Deep Rivers Run Silent’25

Jiří Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (1966) is a restrained, darkly comic coming-of-age story about the young and inexperienced Miloš Hrma, who serves as a station guard in central Bohemia at the close of the Second World War. Beneath the modest setting of a railway station lies a profound reflection on personal autonomy and resistance in the face of oppressive systems, both political and personal. Menzel subtly blends melancholy with satire to create a nuanced, sensitive, and paradoxically light-hearted tale of first loves and life amidst war. Closely Watched Trains marked a significant step in the 1960s toward demythologizing anti-Nazi resistance, which had long stood as a cornerstone of communist propaganda. The film is regarded as one of the most important works of the New Wave.

The Girls (1978) marks the debut of Sumitra Peries, Sri Lanka’s first female director. Set in rural Sri Lanka, the film is a delicate and poetic tale of two sisters—Kusum and Soma—whose innocence, dreams, and aspirations are shattered by insurmountable class barriers. Set three decades after Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule, the film quietly reflects the social and cultural tensions of a nation still grappling with its colonial legacy. Through the intimate story of these girls, Peries explores the fragile autonomy of youth constrained by tradition, patriarchy, family, and societal expectations. After decades of existing only in poor-quality copies, The Girls was recently restored from three different sources and premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

The Sense of Tuning is a portrait of architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai. It was conceived as a sketch made on the fly, captured in the vibrancy of movement and the moment. Unlike a hagiographic portrait, which provides a fixed image of the man and his work, the film explores the fragile, precious material of the architect’s sensibility with rare spontaneity, shedding light on how his perception of the emotion of space is nurtured.

Conceived as a performative cinematic experience, the film captures the alchemy of a day-long encounter between Bijoy Jain and Bêka & Lemoine. Twelve hours of intense wandering plunge the viewer into the vital energy of Mumbai’s streets. Visual notes taken in the intimate setting of the studio, observations of informal urban design tactics, and visits to production sites reveal how closely Jain’s work is connected to Mumbai, a city that continuously provides him with materials and inspiration. It is a sensory film, where gesture becomes the language of intuition.

About the organisation:

For two decades, Architektūros Fondas has been fostering and nurturing architectural culture. The organization brings together a network of people, initiatives, and ideas, and through its activities, aims to broaden public perspectives on architecture. Key initiatives of Architektūros Fondas include Open House Vilnius, a weekend dedicated to open architecture; the architecture criticism platform Aikštėje; the mentorship program Eksperimentų platforma; lectures, workshops, research, and educational programs. Architektūros Fondas is actively engaged internationally. It participates in the European architecture platform LINA, the innovation alliance Circular Design, and has also initiated and coordinates the collaborative project Open House Europe.

This screening is part of the creative workshop program Altering Matter: Towards Regenerative Practice, organized by Architektūros Fondas. The participants explore the application of local materials and traditional craftsmanship to develop sustainable and environmentally conscious architectural solutions. The creative workshop is part of the Circular Design for Innovation Alliance initiative, jointly funded by the European Union.

In 2021, Baltic Analog Lab (BAL) initiated a research project that explored the roots of Latvian experimental cinema, uncovering its foundations in amateur film clubs and the work of individual filmmakers dedicated to creating artistically driven works. This programme features five films from that tradition – experimental in form, yet imbued with potent political messages, as many were produced during the Soviet era.

The second part of the programme showcases recent works by members of Baltic Analog Lab. Created within a contemporary context and shaped by global experimental film practices, these films were produced at the Lab’s own facilities. Each work has been hand-processed and crafted by the filmmakers themselves, resulting in unique, deeply personal pieces that engage more with psychological and introspective themes than political ones.

