteed the funds and all the equipment, “People come from abroad and say: we have professionals and enough money to spend. We hope that a well-made film about Lithuanian life will cover our expenses, and maybe, we will even make some money out of it.” According to Dauguvietis, he modelled the script according to five features characteristic to Lithuanian life: fights for independence, Lithuanian farmer, slowly disappearing noblemen, Kaunas’ life and life in the cities abroad. Thus, the film was supposed to reflect the large portion of the nationally shaped state spirit of the time.

The premiere was supposed to take place in late autumn of 1938, but Gorsky, who left for Vienna to develop some of the films never returned to Lithuania. According to S. Mikalauskas, it probably had to do with the Anschluss (annexation of Austria) that took place that year. After a few years, all talks about the first national sound film were suppressed by similar events in Lithuania.

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Photographed at “Kaunas 2022“ office (Laisvės al. 36) by Artūras Bulota

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The new office of “Kaunas 2022” located in Laisvės Avenue looks pretty unreal - like a candy factory or a milkshake bar. Quite a coincidence the office is exactly in front of Jan Zwartendijk‘s memorial that substituted Merkurijus shelves in July.

Merkurijus

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The official opening of the heavenly office (its interior was created by architects Linas Tuleikis, Kęstutis Vaikšnoras and Karolis Platakis) will take place on the 7th of September.

The whole team of “Kaunas 2022” that barely fits behind an impressive table - promises to stop closing the office doors completely from 2021.

They will provide all possible information about “Kaunas 2022” programs and activities. While the preparatory works are underway, we are arranging this month‘s spoils in the office. And in one way or another, they will invite you to visit cultural places of Kaunas during their new season.

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Due. T-shirt “Vandenis” [“Aquarius”] € 40 www.duefashion.com

The Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis-inspired T-shirts were born at the studio of Due., a Vilnius-based clothing brand. The brand representative Indrė Raubaitė told us that their previous collections were inspired by the likes of Vincent Van Gogh and Egon Schiele, and the team really wanted a Lithuanian touch. First, there were Čiurlionis leggings, and six different T-shirts based on six paintings are ready for the next season.

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Kaunas State Drama Theatre loyalty card €5 Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Laisvės al. 71

If you already have this card that saves money for a coffee before a play, we would only like to remind you that the premiere of “Ghetto” is approaching.

In addition, we would like to inform the ones who don‘t have it yet that the theatre‘s loyalty system is being updated - now discounts are offered to a wider range of social groups.

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Kaunas Chamber Theatre gift coupon Kaunas Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A

Perhaps it‘s pretty unnecessary to convince you that the gift of experience is a very empathetic solution. Not to mention that the Chamber Theatre‘s repertoire is both democratic and able to surprise. Will the recipient of the gift show his/her gratitude by inviting you to the bar of the same name? We hope so.

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Kaunas City Museum bag

€ 5.77 Kaunas City Museum, Rotušės a. 15 You will be able to fill this comfortable and eco-friendly bag with other new and time-tested souvenirs by visiting all the departments of Kaunas City Museum. By the way, Kaunas residents who are already using the bag said that they notice the most interested glances when visiting other cities. You too become an ambassador to Kaunas!

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11th Kaunas International Film Festival OPENING FILM

“Madeline’s Madeline”

Directed by Josephine Decker, USA, 2018, 93 min., drama, thriller, L.: EN, T: LT, N-13

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Thursday, 09 20, 7 pm “Tautos namai” Saturday, 09 22, 6 pm “Cinamon” Friday, 09 28, 8 pm “Romuva” Saturday, 09 29, 6:30 pm “Tautos namai” Madeline becomes an integral part of a prestigious physical theatre troupe.

When the workshop‘s ambitious director pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The film was chosen to open the 11th Kaunas International Film Festival due to its cinematic language and innovative storytelling.

WIDE ANGLE

“194. Us, Children of the Camp”

Directed by Samer Salameh, Syria, Lebanon, 2017, documentary, 90 min., L: Arab, T: EN, LT Saturday, 09 22, 8:30 pm “Tautos namai” Wednesday, 09 26, 8:30 pm “Tautos namai” Samer grew up in Yarmouk, the biggest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.

The personal story of the director, told in the form of a diary, reveals both

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the tale of a group of friends and that of a neighbourhood full of stateless persons.

“Anote’s Ark”

Directed by Matthieu Rytz, Canada, 2018, documentary, 77 min., L: EN, T: LT Friday, 09 21, 7 pm “Tautos namai” Saturday, 09 29, 6 pm “Romuva” The low lying Pacific nation of Kiribati faces a daunting challenge: imminent annihilation from sea-level rise. At stake are the survival of the 4,000 years of I-Kiribati culture; yet the story also serves as a cautionary tale for low lying populations everywhere.

“I Kill Giants”

Directed by Anders Walter, Belgium, UK, USA, 2018, fantasy drama, 106 min., L: EN, T: LT Sunday, 09 23, 16:00 “Cinamon” Tuesday, 09 25, 6 pm “Romuva” Sunday, 09 30, 16:00 “Cinamon” Barbara Thorson, a young, independent teenager, has created a fantasy world.

Believing that giants from other worlds are coming to attack her hometown, she spends her days creating weapons and traps to fend off the creatures.

