During the XIX International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography PLUS CAMERIMAGE we will present the films of Šarūnas Bartas, Lithuanian master of cinema who creates his film magic for more than two decades. Bartas not only directs, but also writes screenplays and often works as a cinematographer. His films do not have any fixed narrative structures, thus stimulating viewers to embrace the reality on the screen. They are far more about evocative images than dialogues, hence they are often compared with the work of Robert Bresson, especially in case of naturalistic style of acting. In his films Bartas touches upon many universal themes, though he is also interested in post-Soviet transformations in Lithuania.

Šarūnas Bartas
The films by Šarūnas Bartas propose a challenge to the viewer, but they also offer many hidden treasures. This is the auteur's cinema in its purest form. Plus Camerimage will screen the following films:


"The Corridor" / "Koridorius"

In a dismal and deteriorated condominium in Vilnius, Lithuania, the camera follows people living there. They look silently and meaningfully into the camera, thus confronting the spectator with their disillusioned and desperate existence. These are the staring eyes of hopeless and uninspired people who have little to live and care for in their secluded existence. A soundscape of radio broadcasts, distant voices and children crying suggests a life in the past. These echo the years before the great disillusion, creating an intimate portrayal of collective despair.

"Eastern Drift" / "Indigène d'Eurasie"

Gena is under no illusions about his situation. In the prologue of the film, he briefly sketches out his life in a monotone voiceover: growing up without parents, receiving an “education" from his criminal uncle, the initial protection money rackets in the wake of privatisations in the crumbling Soviet Union, and later international drug dealing. His enemies are numerous but not easy to recognise. Although there is only a small chance that Gena will be able to trade in his nomadic existence between Asia and Europe for a “normal life", he takes the plunge anyway.

Still from "Eastern Drift"
"Few of Us" / "Wir sind wenige"

Who's the young girl observing the wild and boundless landscape through the helicopter window? What is she looking for in land untouched by civilization and inhabited only by the Tofalars, God's forgotten people?

"The House" / "A Casa"

This is my home. I cannot tell exactly where it is, in which place of the world. I just know that the home is mine. A lot of people have been living in my home. Some have just entered and left it, some have been staying here longer. A few of them still live here.

Still from "Seven Invisible Men"
"Seven Invisible Men" / "Septyni nematomi zmones"

The action takes place in the Crimea, in the southern part of the former Soviet Union. All of the characters are people hostile to society - they've got their own reasons for being so, their own lack of understanding. Hostility obliges them to flee, to escape from the law and from themselves. During this voyage from which there is no return, feelings follow their own path, oscillating from joy to despair, from hate to love. The rope binding these fates together is already stretched tight and now difficult to break.