Films featured in the programme:

CIRCLE IN THE PROOF (Aplis pierādījumā) | Zigurds Vidiņš | People’s Film Studio of Academy of Sciences | 1980 | 8 min

THE COMING ONE (Nākošais) | Aldis Šēnbergs, Rauls Šēnbergs | People’s Film Studio of Lielupe House of Culture | 1989 | 4 min

HYPERDROME (Hiperdroms) | Māris Viģelis, Egons Zīverts | Eduard Tissé People’s Film Studio | 1989 | 10 min

MEMORY (Memori) | Aleksandrs Ozerkins | Sintēze | ~1990 | 4 min

SUNDAY MORNING | Juris Poškus | 1994 | 6 min

THANATOPHOBIA | Ieva Balode, Michael Higgins | 2022 | 11 min

TEACUP PART 1 | Artūrs Lūriņš | 2023 | 6 min

LOST FPS // THEY COME OUT IN THE DARK | Sintija Andersone | 2023 | 5 min

SEARCHING | Ieva Ozoliņa | 2024 | 3 min

RAINBOW VISION SPECTRAL EXPRESS | Ieva Aleksa, Artūrs Lūriņš, Elīna Matvejeva, Sintija Andersone, Dāvis Gauja, Andrejs Strokins, Mersedes Margoit, Kei Sendak | 2023 | 12 min

About the organisation:

Founded in 2016, Baltic Analog Lab is a filmlab and education centre based in Riga, Latvia. A key focus of the lab is education and collaboration, which is maintained through regular workshops led by BAL members and international guests, as well as international summer schools, film screenings, and expanded cinema events. The main curatorial event of the lab is the experimental film festival Process, which has been held in Riga since 2017.

BAL participates in various international collaborations and projects, one of which is SPECTRAL, a six-year partnership with European film labs from 2022 to 2025. Since 2019, Baltic Analog Lab has also curated and produced a series of events in the Nordic region, the most recent being Expanding North, which aimed to co-curate events in the Nordic countries and present Nordic artists in an international context.

As an educational organization, BAL has organized five international summer schools and, since 2020, has been running BAL Film School – a five-month course in experimental filmmaking for international participants.

Iracema — the newly restored, political and explicit road film was banned by the Brazilian military regime for five years after its initial release in 1975. A young girl named Iracema sets out on a journey with Tião, a truck driver who picks her up, traveling deep into the Amazon rainforest along the newly built Trans-Amazonian Highway. The consequences of this grand, optimistic infrastructure project begin to unfold — exploitation and violence spreading alongside the regime’s expansion. Once hailed as the “spine of progress”, the highway appears instead as an open wound in the heart of the forest. Significant both historically, artistically, and socially, the film navigates the boundaries between documentary and fiction. The interactions between the main characters and the locals reveal an unvarnished truth about the human condition and the collapse of ecosystems.

About the organisation:

Taip Toliau Film Club is a series of film screenings and discussions organized by the film production company Taip Toliau. The 2025 screening cycle focuses on banned and censored films from around the world. Taip Toliau was founded in Vilnius in 2023 by three friends and long-time collaborators — Mantė, Aistė, and Ignė. The name reflects the organisation’s curatorial direction, which moves beyond the dominant European and North American film cultures in Lithuania. It points not only to a geographical shift, but also invites viewers to follow the forms and ideas of curated content, perhaps further than usual, and to allow themselves to be surprised.

On the outskirts of the noisy, overcrowded, and chaotic city of São Paulo, childhood ends before it even begins. The youthful dreams of a young boy, Pixote, are quickly overshadowed by the sheer need to survive – he is forced to confront violence, poverty, and injustice. Life is confined only within two spaces: the juvenile detention center, which resembles a prison, or the street. Here, violence, indifference, and survival instincts outweigh all rules. Friendship becomes the only comfort, albeit a temporary one. The city is portrayed as an indifferent system, where streets, slums, and institutional corridors blend into a seamless, impersonal space with no clear boundaries between the public and the private, between safety and danger. This film serves as a silent indictment of a society that refuses to witness its most vulnerable members.

This screening is an introduction to Skalvija Cinema Center’s August programme, which explores the relationship between people and urban spaces.

About the organisation:

Skalvija Cinema Center is the oldest cinema in the city, dedicated to showcasing European arthouse films and world cinema, classic film screenings, and educational activities. Skalvija is also the organiser of the Vilnius Documentary Film Festival (VDFF), the city’s longest-running festival devoted to creative documentary cinema.