“The Miseducation of Cameron Post”

Directed by Desiree Akhavan, USA, 2018, drama, 91 min., L: EN, T: LT, N-16 Friday 09 21, 6 pm “Cinamon” Sunday 09 23, 6 pm “Cinamon” Thursday 09 27, 6 pm “Cinamon”

09 20 – 09 30 www.kinofestivalis.lt When religious aunt decides homosexuality is something that can be cured, 16-year old Cameron is sent to a gay conversion therapy centre. However, she soon decides to flee the institution as escaping is her only cure.

“INAATE/SE/”

Directed by Adam Shingwak Khalil, Zack Khalil, Canada, USA, 2016, documentary, 75 min., L: EN, T: LT, N-7 Saturday, 09 22, 3:30 pm “Tautos namai” The film re-imagines an ancient Ojibway story which both predates and predicts the first contact with Europeans. With acute geographic specificity and grand historical scope, the film fixes its lens between the sacred and the profane to pry open the construction of contemporary indigenous identity.

“Black Mother”

Directed by Khalik Allah, USA, 2018, documentary, 77 min., L: EN, T: LT, N-16 Sunday, 09 23, 4 pm “Romuva” Tuesday, 09 25, 6 pm “Cinamon” Thursday, 09 27, 7:30 pm “Romuva” Part film, part baptism: Khalik Allah brings us on a spiritual exploration through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and tranquil countryside, the director introduces us to a succession of vividly rendered souls who call this island home.

“Kinshasa Makambo”

Directed by Dieudo Hamadi, The Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, 2018, documentary, 75 min., L: EN, T: EN, LT, N-16

Sunday, 09 23, 6 pm “Romuva” Saturday, 09 29, 4 pm “Romuva” The political crisis in Congo is exposed through the stories of three activists.

The film invites one to think about the meaning of political actions in today’s world and the role geographical borders, mostly drawn by colonists, play in it.

“Wild Relatives”

Directed by Jumana Manna, Lebanon, Norway, Germany, 2018, documentary, 66 min., L: Arab, NO, EN, T: EN, LT Saturday, 09 22, 6:45 pm “Tautos namai” What’s the relation between Svalbard (north of the Arctic Circle) and Beqaa valley in Lebanon? The beautifully shot film reveals that everything, including melting glaciers, thirst for profit and war refugees, is tightly connected.

“Loveling”

Directed by Gustavo Pizzi, Brazil, Uruguay, 2018, drama, 98 min., L: Portuguese, T: EN, LT Saturday 09 22, 6 pm “Romuva” Friday, 09 28, 6 pm “Romuva” Saturday, 09 29, 6 pm “Cinamon” Irene lives in a crumbling house in the outskirts of Rio with her husband and her four sons. Her teenage son Fernando is a local handball star and when he’s scouted to play professionally in Germany, the family has only a few weeks to ready his departure and say goodbye.

More info www.kinofestivalis.lt

2018

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11th Kaunas International Film Festival “The Raft”

Berlin’s historic defunct Tempelhof Airport remains a place of arrivals and departures. Today its massive hangars are used as one of Germany’s largest emergency shelters for asylum seekers.

Saturday 09 22, 8 pm “Romuva” Saturday 09 29, 8 pm “Romuva”

“The Worlds of Ursula K. Leguin”

Directed by Marcus Lindeen, Sweden, Denmark, USA, Germany, 2018, documentary, 97 min.

L: English, French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Japanese, T: EN, LT, N-16

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In the summer of 1973, five men and six women embarked on a 101-day scientific sea-adventure, drifting on a small raft across the Atlantic. Obviously, there was no way back.

“Spectres”

Directed by Sven Augustijnen, Belgium, 2011, documentary, 104 min., L: French, T: EN, LT, N-13 Tuesday, 09 25, 8 pm “Tautos namai” Saturday, 09 29, 4:15 pm “Tautos namai” Fifty years after his assassination, Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the newly independent Congo, is back to haunt a Belgian civil servant who witnessed PM’s death. The film exposes the fine line separating legitimisation and historiography and the traumatic issue of responsibility and debt.

“Central Airport THF”

Directed by Karim Aïnouz, Germany, France, Brazil, 2018, documentary, 97 min., L: Arab, Russian, English, German, T: EN, LT, N-7 Wednesday, 09 26, 7:30 pm “Romuva” Sunday, 09 30, 6 pm “Romuva”

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Directed by Arwen Curry, USA, 2018, 68 min., documentary, L: EN, T: LT Saturday, 09 22, 4:10 pm “Romuva” * Monday, 09 24, 7:45 pm “Tautos namai” Saturday, 09 29, 8:30 pm “Tautos namai” * Ursula K. Le Guin, the groundbreaking feminist author, passed away in 2018. Arwen Curry filmed with her for a decade to make the documentary, which features Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Michael Chabon, and more.

“The Image Book”

Directed by Jean Luc Godard, Switzerland, France, 2018, drama, 84 min., L: Arab, English, French, Italian, T: EN, LT Monday, 09 24, 6 pm “Cinamon” Wednesday, 09 26, 6 pm “Cinamon” Do you still remember how, long ago, we trained our thoughts? Most often we’d start from a dream. We wondered how, in total darkness, colours of such intensity could emerge within us.

