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Baltic Film Culture Under the Stars

'Lithuanian Cinema Goes Berlin' Festival was promoted by the Embassy of Lithuania to Germany

August 08th, 2016
Daniel Erhardt, News from Berlin
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The summer edition of this ultimate festival celebrating contemporary Lithuanian short film culture took place last Friday, July 22nd. A selection reviewing the eight most exciting short films spanning all genres from the past five editions of the festival was projected in the Open Air Cinema Island at Cassiopeia.

The retrospective spanned a very varied analysis of the development of Lithuanian society through the films’ topics, as well as featuring universal ones. For instance, the subject the post-Soviet transformation of the recently independent Lithuania through the eyes of a weary wife is approached in the 2009 drama “It Would Be Splendid, Yet…” by Lina Lužitė.

Regarding universal topics, the topic of self-discovery is the one approached in the 2012 poetry/music video “Who?” by Saulé Norkuté, the 2008 romantic comedy “Noroutine” by Jūratė Samulionytė and the 2010 irony-infused mystery comedy “Not Lucky Today” by Dovilė Šarutytė.

Meanwhile, the topics of interpersonal relations are the center of attention in the 2014 drama “Doggone” by Domas Petronis and the romance drama “Too Young to Drive” by Marija Stonytė, from the same year. This last film was presented the Audience Award at last year’s “Lithuania Cinema Goes Berlin” festival.

These topics are showcased as universally human ones, with which spectators can identify themselves in their daily lives. Therefore, they end up creating a supra-cultural community of familiar situations that transcend their apparently ordinary character. The sense of collectiveness behind these brief depictions is what highlights the short films genre’s role in intercultural communication.

Even the film genre culture exchange has had its place within the program, through the 2011 adventure parody trilogy “Super M Adventures” by Arūnas Eimulis, a spoof of Superman movies inspired by the 1970s Turkish Trash movies genre.

The event was promoted by the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Federal Republic of Germany.

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News from Berlin