Friendship’s Death is the only solo-directed film by Peter Wollen, a renowned British film theorist and semiotician who co-directed several films with his wife, the feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey. Set in Amman, Jordan, during Black September—a violent 1970 conflict between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Jordanian army—the film depicts an unusual encounter between a British war journalist and an android named Friendship (played by Tilda Swinton), who was sent to Earth on a peace mission but ends up in the middle of political chaos. Holed up in a hotel as the conflict rages outside, the pair enter into a series of deep conversations about mortality, technology, and the nature of warfare. In light of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, Friendship’s Death feels more urgent than ever. It invites us to reflect on solidarity, autonomy, and how we might respond meaningfully to violence from afar. What does it mean to witness? And how can we move from empathy to action?

The Island Funeral is a road movie that follows three Bangkok youths as they travel to Pattani, a province in the predominantly Muslim south of Thailand, to visit a long-lost aunt. When the characters finally reach their destination—a mysterious island where inhabitants of diverse racial and religious backgrounds appear to be living in a state of utopia—we enter a realm where reality and imagination intertwine. In a style reminiscent of her countryman Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pimpaka Towira’s ghostly tale tells a story of politico-religious conflict, as well as social control in contemporary Thailand.

A live broadcast of the radio show Blissfully Yours, this time focusing on New Thai Cinema, will precede the film screening. Afterwards, the Lithuanian music project IXOJI will present a DJ set, followed by a live performance of their latest track, Auspacia. IXOJI is the duo of Rakelė Chijenaitė (violin) and Pijus Džiugas Meižis (electronics). Their work blends influences and experiences from both experimental and classical music. In 2024, IXOJI released their debut album Traxedia, and in 2025, they presented the album in Asia, performing in Bangkok (Thailand), Osaka, and Tokyo (Japan).

About the organisation:

Blissfully Yours is a radio show hosted by film curators Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė and Mantė Valiūnaitė, airing on Radio Vilnius for the third year running. Broadcast every other Monday, the show explores various topics related to film culture—from reviews of new films and festival programmes from Cannes and Berlin to interviews with key figures in the Lithuanian film industry. Radio Vilnius is an independent station that broadcasts not only music and talk shows, but also curates live music events.

This short film programme is a journey through a multifaceted and layered city, where everyday life meets history, and intimate experiences intersect with collective memories. Here, the city is more than just a geographical location—it is a body that holds memory, fragile transformations, and marginalized voices. The urban space becomes a field where social, cultural, and political tensions come to the fore. Through poetic documentary, video performance, and interdisciplinary experiments, the city is revealed not only as a physical place but also as a symbolic space where nostalgia, irony, and critical reflection on communal existence converge.

Henrikas Šablevičius’ A Trip Across Misty Meadows offers a nostalgic look at a vanishing world and its connection to “siaurukas”*. At the same time, Almantas Grikevičius’ Time Passes Through the City evokes the passage of historical time in Vilnius. Aleksas Andriuškevičius’ works, My Journey and Crossing the Landscape, explore daily rituals and the deconstruction of the landscape, inviting us to question what remains when we abandon the city’s walls. Vilnius Service recalls the beginnings of video art and playfully reflects the city as a space of fiction. Vilma Šileikienė’s Sanitary Day and Kristina Inčiūraitė’s Fire create situations that highlight the tension between official order and subtle inner experiences. Meanwhile, Audrius Kasparavičius’ Stoned speaks about the peripheries—places where the city no longer promises but grows weary. These films invite the viewer not only to see but to rethink the city as a living, conflicted, and multifaceted organism.