“Acts and Intermissions”

Directed by Abigail Child, USA, 2017, documentary, 56 min., L: EN, T: LT, N-16

09 20 – 09 30 www.kinofestivalis.lt Sunday, 09 23, 5:30 pm “Tautos namai” Wednesday, 09 26, 6 pm “Romuva” The Kaunas-born feminist and political activist Emma Goldman was once called the most dangerous woman in the US. The multilayered film reveals a lesser-known side of the anarchist.

“Vision”

Directed by Naomi Kawase, France, Japonija, 2018, drama, 104 min., L: English, French, Japanese, T: EN, LT, N-13 Friday, 09 28, 6 pm “Cinamon” Saturday, 09 29, 6 pm “Cinamon” A French essayist arrives in a forest in Japan. She aims to find a mysterious herb that appears only once every 997 years.

“The Green Fog”

Directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, USA, 2017, 63 min., L: EN, T: EN, N-13 Sunday, 09 23, 2:30 pm “Romuva” Sunday, 09 30, 3 pm “Romuva” “Whether or not you’ve seen Vertigo, Hitchcock’s internecine engagement with the male gaze, we want you to get lost in the mysteries and delights we found in making our own adaptation”, the directors boldly state.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ISTANBUL…

“Something Useful”

France, The Netherlands, Germany, 2017, drama, 104 min., L: Turkish, T: EN, LT, N-7 Friday, 09 21, 8 pm “Romuva” Saturday, 09 22, 8 pm “Cinamon” Two women meet on a train and decide to merge their trips. No matter what their destinations were before the meeting, they’re now ready to explore a new path.

“Inflame”

Directed by Ceylan Özgün Özcelik, Turkey, 2017, psychological thriller, 94 min., L: Turkish, T: EN, LT, N-16 Tuesday, 09 25, 8:15 pm “Romuva” Friday, 09 28, 8 pm “Cinamon” Hasret has been seeing the same nightmare for some time, but she keeps living unaware that what she sees is actually remembering. A question creeps into her mind. Is it possible that her parents did not die in a car crash twenty years ago?

“The Pillar of Salt”

Directed by Burak Çevik, Turkey, 2018, drama, 70 min., L: Turkish, T: EN, LT, N-16 Friday, 09 21, 8 pm “Cinamon” A recluse woman is in search for her twin sister. She seeks for her in the outskirts of the city but ends up meeting someone else.

Directed by Pelin Esmer, Turkey,

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11th Kaunas International Film Festival CINEMA IS CREATED BY PEOPLE. A RETROSPECTIVE OF CAMERAMAN AUDRIUS KEMEŽYS

films ever is a gracefully expressive documentary following the lives of children living with leukaemia at a pediatric hospital in Vilnius.

The opening of the retrospective. “Breathing into Marble”

“Narcissus”

Directed by Giedrė Beinoriūtė, Lithuania, Latvia, Croatia, 2018, drama, 97 min., L: LT, T: EN, N-13

It’s a story about one family; about two people that cannot be together, and about how one decision can change everything. Based on a novel by Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė.

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Friday, 09 21, 5:30 pm “Romuva” *

“Brass band”

Directed by Julija Gruodienė, Rimantas Gruodis, Lithuania, 2006, documentary, 60 min., L: LT, T: EN Saturday, 09 22, 2:30 pm “Romuva” *

Thursday, 09 27, 5 pm Kaunas Artists’ House * In the contemporary version of a Greek myth, Teodore is a handsome and gifted string quartet cello player, who becomes increasingly obsessed with himself. His looks, sensitivity, and talent initially draw people in, but his lack of empathy and self-obsession hurt everyone around him.

“When I Was a Partisan”

Directed by Vytautas V. Landsbergis, Lithuania, 2008, drama, 64 min., L: LT, T: EN

The brass band Saulutė is a lovely orchestra of village girls in the villages of Perekšliai and Sujetai in Panevėžys district. Their hearty performances brighten the everyday life of the village, introducing into it the unexpected and the comic.

Saturday, 09 29, 2 pm “Romuva” *

“Before Flying Back to the Earth” Directed by Arūnas Matelis,

“Master and Tatyana”

Germany, Lithuania, 2005, documentary, 52 min., L: Lithuanian, Russian, T: EN, N-13 Wednesday, 09 26, 5:30 pm “Tautos namai” One of the most awarded Lithuanian

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The dreamlike film about the period after the World War II is an attempt to resurrect the relatively recent painful past of Lithuania - the partisan war against the Soviets.

Directed by Giedrė Žickytė, Lithuania, 2014, documentary, 84 min., L: LT, RU, T: EN, LT Saturday, 09 29, 4 pm “Cinamon” * A documentary portrait of a talented

09 20 – 09 30 www.kinofestivalis.lt Lithuanian photographer Vitas Luckus includes many personal stories by his contemporaries, a lion cub and a lot of love between him and his wife Tatyana.

“Woman and the Glacier” *

Directed by Audrius Stonys, Lithuania, Estonia, 2016, documentary, 56 min., L: LT, T: EN Sunday, 09 30, 1 pm “Tautos namai” * Kazakhstan. Tian Shan mountains.

