The Lithuanian National Library of Martynas Mažvydas kindly invites viewers to remember, and perhaps rediscover, the classics of Lithuanian cinema. We continue our acquaintance with Lithuanian Film Center "Golden Lithuanian Cinema Collection" films. In May, we will watch the following films: "Herkus Mantas", "No One Wanted to Die", "My Little Wife", "Nut Bread". But first, we invite you to watch two Lithuanian documentaries.
May 2 18 p.m. - documentary "Hollywood has offered too little" (dir. Rimantas Oičenka, 2017)
Valdemar Isoda sat on the cinema needle at the age of five. The addiction remained for life. He is not a director, not a screenwriter, not a film critic. He is a man for whom Hollywood has offered too little. The film captures an exceptional personality, the film director of the Vilnius Oz cinema hall, who devoted his whole life to cinema. "Hollywood Offered Too Little" was recognized as the best film at the Berlin festival "Litauisches Kino Goes Berlin" and at the European film festival "GoDebut" (Klaipeda) – the best Lithuanian debut.
Short movie trailer.
May 2 18.30 p.m. - documentary "The Lovers" (dir. Audriaus Antanavičius, 2015)
in 1962 the friendship of doctor Vitolis Laumakis and engineer Adolfos Morėnas began while fixing a broken motorcycle on the street. In the basement of the Kėdainiai Cultural Center, they founded the amateur film studio "Mēgėjas". Over time, it became not only one of the most famous amateur film studios in Lithuania, but also their second home, where they created almost a hundred short films over the course of five decades. Although Vitolis and Adolfas are still actively working on digitizing the existing footage archive, unpleasant changes are approaching at the "Mēgėjo" studio.
Both films will be presented by the authors. The duration of the event is 1 hour. 30 minutes
The number of seats in the cinema hall is limited (22 seats).
May 4 12 o'clock - Movie afternoon. The movie "Hercules Mantas" (dir. Marijonas Giedrys, 1972)
"This film is a memorial to the Prussian nation, related in language and culture to the Lithuanians, exterminated by the Teutonic Order. In the XNUMXth century, the Prussians revolted, having stopped the Crusaders' attacks to the East for a long time, and fell in a deadly battle, leaving their lands and their name to the enslaved..." Such a title appears on the screen after a short prologue illustrating the treachery of the Crusaders: after inviting old Monty and other baptized Prussian nobles, they burn them . After some time, the young Christian Henrikas Montė, who grew up there as a hostage, is released from Magdeburg to Prussia, and now he will bring his German wife Kotryna with him (but his nephew Alexander remains a hostage, just like his father). After giving a public oath to the Crusader gods, the hero does not take long to restore the Prussian name of Herkus Mantus, to start a rebellion against the lands plundered by the enemies, and a foreign religion is forcibly introduced. However, Herkai Mantas himself is tormented by internal contradictions: he stands between two civilizations, he is neither Prussian nor German.
The film was seen by a record number of viewers. In the two years since its release, the film was watched by 16,2 million people in the former USSR. people.
The film stars Antanas Šurna, Eugenija Pleškytė, Algimantas Masiulis, Vytautas Paukštė, Gediminas Girdvainis and others.
The official website of the film.
The number of seats in the cinema hall is limited (22 seats).
May 11 12 o'clock - Movie afternoon. Feature film "My Little Wife" (dir. Raimundas Banionis, 1984)
A film about young people: about love, dreams, youthful rebellion. Rūta gets to know Lin and, in order to hide the fact that she comes from a poor, hard-drinking family, introduces herself to him as the professor's daughter. Soon, a casual acquaintance turns into a serious relationship, which develops against the background of company fun. All the difficulties that arise are solved without difficulty - witty and fast.
The film stars Saulius Balandis, Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė, Eleonora Koriznaitė, Juozas Marcinkevičius, Linas Paugis and others.
The number of seats in the cinema hall is limited (22 seats).
May 18 12 o'clock - Movie afternoon. The movie "No one wanted to die" (dir. Vytautas Žalakevičius, 1965)
"No One Wanted to Die" is the first Soviet film that showed the life of foresters. The film shows 1947. events in the Lithuanian countryside, trying to consolidate Soviet power.