Films presented in the programme:

A TRIP ACROSS MISTY MEADOWS (Kelionė ūkų lankomis) | Henrikas Šablevičius | 1973 | 10 min

TIME PASSES THROUGH THE CITY (Laikas eina per miestą) | Almantas Grikevičius | 1966 | 18 min

VILNIUS SERVICE (Vilniaus servisas) | Akademinio pasiruošimo grupė | 1993 | 3 min 3 sec

MY JOURNEY (Mano kelionė) | Aleksas Andriuškevičius | 1992 | 5 min 21 sec

FIRE (Ugnis) | Kristina Inčiūraitė | 2005 | 5 min 30 sec

SANITARY DAY (Sanitarinė diena) | Vilma Šileikienė | 1999 | 1 min 48 sec

STONED (Nuo žemės neatsiplėši) | Audrius Kasparavičius | 2003 | 14 min 30 sec

CROSSING THE LANDSCAPE (Peizažo užbraukimas) | Aleksas Andriuškevičius | 1991 | 1 min 20 sec

About the project:

Young Programmers / Young Curators is an educational initiative by Meno Avilys that offers young people the chance to „try on” the role of a film programmer: to watch films, discuss them, curate their film selections, and present them publicly.

This programme, featuring films from the Meno Avilys’ archive, will be presented by Armanda Urpšaitė, Eglė Rimšelytė, Justina Gavėnavičiūtė, Kamilė Zinkevičiūtė, Simas Narušis, Vakarė Saulėnaitė, Žeimantė Gailiūtė. The group is mentored by curator Julija Šilytė.

*Editor’s note: Siaurukas – a Lithuanian narrow-gauge railway, operating since the early 20th century, primarily in the Aukštaitija region. Parts of the line are still preserved as cultural heritage.

In her debut feature film 21:12 Piano Bar, Peruvian-born Belgian filmmaker Mary Jimenez tells the story of Nathalie, a jazz pianist working in a bar, played by renowned American dancer and choreographer Lucinda Childs. After learning about the death of Florence—a woman she never knew—Nathalie sets out to uncover the circumstances surrounding it. Through encounters with those who once knew Florence, she is drawn into a world where pleasure is found through pain, and the boundaries between memory, fantasy, and reality begin to blur.

Shot by Michel Houssiau—known for his collaborations with Chantal Akerman and Samy Szlingerbaum—the film builds a dark and sensuous visual language. Combined with a carefully crafted soundscape, it evokes a world where emotion overtakes chronology. Rather than following a linear plot, 21:12 Piano Bar gradually immerses the viewer in a subjective experience of time. It is a slow, intimate study of the female psyche and the boundaries of autonomy.

21:12 Piano Bar was restored by the Royal Film Archive of Belgium (CINEMATEK) with support from A Season of Classic Films, NextGeneration EU, and the Wallonia–Brussels Federation.

Organised jointly by Cinézine and Sienos Grupė, this documentary evening presents a selection of films addressing migration from multiple perspectives—from a personal journey through the U.S. to the lived realities of a young migrant in Lithuania.

Miko Revereza’s No Data Plan tells the story of the filmmaker as an undocumented migrant who called the United States his home for over two decades. At a time when anti-immigrant sentiment in the country has reached critical levels, he embarks on a cross-country train journey from Los Angeles to New York.

In Between is a short documentary that tells the story of a young man who, in 2021, entered Lithuania through the Belarusian border. After fleeing political unrest in Iraq, he seeks asylum in Vilnius, where he grapples with the search for identity and navigates everyday challenges.

Before the screening, Kadim Mazin, featured in the film In Between, will give a live performance, playing the traditional Middle Eastern string instrument, the oud.

About the organisations:

Cinézine is a travelling film club that hosts screenings of moving images, video art, and artists’ films, followed by informal discussions. The initiative was born out of a desire to bring together film viewers and lovers, as well as to facilitate casual gatherings that are open to spontaneity.

Sienos Grupė is a non-governmental organization and activist initiative, dedicated to ensuring the rights of migrating people in Lithuania, regardless of their legal status. Grounded in principles of respect for human dignity and international commitments, Sienos Grupė provides support in complex and life-threatening situations at the border, in urban areas, and in refugee camps.

When Is Soon brings together three prominent voices from Vilnius in a concert setting. Introspective, poetic, and dreamlike sounds weave a cohesive series of intimate narratives, reflecting urban melancholy, the passage of time, anticipation, and fragments of memory. This emotionally rich music transforms into songs, embracing the openness and spontaneity of live performance.

