Arūnas Matelis

On May 1, 2004, about half a dozen children were born in Lithuania. Their arrival in this world coincided with the accession of Lithuania to the European Union. At the initiative of director Arūnas Matelis, the creative group that recorded the birth of many babies returned to some of the heroes every few times. After 20 years, the director Eimantas Belickas together with the author of the script Ramune Rakauskaite chose the brightest, outstanding young people who already have something to say about their first steps upon reaching adulthood. This is a picture of the first EU generation in Lithuania.

On May 1, 2004, about half a dozen children were born in Lithuania. Their arrival in this world coincided with the accession of Lithuania to the European Union. At the initiative of director Arūnas Matelis, the creative group that recorded the birth of many babies returned to some of the heroes every few times. After 20 years, the director Eimantas Belickas together with the author of the script Ramune Rakauskaite chose the brightest, outstanding young people who already have something to say about their first steps upon reaching adulthood. This is a picture of the first EU generation in Lithuania.

“The Mammoth Hunt” is a story about a film reel that for many years has been thought to be lost. On the reel, under conspiracy conditions, an abolished anti-Soviet theatre performance had been documented nearly 50 years ago – a play that served as a cross-section of the period revealing the universal subjects of courage, conformation, loyalty and betrayal.

Every morning Krilli prepares the myriad ingredients required to make the lobster soup at the Bryggjan café, a tiny eatery in Iceland’s dullest town. His wife helps him in the kitchen and yearns to return to Rejkyavik. In the café, Krilli’s brother Alli sits with the old fishermen, the last boxer in Iceland and the translator of Don Quixote into Icelandic. Every day they find a new answer to the world’s problems. Once a month the neighbours meet at the Bryggjan café to remember those who died in Grindavik and pronounce their names. Four crazy musicians play jazz. A few lost tourists turn up at the fishing harbour and are captivated by the atmosphere in the café. Real people, they think. A real place. On the other side of the mountain is the Blue Lagoon, the island’s great attraction. People from all over the world come in fascination to see the volcanoes, the ice and the genesis of the Earth.

Ever wondered where the clothes at your local second-hand shop came from? A tangled net of murky charity clothes business is spreading out across the entire UK. From London to Lithuania, the journey of the donated garments is accompanied by a hidden life of Lithuanian emigrants in the business. In this documentary comedy with a touch of a detective drama, we will follow lives of four vivid characters, who have cultural clashes, tragicomic incidents yet manage to retain passion and irony in the cruel and inhumane environment.

Ever wondered where the clothes at your local second-hand shop came from? A tangled net of murky charity clothes business is spreading out across the entire UK. From London to Lithuania, the journey of the donated garments is accompanied by a hidden life of Lithuanian emigrants in the business. In this documentary comedy with a touch of a detective drama, we will follow lives of four vivid characters, who have cultural clashes, tragicomic incidents yet manage to retain passion and irony in the cruel and inhumane environment.

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.

They're called water carriers, domestics, 'gregarios', 'Sancho Panzas' of professional cycling. Always at the back of the group, with no right for a personal victory. These wonderful losers are the true warriors of professional cycling.

They're called water carriers, domestics, 'gregarios', 'Sancho Panzas' of professional cycling. Always at the back of the group, with no right for a personal victory. These wonderful losers are the true warriors of professional cycling.

They're called water carriers, domestics, 'gregarios', 'Sancho Panzas' of professional cycling. Always at the back of the group, with no right for a personal victory. These wonderful losers are the true warriors of professional cycling.

A cinematic journey into one of the greatest European noble families, the Radziwiłłs. Even the King would stand up when Radziwiłł the Black entered the room. Members of the Radziwiłł family weren’t afraid to defend the Reformers when the fires of the Inquisition burned across Europe. It was a Radziwiłł who went on one of the most challenging pilgrimages from Vilnius to Jerusalem and then published an account, becoming the pioneer of travel literature. A mix of documentary and fiction, past and present, and history and its re-enactment, brings to life the essence of a once-popular saying: “I don’t want to be a king. I want to be a Radziwiłł.”

