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Vilnius Film Festival · 2022

Vilnius Film Festival 2022

Panorama

Programme

21 films · 11 reviews

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After Blue

Review preview for After Blue

Where narrative fails, look for symbolism; and there are symbols aplenty. It’s just not clear that they mean anything coherent.

Jane Fae · 3 out of 5
It's a distant future, on a savage planet, where only women can survive. The lonely teenager Roxy frees a criminal buried in the sand. Once freed, the woman, who goes by the name of Kate Bush, starts spreading fear and death again.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Bertrand Mandico; Writer: Bertrand Mandico; Stars: Elina Löwensohn, Paula Luna, Vimala Pons, Agata Buzek, Michaël Erpelding, Mara Taquin, Claïna Clavaron, Claire Duburcq, Anaïs Thomas, Pauline Lorillard, Delphine Chuillot, Tamar Baruch, Camille Rutherford, Alexandra Stewart, Nathalie Richard)

Full review

Aleph

Review preview for Aleph

Aleph shows how big our world is, how manifold, how beautiful, and how the really important riddles are the same for everybody.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
The director takes a puzzle-like approach, inspired by the writings of Jorge Luis Borges

(Country: US, Croatia, Qatar; Year: 2021; Director: Iva Radivojevic; Writer: Iva Radivojevic; Stars: Anne Waldman, Guillermina Pico, Bouamama BenFareh, Zarko Lausevic, Irina Giri, Nara Rakchang, Desire Marea, Alicia Labraga, Boudaoud Zaoui, Masa Dakic, Namita Kandel, Masande Nthato Masekwameng, Dimitris Kantzoglou)

Full review See: Iva Radivojević in conversation on Anne Waldman, Jorge Luis Borges, Alain Resnais, Mohammed Dib, and Aleph , Iva Radivojević in conversation on Aleph, a 50th anniversary New Directors/New Films highlight

Atlantide

Daniele is a young man from Sant’Erasmo, an island on the edges of the Venice Lagoon, where he dreams of building a souped up motorboat with unfortunate consequences.

(Country: Italy, France, United States, Qatar; Year: 2021; Director: Yuri Ancarani; Stars: Daniele Barison, Bianka Berényi, Maila Dabalà, Alberto Tedesco)

Camila Comes Out At Night

When her grandmother falls seriously ill, Camila must move to Buenos Aires, leaving her friends and an easy-going comprehensive school for a traditional private institution. Camila’s ferocious but immature temperament will be put to the test.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Inés María Barrionuevo; Writer: Andrés Aloi, Inés María Barrionuevo; Stars: Nina Dziembrowski, Adriana Ferrer, Carolina Rojas, Federico Sack, Maite Valero)

Drunken Birds

A quest to find his long-lost love has brought Willy from Central Mexico to Montréal. Once there, he is hired as a seasonal worker at the farm.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Ivan Grbovic; Writer: Ivan Grbovic, Sara Mishara; Stars: Jorge Antonio Guerrero, Hélène Florent, Claude Legault, Marine Johnson, Maxime Dumontier, Amaryllis Tremblay, Karl Walcott, Yoshira Escárrega, Pedro Hernández, Gilberto Barraza, Normand D'Amour, Maria Yaya, David Illescas, Marco Ledezma, Pablo Lugo Herrara)

Everything Will Change

In a dystopian 2054, three young rebels go on a journey to find traces of the long lost beauty of nature, hoping to discover what happened to their planet.

(Country: Germany, Netherlands; Year: 2021; Director: Marten Persiel; Writer: Marten Persiel, Aisha Prigann; Stars: Jessamine-Bliss Bell, Jacqueline Chan, Vibeke Hastrup, Gert Jan Louwe, Paul G. Raymond, Noah Saavedra)

Forest - I See You Everywhere (Rengeteg - mindenhol látlak)

A sequel to Fliegauf's earlier film Forest.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2021; Director: Benedek Fliegauf; Writer: Benedek Fliegauf; Stars: Juli Jakab, Eszter Balla, Ági Gubík, Mihály Vig, Péter Fancsikai, Zsolt Végh, Eliza Sodró, Felicián Keresztes, István Lénárt, Natasa Kovalik, Lilla Kizlinger, Laszlo Cziffer, Réka Lukoviczki, András Lukács, Barnabás Prukner)

For A Fistful Of Fries (Poulet frites)

Inspector Lemoine is investigating a murder case in a dodgy district of Brussels. Kalima Sissou, an occasional street worker, has been murdered in her apartment. All signs point to Alain, a former butcher and her ex-boyfriend, except for his lack of recollection of that evening.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Yves Hinant, Jean Libon; Writer: Yves Hinant, Jean Libon; Stars: Anne Gruwez, Jean-Michel Lemoine)

Gossamer Folds

In 1986, ten-year-old Tate is uprooted and unwillingly moved to the suburbs of Kansas City. As his parent's marriage unravels, Tate finds solace in the unlikely friendships of his next-door neighbours: a retired college professor and his transgender daughter, Gossamer.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Lisa Donato; Writer: Bridget Flanery; Stars: Jackson Robert Scott, Alexandra Grey, Sprague Grayden, Shane West)

The Great Movement (El Gran Movimiento)

Review preview for The Great Movement

The multi-layered emotional consideration of themes, in particular the clash of cultural traditions and modernity - the building up of the city mirroring the destruction of the people within it and the natural landscape - are resonant and engaging.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Mystical portrait of the contemporary central South American cityscape and those who work within its bowels and environs.