Tuiuksu glacier. Glaciological station in the height of 3500 m. Here, for thirty years lives a woman. Totally alone and without any connection with the civilized world. She devoted all her life to science to keep her finger on the pulse of the planet. A story of the fragile Woman and the eternal Glacier.

“The Hum of Solitude” *

Directed by Agnė Marcinkevičiūtė, Lithuania, 2014, documentary, 34 min., L: LT, T: EN, N-7 Jolita Skablauskaitė and her exceptional mystery, gothic aesthetics and archaic worldview stand out in Lithuanian literature. Who is she, the authoress of this dreadful and queer world? What is the source of such suggestive vision?

Tuesday, 09 25, 6 pm Kaunas Artists’ House *

“Europe54° 54‘ - 25° 19‘”

Directed by Deimantas Narkevičius, Lithuania, 1997, video film, 8 min., L: EN, T: LT “It is a very simple documentary about how I travelled from my ex-apartment to the geographical centre of Europe”.

“Lithuanian Energy”

Directed by Deimantas Narkevičius, Lithuania, 2000, , 18 min., L: LT, T: EN A documentary studio about an electric energy company is also a story about Elektrėnai, a town built during the Soviet occupation. The industrial town was meant to become a prime example of modernist ethos and a symbol of the Lithuanian technological revolution.

“Revisiting Solaris”

Directed by Deimantas Narkevičius, Lithuania, Germany, 2007, video film, 19 min., L: LT, T: EN In the film, Donatas Banionis appears in his role as Chris Kelvin again more than forty years after Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Solaris” was made. “Revisiting Solaris” is based on the last chapter of the book, the part that had been left out of Tarkovsky’s version.

EXPERIENCES Friday, 09 21, 8:50 pm “Tautos namai” Saturday, 09 27 6 pm “Romuva”

“Milk”

Directed by Heather Young, Canada, 2017, short film, 14 min., L: EN, T: LT, N-13 A young employee of a rural dairy farm is experiencing anxiety regarding her unexpected pregnancy. She finds it difficult to ignore her feelings as she is surrounded by pregnant cows on the farm whose milk she helps to collect after they give birth.

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11th Kaunas International Film Festival “Absent Wound”

Directed by Maryam Tafakory, Iran, United Kingdom, 2017, experimental documentary, 10 min., L: Persian, English, T: EN, LT The rituals of Persian warrior training is seen in combination with the recitations of a young girl coming to terms with her impending womanhood.

Directed by Ayce Kartal, France, 2016, animation, 8 min., L: Turkish, T: EN, LT S. is an eight-year-old Turkish girl endowed with an exuberant imagination.

In her hospital bed, she recalls the happy days spent in her grandparents‘ village, dark memories rise to the surface and slowly start to make sense.

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“Wicked Girl”

“Dancing Girls”

Directed by Zeynep Koprulu, Turkey, 2018, drama, 16 min., L: Turkish, T: LT In a summer town, two best friends wake up to their last day together as one of them is moving abroad.

“Nedret Gets Lost For a Day”

Directed by Berrak Çolak, Turkey, 2017, experimental, 12 min., L: Turkish, T: EN, LT, N-13 Nedret, an attractive older woman, wakes up next to her husband’s dead body with no idea who committed the murder. She begins a journey of no return when she is locked out of their apartment.

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INTELLIGENCE AMPLIFICATION Friday, 09 21, 5:45 pm “Tautos namai” Monday, 09 24, 6 pm “Tautos namai” *

“Date Field”

Directed by Alex Anikina, Rusija, 2017, documentary, 24 min., L: Russian, T: LT, EN The film is occupied with the idea of a village house as a material and intimate site of story-telling and fiction in Russian history. It embarks on the experiment in narrative scale-shifting, calling onto such monumental points as the fall of Tunguska meteorite in 1908 or death of Lenin in 1924.

“A Room With a Coconut View”

Directed by Tulapop Saenjaroen, Thailand, 2018, video essay, 29 min., L: Thai, English, S: EN LT A tour guide and also a hotel rep automated voice, Kanya, leads her foreign guest, Alex, through a beach town in the east of Thailand called Bangsaen.

Since Kanya’s presentation is overtly aestheticized and strictly regimented, Alex decides to explore the town by himself, fantasizing to get out of the frame.

STRATA Saturday, 09 22 5:15 pm “Tautos namai” Tuesday 09 25 6 pm “Tautos namai” * Tuesday, 09 30, 4:30 pm “Romuva”

09 20 – 09 30 www.kinofestivalis.lt “Uppland”

“Gulyabani”

Directed by Edward Lawrenson, United Kingdom, Ireland, 2018, documentary, 29 min., L: EN, T: EN, LT

Directed by Gürcan Keltek, The Netherlands, Turkey, 2018, experimental documentary, 34 min., L: Turkish, T: EN, LT

An architect and filmmaker from Europe visit a town in the remote highlands of Liberia, once a thriving mining community, now decaying and desolate: a concrete ruin in the West African bush.

Gulyabani is an entity, a ghoul, an outsider, a restless spirit of a desolate and lonely place. Recounting the events of her childhood through her diary and letters to her estranged son, Gulyabani recollects the emotional landscape in the most violent period of post-Republic Turkey.

