Cinema of Lithuania
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Cinema of Lithuania | |
---|---|
Romuva Cinema, the oldest still operational movie theater in Lithuania | |
No. of screens | 95 (2011)[1] |
• Per capita | 3.4 per 100,000 (2011)[1] |
Main distributors |
Acme Filmai 46.0% Forum Cinemas 45.0% Incognito 5.0%[2] |
Produced feature films (2011)[3] | |
Fictional | 2 |
Animated | - |
Documentary | - |
Number of admissions (2011)[4] | |
Total | 2,968,028 |
• Per capita | 1.01 (2012)[5] |
National films | 299,170 (10.1%) |
Gross box office (2011)[4] | |
Total | EUR 10.7 million |
National films | EUR 1.07 million (10.0%) |
The birth of Cinema of Lithuania dates back to 1909.[6]
History
First Republic. 1918-1940
On July 28, 1896, Thomas Edison live photography session was held in the Concerts Hall of the Botanical Garden of Vilnius University. After a year, similar American movies were available with the addition of special phonograph records that also provided sound. In 1909, Lithuanian cinema pioneers Antanas Račiūnas and Ladislas Starevich released their first movies. Soon the Račiūnas' recordings of Lithuania's views became very popular among the Lithuanian Americans abroad. In 1925, Pranas Valuskis filmed movie Naktis Lietuvoje (Night in Lithuania) about Lithuanian book smugglers that left first bright Lithuanian footprint in Hollywood.
The first short films in 1909 where shot by Antanas Račiūnas who filmed the sights of his native village and Vladislav Starevich who made a short film Prie Nemuno (By the Nieman River, 1909)[7] The first Lithuanian newsreel screened in cinemas in 1921 was made by Feognijus Dunajevas.
The first film production companies and first films schools were founded in 1926. In 1927 a short film Rūpestingas tėvas was produced by Lietfilm. Lithuania's most important film directors during the era were Jurgis Linartas and Vladas Sipaitis. The Soldier Lithuania's Defender (1928) and a feature film Onytė ir Jonelis (1931) produced by a film company Akis, are the most notable films of the era.
Documentary movie chronicles were created by Stepas Uzdonas, Stasys Vainalavičius, Antanas Uibas, Alfonsas Žibas, Kazys Lukšys and others.
The most significant and mature Lithuanian American movie of the time Aukso žąsis (Golden goose) was created in 1965 by Birutė Pūkelevičiūtė that featured motifs from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.
Period of Soviet occupation. 1940 - 1990
After the Soviet takeover in 1940 the Lithuanian Republican Newsreel Studio was founded, in 1962 it was renamed the Lithuanian Film Studio.
The first Soviet era feature film "Marytė" using Lithuanian composer and actors was produced by Mosfilm. Until 1956 all Lithuanian feature films were made in cooperation with other motion-picture studios in Soviet Union focusing on Communist themes.
After the death of Stalin in 1953 a more liberal period in Soviet Union's cultural policies followed. Filmmakers started to enjoy greater artistic control at the same time the Soviet State Committee for Cinematography (Goskino) in Moscow provided the money, state censorship body Glavlit and CPSU Department of Culture had the control over releasing the movies.[6]
In 1957, the post-Stalinist era Lithuanian feature film Žydrasis horizontas (The Blue Horizon) was directed by Vytautas Mikalauskas.
Film directors Gytis Lukšas, Henrikas Šablevičius, Arūnas Žebriūnas, Raimondas Vabalas were able to overcome the obstacles of censorship and create valuable films.
In the late 1980s an independent Lithuanian national cinema industry was reborn during Persestroika social and political reforms in the Soviet Union. The first independent film production studio Kinema was founded by the director Šarūnas Bartas in 1987. Another notable documentary filmmaker emerged during the era is Arūnas Matelis.
Due to Soviet occupation Jonas Mekas was forced to leave Lithuania. In New York he created Anthology Film Archives and together with his brother Adolfas Mekas, he founded Film Culture.
Second Republic. Since 1990 till present
After Lithuania regained independence on March 11, 1990 the state funding of filmmaking drastically decreased and smaller studios emerged instead. During the era about 10 documentaries and 2 feature films have been made yearly. The most notable directors have been Vytautas Žalakevičius, the director of Žvėris išeinantis is jūros (The Beast Emerging from the Sea) (1992), and Algimantas Puipa the winner of the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Lübeck Nordic Film Days and the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Rouen Nordic Film Festival for Vilko dantų karoliai (A Wolf Teeth Necklace) (1997).
