Henrikas Šablevičius

A memory capsule of the Academy as it is to us - skipping lectures, partying and discovering deep connections with fellow students.

At the beginning of the 1960s, when the French pioneers of cinéma vérité set out to achieve a new realism, and when direct cinema in Québec began to vie for notice, the Baltics wit-nessed the birth of a generation of documentarists who favored a more romantic view of the world around them. This meditative documentary essay – from a Latvian writer and Lithuanian director whose composed touch has long dovetailed with the stylistically diverse works of the Baltic New Wave – pushes adroitly past the limits of the common his-toriographic investigation to create a portrait of less-clearly remembered filmmakers. The result is a consummate poetic treatment of the ontology of documentary creation. Also a cinematic poem about cinema poets.

A documentary to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Faculty of Film and Television.

Glastnost and Lithuania’s eventual independence from the USSR open up the possibility of examining previously banned subjects: death, postwar resistance and – as in We Were at Our Own Field – the damage done by the Soviet occupation and the simple longing for home.

Original folk craftsmen-sculptors who are united by the traditional, wood carving craft that came from centuries old.

Documentary film showing authentic Lithuanian traditions & rituals during major seasonal festivals: Winter solstice, Mardi Gras, Easter, Midsummer.

Documentary film showing authentic Lithuanian traditions & rituals during major seasonal festivals: Winter solstice, Mardi Gras, Easter, Midsummer.

Lithuanian documentary about bicycles.

The director shows us an unofficial Lithuania, an indestructible village, old traditions and impressive faces. In the films of Shablevičius, the village, the land, the lonely tree standing outside are often filmed in winter, when everything gets the shade of a fairy tale and a miracle, and a rider on the road brings an unexpected message. The old mythical rural worldview seems to come alive in the eyes of the audience.

The director shows us an unofficial Lithuania, an indestructible village, old traditions and impressive faces. In the films of Shablevičius, the village, the land, the lonely tree standing outside are often filmed in winter, when everything gets the shade of a fairy tale and a miracle, and a rider on the road brings an unexpected message. The old mythical rural worldview seems to come alive in the eyes of the audience.

When Henrikas Šablevičius started filming Lithuanian “oddballs” – a professor, a fortune teller, racers, and many others who fell short of the concept of the “model citizen” – he invented a bizarre new genre of documentary biopic. Characteristic of these portraits is a sense of mocking irony directed not at their subjects (on the contrary, the filmmaker’s affection for them is palpable) but at the “Soviet hero” genre. The subject of this film is Apolinaras, a kindhearted policeman who even outwardly looks very unlike the ideological “guardian of morals.”.

This film details the dismantling of the old railway Siaurukas in Lithuania and the construction of its new modern replacement. The old railway and the new railway become the symbol of the clash between the archaic rural Lithuania and Soviet industrialization. The film was often considered as an expression of the archetypes of Lithuanian character.

This film details the dismantling of the old railway Siaurukas in Lithuania and the construction of its new modern replacement. The old railway and the new railway become the symbol of the clash between the archaic rural Lithuania and Soviet industrialization. The film was often considered as an expression of the archetypes of Lithuanian character.

Reflections is a film by Henrikas Šablevičius that was made for Lithuanian Television. It is a surrealist etude that doesn’t have a clear narrative, and is courageous in its form, unusual in the context of Lithuanian cinema at the time.

Reflections is a film by Henrikas Šablevičius that was made for Lithuanian Television. It is a surrealist etude that doesn’t have a clear narrative, and is courageous in its form, unusual in the context of Lithuanian cinema at the time.

A short movie about a summer adventures of a boy and his dog illustrated with a lot of documentary scenes about a life of a children in Lithuania during sixties.

A short movie about a summer adventures of a boy and his dog illustrated with a lot of documentary scenes about a life of a children in Lithuania during sixties.

Four different stories about young kids' destinies in different time periods in Lithuania.