About the performers:

Lazydolphin—“the only karaoke I’m not afraid to sing,” says Dominyka Kriščiūnaitė, the sole member of the project.

Lazydolphin is Dominyka’s solo endeavor, born around 2009—“when a friend first showed me the audio recording program Audacity, and my dad bought me a microphone for ten litas.”

In 2025, Lazydolphin released her second album, Music for Stretching, where many sonic rivers converge: bass, synths, vocals, swirling percussion and drums. There’s tension in between the lines, but the music remains luminous. Quietly, it raises loud questions about everyday happenings—both inner and outer. Sad songs, yet they move you—in the gut, and a little in the feet too.

June Drifter is a shadow-experimental home-recording project created by singer Alina Orlova in 2016. For a couple of years, it existed quietly on SoundCloud. Layers of voice, poetry, and piano improvisations intertwine with fragments of everyday sounds, drifting electric guitar melodies, and a collage of atmospheric urban noise.

A live musical performance, created especially for the When Is Soon evening, will be accompanied by dreamlike, DIY video experiments.

Ugnė Uma’s sound blends modern classical with urban folklore—an austere hymn echoing through the warped frame of a detuned piano. It takes the shape of an ascetic oratorio, crafted from chopped-up DIY house harmonies, radio samples, and a “hiccuping” piano sustain pedal. A ballad of a denim-clad siren in the big city.

Planetary Boundaries is a curated selection of films that challenge everyday habits and highlight how they contribute to the growing pressure on our only home, planet Earth.

About the organisation:

Valga Hot Shorts is an annual short film festival held in the town of Valga, Estonia. Each July, the festival brings together film enthusiasts for a weekend dedicated to outstanding short films from Estonia and beyond. In addition to its main programme, the festival presents a diverse selection of special screenings and cultural events that take place throughout the town.

Films presented in the programme:

DARWIN’S DARLINGS | Ildze Felsberga | Latvia | 2025 | 13 min

This film offers a 13-minute observation by the reptile section of a zoo, revealing insights into the animals on both sides of the glass barrier and their interactions.

THE WEIGHT OF LIGHT (Pimeala) | Anna Hints | Estonia, France | 2024 | 19 min

Surya, a teenage ragpicker, finds a camera atop a massive garbage mountain in Delhi. Through its lens, she gains a window into the untold stories of the women around her.

THE STAG (Gong lu) | Chu An | Taivanas | 2023 | 15 min

At a deer farm in Changhua County, a middle-aged man is asked to cut off a stag’s antlers in front of his two kids.

SWEET TOOTH (Les dents du bonheurs) | Josephine Darcy Hopkins | France, Belgium | 2023 | 26 min

Madeleine, the daughter of a middle-class woman who provides manicure services, accompanies her mother on a visit to a client’s home. Upon arrival, she is approached by three girls her age who invite her to play a challenging board game.

BUTTERFLY (Leptir) | Sunčana Brkulj | Croatia, Denmark | 2024 | 8 min

A community of garden creatures all contribute to the flow of life by drawing water from a fountain. When a butterfly becomes trapped in the fountain, they encounter an unfamiliar challenge.

MAGNIFICA: PASSIVE INTRUDER (Magnifica: Kutsumaton vieras) | Ville Koskinen | Finland, Sweden | 2024 | 21 min

Magnifica: Passive Intruder is a film about Finnish summer house owners living alongside an uninvited guest—the Pectinatella magnifica. The arrival of these green, slimy blobs into a safe and familiar environment stirs discomfort among the self-indulgent middle class.

Aurora Festival invites audiences to a summer evening screening featuring sensitive, inspiring, and bold stories told through the lens of young filmmakers. This special screening offers insight into the concerns of today’s young creators—the themes they choose to explore, the questions they raise, and the ways they use cinematic language for self-expression and reflection. Featuring eleven films by school-aged filmmakers, the program presents a selection from the competitive sections of the National Student Film Festival Aurora.