(Country: Bolivia, France, Qatar, Switzerland; Year: 2021; Director: Kiro Russo; Writer: Kiro Russo; Stars: Francisa Arce de Aro, Israel Hurtado, Gustavo Milán Ticona, Julio César Ticona, Max Bautista Uchasara)

Full review

Intensive Life Unit (Jednotka Intenzivního Zivota, Jednotka Intenzivního Zivota)

A meditation on the ethics of palliative care..

(Country: Czech Republic; Year: 2021; Director: Adéla Komrzý; Writer: Adéla Komrzý)

Jack's Ride

At 63 years old and almost retired, Joaquim is forced to follow job centre rules so he can collect unemployment benefits. Despite knowing that he will never return to active life, he must go from company to company asking for stamps to attest that he is looking for work. In these trips he reminisces about his life.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2021; Director: Susana Nobre; Writer: Susana Nobre; Stars: Maria Carvalho, Amindo Martins Rato, Joaquim Veríssimo)

Medusa

Review preview for Medusa

At the genre level, Medusa is failing. Simply put: it's not scary.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 2 out of 5
A woman who is part of a gang who hunt those who transgress their religious ideals, finds her values changing dramatically after she is injured.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Anita Rocha da Silveira; Writer: Anita Rocha da Silveira; Stars: Bruna Linzmeyer, Thiago Fragoso, Felipe Frazão, Joana Medeiros, Lara Tremouroux, Mariana Oliveira)

Full review

Mirror

Review preview for Mirror

The arc of the film isn't particularly defined, but this is a positive in some ways as the filmmakers aren't trying to 'force' any sort of triumph in adversity narrative.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary about the lives of a group of acid attack survivors.

(Country: India, Lithuania, South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Siddhant Sarin)

Full review See: Siddhant Sarin on his documentary Mirror

Moncys. Samogitian from Paris (Mončys. Žemaitis iš Paryžiaus)

Who was Antanas Mončys? A Lithuanian. A Samogitian. An emigrant. A Parisian. A son. Father. Husband. Brother. Sculptor. A child who transformed a small chain of a spinning wheel into the symbol of his difficult path – from a small Lithuanian village to the salons of Paris.

(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2022; Director: Linus Mikuta)

Neptune Frost

Review preview for Neptune Frost

Set in a futuristic Rwanda, the themes are as old as the hills - with colonialism, identity and self-determination chief among them.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The love story between an African intersex runaway and a coltan miner, and the virtual marvel born as a result of their union.

(Country: US, France, Rwanda; Year: 2021; Director: Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams; Writer: Saul Williams; Stars: Eliane Umuhire, Eliane Umuhire)

Full review

A Night Of Knowing Nothing

Review preview for A Night Of Knowing Nothing

An oneiric, sensory and imaginative journey documenting being young in contemporary India.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 4 out of 5
A poetic record of the experience of being a young Indian in a land of violence.

(Country: India, France; Year: 2021; Director: Payal Kapadia)

Full review

Otar's Death (Otarova Smrt)

Review preview for Otar's Death

Bliadze observes the proceedings with a cool and non-judgemental detachment and an eye for the absurd.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Two families, each facing their own existential difficulties, are brought together by an unfortunate event.

(Country: Georgia, Germany, Lithuania; Year: 2021; Director: Ioseb "Soso" Bliadze; Writer: Elmar Imanov, Ioseb "Soso" Bliadze; Stars: Nutsa Kukhianidze, Iva Kimeridze, Eka Chavleishvili, Achi Makalatia)

Full review

Songs For A Fox (Dainos lapei)

Review preview for Songs For A Fox

Vildziunas' film never slackens in its imagination but it becomes increasingly self-indulgent as things progress.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
After his lover's death, a rock singer studies the art of lucid dreaming and descends into a netherworld in hopes of being together again.

(Country: Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia; Year: 2021; Director: Kristijonas Vildziunas; Writer: Kristijonas Vildziunas; Stars: Agnese Cirule, Lukas Malinauskas, Mantas Zemleckas, Agnieska Ravdo, Saulius Bareikis)

Full review

Utama

Review preview for Utama

Grisi has a background in photography and though the images are moving here, there's often a stillness to them and they are no less perfectly composed.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
In the Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living the same daily life for years. When an uncommon long drought threatens their entire way of life, Virginio and his wife Sisa face the dilemma of resisting or being defeated by the environment and time itself.

(Country: Bolivia, Uruguay, France; Year: 2022; Director: Alejandro Loayza Grisi; Writer: Alejandro Loayza Grisi; Stars: José Calcina, Luisa Quispe, Santos Choque)

Full review See: Alejandro Loayza Grisi on the challenges of shooting Utama

Women Do Cry

Review preview for Women Do Cry

Bakalova, who will be familiar to many English-speaking viewers from her multi-award winning turn in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, shows great depth here in a performance which is equally deserving of notice.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A family full of women in a society where 'gender' is not a familiar word.

(Country: Bulgaria, France; Year: 2021; Director: Vesela Kazakova, Mina Mileva; Writer: Bilyana Kazakova, Vesela Kazakova, Mina Mileva; Stars: Maria Bakalova, Vesela Kazakova, Bilyana Kazakova)

Full review