On August 27-29, Vilnius will traditionally host "Baltic Cinema Days" for the eighth time. Organized by the Lithuanian Film Center event will offer to watch Latvian and Estonian films of recent years, symbolically uniting Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian cinema on the anniversary of the Baltic Way. All sessions of the event are free.
August 27 this year's program will be opened by the Latvian-Lithuanian co-production "My Freedom" (dir. Ilze Kunga-Melgaile, 2023), inspired by the life story of Polish journalist Ita Kozakeviča. In the tape, the charismatic free-thinker Alicija actively participates in the activities of the Latvian People's Front and becomes the star of the Latvian national awakening. However, achievements create challenges in your personal life and force you to make difficult decisions. After the film screening, a meeting with actresses Velta Žygure and Dovile Šilkaityta awaits.
August 28 viewers will be able to see the documentary film "Homo Sovieticus" (dir. Ivo Briedis, 2021) jointly produced by Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. In January 1991, the Central Television of the USSR invited young people from fifteen Soviet republics to Moscow to find out where they wanted to live: in their nation-states or in a united union. During the event, several young people dared to speak openly for the collapse of the "terrible Soviet Union". The film interviews the participants of the show today, trying to answer what path they, their countries, governments and compatriots took after the collapse of the Soviet Union, while at the same time looking for the manifestations of the "Soviet man" that remained in them and in their environment.
On the same evening, there will be another documentary film - Estonian director Anna Hints' Bath Sisters (2022), awarded at the European Film Awards as the best documentary film about women bathers. The Estonian smoke bath was included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.
August 29 the program will be closed by the Estonian comedy "Invisible Fight" (dir. Rainer Sarnet, 2023), inspired by East Asian martial arts films. Rafeal decides to learn kung fu desperately. Unfortunately for him, "anything hard" is strictly forbidden in the USSR, so he will have to look for Eastern dueling teachers in one of the most unlikely places - the local Orthodox monastery.
Free screenings of "Baltic Cinema Days" will be held in Vilnius at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library on August 27-29.
MARTYNAS MAŽVYDAS NATIONAL LIBRARY (Gedimino pr. 51, Vilnius)
AUGUST 27 D.
– 18:00 p.m. "My freedom" (dir. Ilze Kunga-Melgaile), 2023 duration: 106 min.
AUGUST 28D.
– 17:30 p.m. "Homo Sovieticus" (dir. Ivo Briedis), 2021 duration: 70 min.
– 19:00 p.m. Bath Sisters (dir. Anna Hints), 2022 duration: 89 min.
29D.
– 18:00 p.m. "The Invisible Struggle" (dir. Rainer Sarnet), 2023 duration: 115 min.