“Sunstone”

Directed by Filipa César, Louis Henderson, Portugal, Brazil, France, 2018, documentary, 35 min., L.: Portuguese, T: EN, LT

“Walked the Way Home”

Directed by Eric Baudelaire, France, Italy, 2018, documentary, 26 min.

The film explores how optical technologies of military and colonial design – from lighthouse Fresnel lenses to global satellite navigation systems – both inform and are informed by Western models of knowledge.

On his way home, Eric Baudelaire films soldiers on the streets of Paris. “Operation Reinforced Pirate Vigil” has been over for some time now, but they’re still there.

“Neochronophobiq”

Directed by Mahdi Fleifel, Germany, Switzerland, JK, 2018, documentary, 11 min., L: EN, T: LT

Directed by Emre Hüner, Turkey, 2015, artist film, 38 min.

Saturday 09 29 3:15 pm “Tautos namai” In the film, both the objects and the landscapes are alive. Like extreme metaphors of a petrified language, they have the sound of cracking glass, moving and transforming slowly, a tactile knowledge, objects of ritual, thought– forms or neo-human hallucinations or dreams, fired and glazed clay pieces, forms of nonlinear storytelling.

HOME Sunday, 09 23, 3:30 pm “Tautos namai” *

“I Signed the Petition”

Immediately after a Palestinian man signs an online petition, he is thrown into a panic-inducing spiral of self-doubt.

Over the course of a conversation with an understanding friend, he analyzes the meaning of his choice to publicly support the cultural boycott of Israel.

“P is for Palestine”

Directed by Muhammad El-Khairy, Canada, 2018, short movie, 2 min., L: EN, T: LT It is a short fiction film about performing politics in a foreign tongue.

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11th Kaunas International Film Festival BETWEEN THE PROPHETIC AND THE POETIC Sunday, 09 23, 7 pm “Tautos namai” Wednesday, 09 26, 7 pm “Tautos namai”

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A blind man reports on an eclipse, a light phenomenon that he perceives through senses that do not involve sight.

ON & FOR

An indeterminate location, summer.

The inhabitants of a shared apartment ask themselves where they might live.

They imagine countries, communities, and places. Time passes and nothing can change that — neither human action nor objects and their states. At some point, they all drift into a deep sleep.

Monday 09.27, 7:30 pm, Kaunas Artists’ House

“Why Are You Angry?”

Directed by Rosalind Nashashibi ir Lucy Skaer. United Kingdom, French Polynesia, 2017 m., 18 min., Following the footsteps of Paul Gaugin, the authors travel as far as Tahiti. On the island, they investigate the artist’s legacy. Questions about portraying a woman and the power of a myth are being raised.

“Veslemøy’s Song”

Directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz, Canada, 2018 m., drama, 9 min., L: EN, T: LT Audrey delves into the archives of the New York Public Library in search of a rare recording produced in 1909 and titled “Veslemøy’s Song”.

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Directed by Anouk De Clercq, Tom Callemin, Belgium, 2017, video film, 13 min., L: EN, T: LT

Directed by Helena Wittmann, Germany, 2018 m., 14 min., L: EN, T: LT

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“For Now”

Directed by Herman Asselberghs, Belgium, 2017, video, 32 min., L: Dutch, T: LT In times of great turmoil, the time comes to a standstill. The central two movements in the film are panoramic shots and firm, vertical edits.

They show shifts of place without the journey.

“Crippled Symmetries”

Directed by Beatrice Gibson. United Kingdom, 2015 m., 26 min., L: EN, T: LT A hard-hearted 11-year old capitalist and his best friend are the central characters in the film about music, capitalism and abstraction.

CLOSING EVENT

Soundscapes. Tribute to composer and director Jóhann Jóhannsson

09 20 – 09 30 www.kinofestivalis.lt Sunday, 09 30, 6 pm, “Tautos namai”, Kęstučio g. 1

“End of Summer”

Directed by Jóhann Jóhannsson, Iceland, Denmark, 2014, 29 min., silent The evening will begin with a screening of “End of Summer” and will continue with a 40-minute lng audio-visual performance by Erik Enocksson and Martin Burström (Sweden) based on the music from film “Apan” music (dir. Jesper Ganslandt, Sweden, 2009).

OTHER EVENTS Wednesday, 09 26, 10 am Vytautas Magnus university**

International Film Studies Symposium “Film Festival and Public Space”.

The aim of this event is to discuss the concepts and possibilities of a film festival as a cultural phenomenon as well as the meaning of the research of film festivals in the context of film studies and other disciplines.

Speakers: Dr Masha Salazkina (Concordia University, Canada), Dr. Alice O. Lovejoy (University of Minnesota), Jason Fox (Princeton University), Barbara Wrum (Programmer for the goEast Film Festival, advisor for Dok Leipzig), Dr Gintautas Mažeikis (Vytautas Magnus University).

Wednesday, 09 26,6 pm, Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g. 56

Artist talk: Louis Henderson.

Research as Film Production Strategy. Screening of “Sunstone” (35 min., L.: Portuguese, T: EN, LT)

It is the first event of the second stage of the international collaborative project “On & For” ***. This project is conceived to advance and strengthen the Artist’s moving image (AMI) field, vitalizing the networks of artists and professionals that work together in order to facilitate the production, distribution, commissioning, curating, and programming of AMI by bringing together various consolidated or emerging professionals that nourish this field (artists, producers, distributors, curators, organisations, institutions) from all over Europe.