During a creative summer film camp in Nida, students from the Skalvija Film Academy produced music videos for Lithuanian bands, utilizing an analog film format. All videos were shot using 8mm Super 8 cameras on color Kodak Ektachrome film stock. Each piece is an independent creation by the young filmmakers, from concept and planning to shooting, developing the film, and editing, all of which are completed by the students themselves.

Group mentors: film director Domas Petronis, interdisciplinary artist, VJ Vytautas Narbutas, film director Elzė Vozbinaitė, and film stock mentor, technician Vytautas Kazimieras Juozėnas “Škicas”.

Films:

D/EJEC.TED | dir. Rokas Narkevičius | 2025 | Jieznas | experimental | 5 min

STOTELĖ | dir. Oskaras Vančys | 2025 | Vilnius | feature | 6 min | Youngblood Film School | supervisor Vilius Lukošius

SOLUS | dir. Martynas Alčauskis | 2024 | Klaipėda | experimental | 2 min | Klaipėda MSC studio „Febas“ | supervisor Valdas Ramanauskas

PUPELĖ | dir. Dainora Vasiliauskaitė | 2024 | Vilnius | documentary | 4 min | Vilnius Jesuit High School | supervisor Marius Krivičius

DEGTUKŲ DĖŽUTĖ | dir. Milda Baronaitė | 2025 | Molėtai | feature | 17 min 

DALYKAI TARP VISKO | dir. Saulė Stoškutė | 2025 | Šiauliai | experimental | 6 min | Youngblood Film School

BILDUKAS | dir. Inga Drobnica | 2025 | Grigiškės | animation | 3 min | Grigiškės Art School | supervisor Darius Jaruševičius

Αποξένωση [APOXÉNOSI] | dir. Adelė Jakimavičiūtė | 2025 | Vilnius | documentary| 3 min

AŠ GIRDŽIU | dir. Dorotėja Bachtijeva | 2025 | Druskininkai | experimental | 4 min | Druskininkai „Rytas“ High School | supervisor Virginijus Sutkus

KAMELEON | dir. Aurora Degesytė | 2025 | Vilnius | feature | 8 min | supervisor Gabrielė Andruškėvič

1985 | dir. Aleksas Mankeliūnas | 2024 | Grigiškės | animation | 3 min. | Grigiškės Art School | supervisor Darius Jaruševičius

Music Videos:

KANALIZACIJA – TEENAGE HANGOUT SPOT | supervisor Elzė Vozbinaitė | Creative Team: Povilas Beišys, Beatričė Lazauskaitė, Ūla Misiukonytė, Smiltė Marija Sabakonytė, Augustė Dirvanskytė, Nikas Anuškevičius, Gabija Blažytė

KAMANIŲ ŠILELIS – KARVEDYS PAVARGO NUGALĖTI | supervisor Vytautas Narbutas | Creative Team: Minija Skuodaitė, Smiltė Tarabildaitė, Matas Uleckas, Adelė Gresiūtė, Mykolas Mameniškis, Lina Bloznelytė, Henrieta Borisevičiūtė, Domicelė Šaučiūnaitė

DADCAP – QUAKE3 LAN P4ARTY | supervisor Domas Petronis | Creative Team: Soraja Bložytė, Sofija Žvalionytė, Žiedė Maželytė, Eimantė Ališauskaitė, Agota Kliučinskaitė, Austėja Tubutytė, Ainis Vaičiulis, Amelija Norvaišaitė

About the organisations:

National Student Film Festival Aurora is a unique festival dedicated to films created by school-aged filmmakers, bringing together communities of education, culture, and cinema. It not only offers young people a safe space for creative expression but also promotes their visibility, encourages active participation in cultural life, and fosters the values of community, creativity, and openness.

Skalvija Film Academy, or simply SKA, is a film course program for young people aged 15 to 18. Founded in 2007 by the Skalvija Cinema Center, the academy introduces students to the fundamentals of filmmaking, including hands-on work with film equipment, and provides a deeper understanding of film history, theory, and the creative process. The courses are taught by professional filmmakers, including directors, cinematographers, set and costume designers, editors, actors, and other industry specialists.