A cinematic journey into one of the greatest European noble families, the Radziwiłłs. Even the King would stand up when Radziwiłł the Black entered the room. Members of the Radziwiłł family weren’t afraid to defend the Reformers when the fires of the Inquisition burned across Europe. It was a Radziwiłł who went on one of the most challenging pilgrimages from Vilnius to Jerusalem and then published an account, becoming the pioneer of travel literature. A mix of documentary and fiction, past and present, and history and its re-enactment, brings to life the essence of a once-popular saying: “I don’t want to be a king. I want to be a Radziwiłł.”

“Man-Horse” is a film about an old farmer, Jonas, and his horse. It is an intimate story about the existential relationship between human and animal; it is about solitude and the daily effort to survive. The film's director and Jonas Šalomskas are neighbours in the village of Užuguostis. They have known each other for two decades.

A short documentary about a hospital ward for children with leukemia in Lithuania.

A short documentary about a hospital ward for children with leukemia in Lithuania.

Albertas, a lift-operator, sits all day waiting for someone to ring the elevator. His wait transcends his sense of community and symbolism, a sign that someone needs him. The film, rife with surreal humor, is the documentary version of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Albertas, a lift-operator, sits all day waiting for someone to ring the elevator. His wait transcends his sense of community and symbolism, a sign that someone needs him. The film, rife with surreal humor, is the documentary version of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’.

The film features an incredibly low angel’s flight over the dunes of Nida, Trakai castle, the lakes of Aukstaitija (Highlands), the roofs of the Old Town of Vilnius and the fantastically beautiful church steeples. It’s like a mystical gliding just above the treetops, meadows covered by early morning mist, as well as the narrow streets of Vilnius.

Like everything rotates around: vodkas searching, vituperation, floating barge, wind gusts. It seems the people, and the nature feel approaching farewell, and intermittent band, repetitive shots and phrases, accentuated the importance of the passing moment.

Like everything rotates around: vodkas searching, vituperation, floating barge, wind gusts. It seems the people, and the nature feel approaching farewell, and intermittent band, repetitive shots and phrases, accentuated the importance of the passing moment.

Like everything rotates around: vodkas searching, vituperation, floating barge, wind gusts. It seems the people, and the nature feel approaching farewell, and intermittent band, repetitive shots and phrases, accentuated the importance of the passing moment.

The film is like an essay. During spring, the village is soaked in flood. It’s Easter Eve. The villagers are gathering for a strange old ritual in order to watch over The Crucified until the dawn. However, the stillness is being shaken by performers/villagers who are trying to steal The Crucified, as well as a nearby factory noises that remind of space rocket take off site. The film is based on a strange old pagan tradition, which is still preserved only in one village in Samogitia (a part of Lithuania). The tradition goes back to the archaic space of the magic’s of folk theater.

A manifesto for the post-Soviet generation of Lithuanian filmmakers who rejected straightforward declarativity and immersed themselves into the silent observation of reality. Arunas Matelis traces the beginnings of post-Soviet transformation not in the main squares of Vilnius but observes it in the daily life of the inhabitants of Užupis–a historical quarter of the old town of Vilnius. The film, awarded in the Oberhausen, Bornholm and Pärnu film festivals, was also screened as a feature in the Cannes Film Festival.

A manifesto for the post-Soviet generation of Lithuanian filmmakers who rejected straightforward declarativity and immersed themselves into the silent observation of reality. Arunas Matelis traces the beginnings of post-Soviet transformation not in the main squares of Vilnius but observes it in the daily life of the inhabitants of Užupis–a historical quarter of the old town of Vilnius. The film, awarded in the Oberhausen, Bornholm and Pärnu film festivals, was also screened as a feature in the Cannes Film Festival.

With Baltic Way, shot at the end of his film studies, Audrius Stonys seizes the first and irrepressible breath of freedom wafting across the places, bodies and views of his people during the days of “the Baltic way”, a human chain going from Vilnius to Tallinn via Riga, formed of 2 million Baltics demanding their countries’ independence in 1989.