* The director / guest will be attending the event. ** More information at www.kinofestivalis.lt *** More information at www.kinofestivalis.lt and www.onandforproduction.eu Locations: Kaunas cultural centre “Tautos namai”, Kęstučio g. 1, Kaunas Kaunas cinema centre “Romuva” (temporary hall), Kęstučio g. 62, Kaunas Cinema centre “Cinamon”, “Mega” mall, Islandijos pl. 32, Kaunas Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g.

56, Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University The organisers reserve the right to modify the programme.

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Calendar Theatre Friday, 09 14, 6:30 pm

Performance “Shalom, Bellissima!”

Bella Shirin, ambassador of Kaunas 2022, shared her life story with director Ina Pukelytė and it turned out to be a great basis for a new play. The story of a single family lets us understand more about the history of Kaunas and its people in general. In Lithuanian.

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“Theatre Club”, Vilniaus g. 22

Friday, 09 21, 6 pm

Performance “Getas” [“Ghetto”]

Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Laisvės al. 71

a mass grave. Directed by Gintaras Varnas, “Ghetto” is dedicated to the Centennial of the restored Lithuania and the 75th commemoration of the liquidation of Vilnius ghetto. It’s a story about a unique ghetto theatre that became the source of strength and resistance. It’s a story about a communal fight for survival, both physical and spiritual. In Lithuanian.

09 18 – 09 22

Festival “Išeities taškas“ [“Out-Point”] Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A

Last year, the festival analysed the problems of the young generation and was looking for ways out. The second edition of the event focuses on excess information and being numb to each other, as well as the fear of opening up. The performances directed by young directors will all be held in Lithuanian.

Saturday, 09 22, 12 am

Performance “Arklio Dominyko kelionė į žvaigždes” [“Dominic the Horse is Travelling to the Stars”] Kaunas State Puppet Theatre, Laisvės al. 87A The nazi-occupied Lithuania became a death trap for Jewish people during WW2. The only way from a ghetto was Pet-friendly places

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Based on the work of Vytautas V. Landsbergis, the puppet performance is directed by Gintarė Damanskytė.

September Thursday, 09 27, 6:30 pm

Performance “Brendžio trims. Po dešimt metų” [“Three Glasses of Brandy, Please. 10 years later”] “Theatre Club”, Vilniaus g. 22

“Jekyll and Hyde” is a musical horror-drama loosely based on the novella “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Kaunas version is directed by Viktorija Streiča.

Exhibitions 08 17 – 09 14

Exhibition: “Therefore you are an idiot” by Inga Linevičiūtė Castle department of Kaunas City Museum, Pilies g. 17

The performance about three classmates getting ready to attend a wedding of the fourth one, directed

by Ina Pukelytė, was a huge success 10 years ago. What’s new in the lives of the three women? In Lithuania.

Friday, 09 28, 6 pm

Musical “Džekilas ir Haidas” [“Jekyll and Hyde”] Kaunas State Musical Theatre, Laisvės al. 91

The author uses both pencils and watercolours to create a puzzle full of symbols of people stuck in their bubbles. New meanings are appointed to known objects in the form of a play. This is how the artist invites to deconstruct myths.

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Calendar 09 01 – 10 31

“Kaunas Photo 2018” Various locations

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Exhibited in a building designed by the man himself, the archive presents a portrait of one of the best known and most productive Lithuanian architects of the 20th century. The architects of the exhibition went an extra mile to revive the original plan of the premises of the building.

“Kaunas Photo” is the longest-running annual photo art festival in the Baltic States, taking place every September and October. It has been a festival of premières for future stars of photography since its launch in 2004. The festival presents international exhibitions in interior and exterior spaces, projections, creative presentations, portfolio reviews and other events in various locations around Kaunas, both indoor and outdoor.

09 10 – 09 24

Exhibition. “Dialoghi Urbani”

by Camilla Borghese Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g. 56

09 07 – 11 08

Exhibition “Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis.

Architekto archyvas” [Vytautas LandsbergisŽemkalnis. Archive of an Architect”] “Pienocentras” palace, Laisvės al. 55

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The exhibition is a between Kaunas Artists’ House cultural information centre and “Modernism for the Future”, a programme of “Kaunas 2022“. The object of the exhibition is the map of Rome and a new motif inside it.

September 09 14 – 10 05

Exhibition “Erdvėlaikis” [“Spacetime”] by Katarzyna Tretyn-Zečević Gallery “Meno parkas”, Rotušės a. 26

The artist often chooses a visual key for a creative process and analyses its problematics with the help of creative expression. This is how he exploits relevant topics with different means of expression. What’s important for Saulius Paliukas is the philosophical multilayer of the unifying topic.

Recently, the artist has been analysing a point as the most minimal means of expression.