Lokii's father, who was the chairman of the village council right after the war, stayed at work at night and shot him. The Lithuanian countryside is bleeding. The brothers, supported by the party secretary who came from the county, forcefully appoint Vaitkas, the son of a deaf and mute cobbler, to the vacant position. This one is trying to be "himself" (which is tantamount to outsmarting) both the Patriots and the Reds. The eldest Bear - Bronius invites the peasants to a deadly battle, but does not receive much enthusiasm. However, a preliminary clash between the factions, like a rehearsal, takes place at the mill. It doesn't solve anything fundamentally. The death of Vaitkaus, who betrayed the plans of the partisans, one early morning becomes like a signal. It turns out that the leader of the partisans, called Aitvarus, is actually a man nicknamed St. Joseph in the village, a former officer of the free Lithuania, a romantic. In the main shootout, the left wins, but the expression and gaze of the ancient wooden Caretaker in the final shot is just a sop.
The film stars Regimantas Adomaitis, Vija Artmanė, Bronius Babkauskas, Donatas Banionis, Antanas Barčas, Juozas Budraitis and others.
"One of the most talented, masterful dynamic form, skillfully building tension, extraordinary cinematographic consistency of Lithuanian films has been and continues to be heated up by fierce ideological disputes. Of course, in those days V. Žalakevičius could not state the destructive role played by a foreign communist occupying power in Lithuania (the title of the film "Terror" was also rejected). Even the secretary of the communist party, a zombie who wandered out of the city, is Lithuanian. Would it be better if such a film had not been made at all, or does the talent of the authors only strengthen the film's flaws (similar questions have arisen many times in the history of cinema - both for S. Eisenstein's "Armored Potiomkin" and for the Führer's favorite L. Riefenstahl's documentary)? Was the Moscow legend denied on the screen, that the whole of Lithuania met the Soviet rule with cats, the display of mass resistance, incorporated into the circle of archetypal symbols of the suffering of the Lithuanian people, were not more significant factors? Each viewer can personally answer this basic assessment question," asked film critic Saulius Macaitis.
The official website of the film.
The number of seats in the cinema hall is limited (22 seats).
May 25 12 o'clock - Movie afternoon. The movie Nut Bread (dir. Arūnas Žebriūnas, 1978)
A gentle and lyrical story, memories of childhood in the village, leaving it, the beginning of real life. The action revolves around the families of neighbors Shata and Kaminska. Their children Andrius and Liuka fall in love with each other. The families get very angry when the cow sold to the Kaminskas Šatus dies. Of course, when families get angry, Andrius and Liuka become Lithuanian Romeo and Juliet - they are singled out. Liuka and her parents soon move to the city, Andrius lives alone with his dreams. During the post-war period, the bowl of nut bread that his lover fed him reminds him of his childhood, Luke. The film portrays the first love as a special experience of fragile childhood, the first feelings have an unforgettable taste, they resemble nut bread baked for celebrations. The film stars Algirdas Latėnas, Saulius Sipaitis, Doloresa Kazragytė, Antanas Šurna, Regina Arbačiauskaitė, Kostas Smoriginas and others.
The number of seats in the cinema hall is limited (22 seats).
We are waiting for fans of Lithuanian cinema in the Cinema Hall of the National Library.
Briefly about the films
| Data | Time | Prohibit | The movie |
| May 2 | 18 h | Cinema hall, V century. | "Hollywood has offered too little", 2017, documentary film, 26 min., dir. R. Oichenko |
| May 2 | 18.30 h | Cinema hall, V century. | "The Lovers", 2015, documentary film, 23 min., dir. A. Antanaitis |
| May 4 | 12 h | Cinema hall, V century. | "Hercules Mantas", 1972, Feature Film, 2 hrs. 28 min., dir. M. Giedrys |
| May 11 | 12 h | Cinema hall, V century. | "My Little Wife", 1984, feature film, 1 hour. 25 min., dir. R. Banionis |
| May 18 | 12 h | Cinema hall, V century. | "No one wanted to die", 1965, feature film, 1 hour. 47 min., dir. V. Žalakevičius |
| May 25 | 12 h | Cinema hall, V century. | Nut Bread, 1978, feature film, 1 hour. 06 min., dir. A. Žebriūnas |