Rainbow Musical

I want to be openly whole

Not in parts

See others whole

Share thoughts, joys, and sorrows as a whole

No more dividing of my being

I yearn to be

Unresctricted

Entirety

Colors, glitter, and uncomfortably real experiences that many do not experience: queer culture is brimming with stage-worthy aesthetics and everyday dramatic narratives. Rainbow Musical strives to reveal the layers under stereotypes and glitter, inviting the audience to witness this unique process. 

Rainbow Musical is the result of an ongoing communal co-creation process, with real queer people and their experiences at its center. Therefore, the work is constantly growing and changing, and the audience is invited to a unique stage experience every time.

It is a contemporary stage work created following the principles of autobiographical documentary theatre and co-creation. The authors who comprise the creative team are from the new generation of professionals and amateurs who belong to or are closely affiliated with the queer community. The creative process is based on collective principles: the libretto, the initial musical compositions, and other elements are developed by the entire team, drawing on the real-life experiences of the co-creators and the performers. This process is guided, and the creative fragments are shaped into a cohesive work by the professional team members—the mentors. Both the cast of the musical and its content are constantly evolving.

Co-authors, performers: Ajus Jurgaitis, Frydrichas Mireckas, Saša Kochan, Jūra Elena Šedytė, Mindaugas Karalius, Diana Karlauskaitė, Domantas Bagdonas, Ruu Šerberytė, Egidijus Skužinskas, Vytautas Paplauskas, Eglė Nešukaitytė, Edvinas Grinkevičius, Witold Leon Łowczyk

Composer/mentor: Jūra Elena Šedytė 

Playwright/mentor: Gabrielė Labanauskaitė

Concept author, director/mentor: Greta Štiormer

Facilitator: Vika Matuzaitė 

Producer/mentor: Asta Volungė

Visual co-creators: Vaida Blažytė, Ona Stasiulevičiūtė, Milda Matuzonytė, Birutė Paplauskaitė

Co-creators: Saulė Zokaitytė, Alexandra Bondarev, Agnė Semenovičiūtė, Liepa Kairytė

^{Photo credits: Emilija Filipenkovaitė}

About the film:

Kill Me Gently (Ubij me nežno) | dir. Boštjan Hladnik | 1979 | Yugoslavia (Slovenia) | 99 min | PG-16 

A fabulous old auntie lives in an opulent villa and translates crime stories, takes frequent trips with her Porsche, and, when at home, hosts campy disco parties featuring young leather-clad men. One day, she gets a visit from her niece Julija, Julija’s husband David, and their young lover Adam. When Cita – the aunt’s book editor – joins in, the villa turns into a commune of free love practitioners. But when the seaside paradise becomes the scene of several puzzling crimes and deaths, the campy erotic comedy turns into a bizarre whodunit movie.

Synopsis by Jasmina Šepetavc

About the organisation:

Vilnius Queer Festival Kreivės is a cultural and social initiative. Since 2014, they have been creating a space for connections, self-expression, and change through queer cultural events—including film screenings, readings, exhibitions, and parties. The festival is organised by išgirsti, building on earlier practices and cooperating with other queer organisations, individual activists, and artists. The 12th edition of Kreivės will take place in Vilnius on September 5–8, 2025, with additional events held throughout the year in Vilnius and Kaunas.

Set during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Bona is a powerful story about a young woman’s journey through obsession, humiliation, and quiet resistance. Bona (played by legendary actress Nora Aunor) is a middle-class student who becomes fascinated with Gardo (Philip Salvador), a small-time actor. She drops out of school to follow him, and after being disowned by her family, she moves into his cramped home in the slums of Manila. 

Directed by Lino Brocka—one of the most critical voices in Filipino cinema—Bona blends emotional drama with a sharp critique of poverty, gender roles, and power. It explores how a woman’s devotion can lead to self-erasure, and how larger forces like patriarchy, politics, and celebrity culture shape personal choices. 