Music

The search for the individual artistic path of Katarzyna Tretyn-Zečević is based primarily on the broidery tradition. By embroidering on canvas (mostly large format), she intertwines the tradition of painting, applied art and science. In 2015, she began cooperating with the Foundation of Aleksander Jabłoński and the Astronomical Observatory in Piwnice near Toruń (Poland). This collaboration resulted in artistic projects created at the interface of two areas: science and art. The title of this particular project refers to Einstein’s theory, which has intertwined a gravitational field into one structure, time and space (spacetime).

09 04 – 10 05

Exhibition “Spiečius” [“Swarm”] by Saulius Paliukas Gallery “Meno parkas”, Rotušės a. 26

09 01 – 09 02

Kaunas International Carillon Music Festival

Vytautas the Great War Museum Garden, K. Donelaičio g. 64

Continuing the thematic line of last year, the second edition of the festival will feature classical, folk and electronic music. Organised by Kaunas Artists’ House, the festival is pleased to host a diverse group of carillonneurs in Kaunas: Tiffany Ng (US), Erik Kure (DK), Monika Kaźmierczak (PL), Austėja Staniunaitytė, Julius Vilnonis and Stanislovas Žilevičius (LT).

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Calendar Friday, 09 14, 9 pm

Friday, 09 21, 8 pm

Club “Lemmy”, Girstupio g. 1

Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g. 56

“Girrrls Power!”

OLOS

A series dedicated to important forms of contemporary music is inviting you to explore the vast geology of experimental sounds. Three DJ sets of tribal, industrial, kraut, kosmische, exotica and other music are on the menu and will be served by Patricia Kokett, Hìldå and Ilius. Visuals by su~y.

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Sunday, 09 23, 5 pm

At least two cars full of female musicians will arrive on Kaunas on the evening of 14 September. Expect some aggressive yet melodic punk rock and a trunk full of rap/trash/surf/lo-fi experiments.

The final concert of International Music Arrangement Competition APEX Kaunas State Philharmonic, L. Sapiegos g. 5

Friday, 09 14, 11 pm

“Palmės diskoteka: Bordello a Parigi” Bar “Lizdas”, Nepriklausomybės a. 12

A prophetic Dutch label focusing on Italo disco is arriving in Kaunas. The captain De Dup is on board, as well as Mr Pauli who’ll deliver a live set. The Kaunas-based palm operators Mario Moretti and Elboe will be meeting them in the club.

More events pilnas.kaunas.lt

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The competition, first of its kind in Lithuania, expects to reveal the new beauty of compositions that have been already written, as well as provide new repertoire for music collectives. Three chamber collectives have been invited to perform the winning pieces of the competition - Kaunas String Quartet, Kaunas Piano Trio and St. Christopher Woodwind Quintet.

September Cinema 09 14 – 09 16

Early Film Festival “First Wave”

Kaunas cinema centre “Romuva”, Kęstučio g. 62

Runners are welcome to choose one of the seven distances offered by the organisers. The track goes through the Oak Grove Park and the picturesque streets of Žaliakalnis neighbourhood.

09 06 – 09 08

ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating “Amber Cup” “Žalgirio” arena, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50

The arena already became an ice rink in earlier this year, when our men’s ice hockey team earned gold medals. This time, more than 100 perspective athletes from 33 countries will be arriving in Kaunas.

The satellite event of the European Film Forum “Scanorama” will represent the cinema of the early twentieth century. The program is structured to cover the most diversified spectrum of genres and schools of national cinema.

Saturday, 09 22, 1 pm

A league: FC Stumbras – FC Žalgiris Kaunas To be confirmed

Sports Sunday, 09 02, 11 am

Ąžuolynas run

S. Darius ir S. Girėnas stadium, Perkūno al. 5

There’s no better way to spend your Saturday than a kaunastic derby.

Hopefully under the warm sun of Indian summer.

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Calendar Saturday, 09 22, 5 pm

LKL season opening: BC Žalgiris Kaunas – BC Pieno Žvaigždės Pasvalys

09 07 – 09 09

European Days of Jewish Culture Vilijampolė

“Žalgirio” arena, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50

Other events 09 03 – 09 09

Sugihara Week Various locations

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Will BC Žalgiris Kaunas become the Lithuanian champions one more time? We’ll see next year, but winning the first match of the season is very important, right?

The inaugural Sugihara Week in 2017 was a blast. Concerts, meetings, discussions, artistic performances and political debates all helped Kaunas grow stronger ties with Japan and Israel. This year, the week inspired by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat that saved thousands of Jewish lives from the Holocaust by issuing transit visas, aims for a broader scope, including an international symposium “Diplomats that saved Jewish Lives”, a jazz improvisation session and a collaboration with nowJapan, a Vilnius-based festival of unexpected Japanese culture. Most of the events are free of charge.

More events pilnas.kaunas.lt

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Celebrated across Europe, the event in Kaunas will invite everyone to explore the neighbourhood of Vilijampolė this year. Formerly known as Slabada, it only became part of Kaunas in 1919 and was home for hundreds of Jewish families. In WW2, it was turned into a ghetto. Most of its prisoners died in the Holocaust.

A new touristic route focuses on the Litvak legacy in Vilijampolė – the maps are available in Lithuanian and English. Free walking tours in Lithuanian will be offered during the European Days of Jewish Culture.

09 07 – 09 09

Kaunas autumn fair Old Town

Traditional arts and crafts are expected to be presented in the fair, as well as bakes, drinks and other edible goodies. It’s a great place to shop around for souvenirs, too.

