Where do Silver Cranes of film fly? 3

Elvina Baužaitė
www.kamane.lt, 2016-05-25

In brief: After the 21st Vilnius international film festival Film Spring's wave of growing film fans died down and the horizon, for the ninth time, showed the approaching Silver Cranes I thought we should have a conversation on the topic of Lithuanian cinema. Film historian Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė - consistently, from the inside and out, subjectively and objectively - will share her thoughts on it.  Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė is a lecturer at Vilnius University Faculty of History. In 2014 she has defended her doctoral thesis Film in the Soviet Lithuania: the Evolution of the System and Change of Functions (1944–1970).

Film historian agrees that one of the most acute problems of Lithuanian cinema is the script or the lack of professional scriptwriters. "In Lithuania script is cultivated as a fundamental basis for a full-fledged film. This approach is determined by the entrenched tradition of auteur film. The prevailing understanding is that a good work can be created only on the basis of auteur script, which is often understood as a work written by the director himself. This, in part creates a certain tension - directors are often incapable of arranging material dramaturgically and there are very few professionals to help them."

According to Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė, the biggest value of contemporary Lithuanian cinema is the formation and arrival of the new generation. She says, "Probably around ten years ago things were calm, but now the signs of renewal can be seen, especially in the short film. Therefore, I never miss an opportunity to get acquainted and see the works of Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre graduates. One of the most eye-catching trends is a return to feature film instead of documentary (which, for many years was the strongest part of Lithuanian cinema)."

Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė says that sometime ago Lithuanian film was distinctive, "I mean the works made in the 60s, or the works created during the early independence period. Now Lithuanian film does not seem distinctive. The search or continuation of possible traditions has stopped. Film creators played out and started repeating themselves. That is why I would link the biggest expectations of renewal with the new generation. The unfolding of that individuality, though, takes time. On the other hand, the most interesting contemporary film works are showed by the people, who are not filmmakers in a traditional sense - Deimantas Narkevičius, Mantas Kvedaravičius, Emilija Škarnulytė."


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