After the restoration of the independence, Šarūnas Bartas, Audrius Stonys, Arūnas Matelis, Audrius Juzėnas, Algimantas Puipa, Janina Lapinskaitė, Dijana and her husband Kornelijus Matuzevičius received success in international movie festivals.[8]
The most internationally known film director of Lithuanian descent born in Chicago, Illinois, United States is Robert Zemeckis[9]
In 2011, only one home-grown feature-length film was released in Lithuania.[10]
Actors
Directors
- Arūnas Matelis
- Šarūnas Bartas
- Artūras Barysas
- Romas Lileikis
- Adolfas Mekas
- Jonas Mekas
- Algimantas Puipa
- Donatas Ulvydas
- Jonas Vaitkus
- Emilis Vėlyvis
- Vytautas Žalakevičius
Awards
Festivals
- AXX
- Ciaba Film Festival
- Kaunas International Film Festival
- Kino pavasaris
Acclaimed Lithuanian films
Occupied Lithuania (1940–1990)
Title | Translation | Year | Genre |
---|---|---|---|
Žydrasis horizontas | The Blue Horizon | 1957 | |
Adomas nori būti žmogumi | Adam Wants to Be a Man | 1959 | |
Paskutinė atostogų diena | The Girl and the Echo | 1964 | |
Niekas nenorėjo mirti | Nobody Wanted to Die | 1965 | historical drama |
Jausmai | Feelings | 1968 | historical drama |
Kai aš mažas buvau | When I Was a Child | 1968 | |
Gražuolė | The Beautiful Girl | 1969 | |
Maža išpažintis | A Small Confession | 1971 | |
Herkus Mantas | Herkus Mantas | 1972 | historical drama |
Velnio nuotaka | Devil's Bride | 1973 | musical |
Perskeltas dangus | Shattered Skies | 1974 | drama |
Sadūto Tūto | Sadūto Tūto | 1974 | drama |
Virto ąžuolai | The Fall of Oak Trees | 1976 | drama |
Mano vaikystės ruduo | The Autumn of My Childhood | 1977 | romantic drama |
Riešutų duona | Walnut Bread | 1978 | tragicomedy |
Faktas | Fact | 1981 | psychological thriller |
Skrydis per Atlantą | The Flight Across the Atlantic | 1983 | historic documentary |
Mano mažytė žmona | My Little Wife | 1984 | romantic drama |
Kažkas atsitiko | Something Has Happened | 1986 | music documentary |
Amžinoji šviesa | Eternal Light | 1987 | drama |
Neatmenu tavo veido | I Don't Remember Your Face | 1988 |
Lithuania (1990–present)
Title | Translation | Year | Genre |
---|---|---|---|
Trys dienos | Three Days | 1991 | |
Vilko dantų karoliai | A Wolf Teeth Necklace | 1997 | |
Elzė iš Gilijos | Elze's Life | 2000 | |
Vienui vieni | Utterly Alone | 2004 | historic drama |
Prieš parskrendant į žemę | Before Flying Back to the Earth | 2005 | documentary |
Dievų miškas | Forest of the Gods | 2005 | historic drama |
Zero. Alyvinė Lietuva | Zero: Lilac Lithuania | 2006 | action comedy |
Anastasija | Anastasia | 2006 | historic drama |
Aš esu tu | You Am I | 2006 | romantic drama |
Nuodėmės užkalbėjimas | Whisper of Sin | 2007 | romantic drama |
Nereikalingi žmonės | Loss | 2008 | psychological thriller |
Zero II | Zero II | 2010 | action comedy |
Atsisveikinimas (laimingo žmogaus istorija) | Farewell | 2010 | drama |
Tadas Blinda. Pradžia | Tadas Blinda: The Beginning | 2011 | action and adventure |
Mes už... Lietuvą! | We're for... Lithuania! | 2011 | documentary |
Aurora | Aurora | 2011 | fantasy drama |
Kita svajonių komanda | The Other Dream Team | 2012 | documentary |
Kaip pavogti žmoną | How to Steal a Wife | 2013 | comedy |
Redirected. Už Lietuvą | Redirected | 2014 | action comedy |
See also
References
- 1 2 "Table 8: Cinema Infrastructure - Capacity". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ↑ "Table 6: Share of Top 3 distributors (Excel)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ↑ "Table 1: Feature Film Production - Genre/Method of Shooting". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- 1 2 "Table 11: Exhibition - Admissions & Gross Box Office (GBO)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ↑ "Baltic Films - Facts and figures" (PDF). Nacionālais Kino centrs. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- 1 2 Culture And Customs of the Baltic States By Kevin O'Connor
- ↑ DATA CONCERNING THE HISTORY OF LITHUANIAN CINEMA Archived 2008-09-18 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Kino Lietuvoje istorija". sites.google.com. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
- ↑ Robert Zemeckis @ enertainmentmagazine Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Smith, Ian Hayden (2012). International Film Guide 2012. p. 161. ISBN 978-1908215017.
Further reading
- Lithuanian Cinema: Special Edition for Lithuanian Film Days in Poland 2015, Auksė Kancerevičiūtė [ed.]. Vilnius: Lithuanian Film Centre, 2015. ISBN 6099574409.