September Friday, 09 07, 2 pm

“Kaunas 2022” office opening party Laisvės al. 36

The Instagram-friendly interior of the new office of the team of “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022” was created by Linas Tuleikis and Karolis Platakis. More on their idea in our “Merkurijus” section. Hop in to say hi if you’re in town on 7 September!

Saturday, 09 08, 10:00

“Vegfest LT Kaunas” Nepriklausomybės a.

The community lab of “Kaunas 2022” has inspired the residents of Šilainiai, the biggest residential district in Kaunas, for the first community festival.

The programme includes running, basketball and many other activities including a full-on picnic.

Tuesday, 09 11, 09:30

International forum “Meeting of European cities and sites of Modern Movement” Kaunas officers’ club “Ramovė”, A. Mickevičiaus g. 19 More than 50 manufacturers and traders from Lithuania and abroad will lure vegans and like-minded souls that care about the wellbeing of our planet into the second-ever vegan market of this capacity in Kaunas.

Saturday, 09 08, 13:00

Šilainiai day

Field at Baltų pr. 95

The main goal of the Meeting is to bring together the European cities and sites of Modern Movement architecture, cultural heritage protection institutions to discuss the potential of this architectural and cultural heritage in formation of modern urban identity and its use for tourism purposes. The participants will also discuss if this Meeting could serve as the basis for further cooperation and creating the network of cities and sites of Modern Movement architecture.

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Calendar 09 12 – 09 13

International conference “Modernism for the Future”

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“Žalgirio” arena, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50

In 2018, the European Year of Cultural Heritage, all forms of heritage throughout the European Union will be celebrated as the source of memory, identity, dialogue, unity and creativity. These celebrations coincide with the centenary of Lithuania’s independence, inviting a re-evaluation of the symbols of modernisation and in particular modernist architecture, which bears witness to an optimistic and progressive Europe before WWII. During the conference in Kaunas, the most important city in Lithuania associated with the legacy of modernism, the guests will have the chance to attend a series of international events focussing on different aspects of the city’s interwar modernism and the wider context of European architectural heritage.

09 14 – 09 16

09 14 – 09 15

Kaunas Youth Days

Various locations

A poetry slam and a theatre performance on the steps of M. Žilinskas Art Gallery, capoeira and contemporary circus near Soboras, your first tattoo, a drone race, acrobatics, robotics and first aid classes. All in one weekend.

Saturday, 09 22, 11:00

143th birthday of M. K. Čiurlionis

National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art, V. Putvinskio g. 55

Open culture festival “Kaunas Opener’18” Various locations

A lot of cultural institutions will offer free entrance and/or guided tours during the festival; one can also expect unexpected performances and installations around the city. The event is aimed at new students as well as residents of Kaunas who sometimes forget what an amazing city they live in.

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Celebrated every year, the birthday of the pioneering Lithuanian composer

September and painter is a lively party in the premises of a gallery full of his work.

New educational programmes and walking tours are on the programme, as well as a few surprises.

Sunday, 09 23, 10 am

Holy Mass Santaka Park

residents and artists who joined the team, will be presented at the end of September. Can’t wait!

Thursday, 09 27, 12:00

Conference “Architekto Stasio Kudoko gyvenimo ir kūrybos laiptais” [“Following the Steps of Stasys Kudokas” Kaunas KTU Vaižgantas gymnasium, Skuodo g. 27

Pope Francis will be visiting Kaunas on 23 September; the Holy Mass, open for all, will be held by him at Santaka park, the same location where it was held by Pope John Paul II 25 years ago.

Stasys Kudokas was one o the most prominent architects of the 20th century. The conference will be held at a school he designed; it will be accompanied by free walking tours and other events dedicated to his 120th birthday.

Saturday, 09 29, 4 pm

Šančiai initiative festival Servitutų g. 30

09 24 – 09 30

Šančiai opera workshop Žemieji Šančiai

The community opera workshop has been going on in Šančiai for some time now. The project, created by the

Šančiai is a lively neighbourhood bustling with new ideas and initiatives. A festival held in a backyard of one of the residents will become a melting pot and a meeting space for new projects.

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pilnas.kaunas.lt

“I’ve always been in the anatomy of a betrayal.

Betrayal in a fight, politics, friendship or love.“ Vytautas Žalakevičius (1930–1996) Lithuanian film director

KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE Monthly newspaper about personalities and events in Kaunas (free of charge)

Laisvės alėja 59, third floor

Editorial office:

Authors: Andrejus Bykovas, Artūras Bulota, Austėja Banytė, Bernadeta Buzaitė, Daina Dubauskaitė, Donatas Stankevičius, Eglė Šertvyčūtė, Gunars Bakšejevs, Julija Račiūnaitė, Kotryna Lingienė, Kęstutis Lingys, Paulius Tautvydas Laurinaitis, Reda Tomingas, Tautė Bernotaitė, Žvėrūna.

Patrons:

KAUNO MIESTO SAVIVALDYBĖ

RUN 100010COPIES TIRAŽAS 000 EGZ.

ISSN 2424-4481 2424-4465

Leidžia: Publisher

2018 2017No. Nr. 9 2 (37) (18)