Known for more glamorous roles, Aunor used her superstardom to produce Bona and embody a raw, unvarnished character, transforming her public image to confront more profound social inequalities. A landmark of Philippine cinema, Bona asks: How far can someone be pushed before they say “enough”? And what does it take to reclaim one’s voice?

Three go-go dancers with a taste for danger and speed race through the desert in their sports cars. Led by the whip-wielding Varla, the trio leaves behind a trail of chaos and desire. Their encounter with an innocent young couple, the joyride takes a dark turn, leading them to a remote ranch inhabited by an elderly man in a wheelchair and his two sons. What begins as a game of cat and mouse quickly escalates into a brutal showdown.

Even six decades after its original theatrical release, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! continues to entice and thrill audiences. Conceived as a gender-swapped follow-up to Russ Meyer’s successful Motorpsycho!, the film was poorly received upon its release. Critics dismissed it as cheap erotic content—despite not being Meyer’s most provocative work—and audiences were not quite sure what to make of its strong female leads—especially the rage-fueled, sharp-tongued Tura Satana. However, over time, it was precisely these elements, along with a subtle feminist sensibility, that transformed the film into the cult cinema classic it is today.

About the organisation:

Mondo Bizarro is a festival and monthly screening series dedicated to horror, fantasy, and cult cinema, with a focus on the global heritage of genre film. Mondo Bizarro aims to showcase fantasy, action, sci-fi, and horror films from a wide range of countries, while also drawing attention to the creators behind these works. Now in its fifth edition, the festival will take place from September 11 to 14.

About the artist:

Lina Lapelytė, based in Vilnius and London, is an artist whose performance-based practice is grounded in musical composition and sound. Her work critically engages with constructs of pop culture, gender norms, and collective memory, particularly nostalgia. Through the incorporation of both professional and untrained performers, she explores vocal expression across diverse musical traditions, including popular music and opera. These performative acts of singing are conceived as collective, affective experiences that interrogate notions of vulnerability, voice, and the mechanisms of silencing within social and cultural frameworks.

Lapelytė’s works were shown at Festival d’Automne/Bourse de Commerce, Paris (2024); Public Art Munich (2024); Wiener Festwochen (2023); FRAC, Nantes (2022); Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2022); SPACE, London (2022); Gherdeina Biennale (2022); Zurcher Theater Spektakel (2022); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2021); 13th Kaunas Biennial (2021); BAM, NY (2021); MOCA, Los Angeles (2021); Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (2021); Tai Kwun, Hong Kong (2021); Glasgow International (2021); Riga Biennial RIBOCA2 (2020); Cartier Foundation, Paris (2019); Venice Biennial, Venice (2016 & 2019); Waiting for another coming, CCA Ujazdowski, Warsaw (2018); Pirouette, Rupert (2017); Magma, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (2017); Moderna Museet, Malmo (2017); FIAC, Paris (2017); Peculiar People, Focal Point Gallery.

THE SPEECH | 2024 | 21 min

Having devoted considerable attention to language in recent years, Lapelytė has been exploring its limitations. To her, language increasingly appears as a tool of manipulation, prompting a search for alternative forms of communication, such as care and attentiveness to others, non-human life, and the environment. Created for the Festival d’Automne à Paris, The Speech takes a radical approach by erasing all linguistic references. Nearly one hundred local children create a live sound sculpture, “speaking” through imitated animal sounds. The work reflects on the failure of language, human fragility, empathy, imitation as a way of learning, and the unheard voices of the marginalized. While seemingly playful, the performance highlights a child’s still-forming sense of self, where the line between “I” and “other” is not yet clearly defined. Lapelytė’s delicate, ephemeral intervention envisions a primordial world where humans and animals are still taking shape, inviting the audience to listen to a chimeric chorus of familiar and abstract sounds.

IN THE DARK, WE PLAY | 2025 | 36 min 36 sec

In the Dark, We Play is a site-specific performative video work by Lina Lapelytė, created in collaboration with Nouria Bah, Anat Ben-David, Angharad Davies, Sharon Gal, Rebecca Horrox, and Martynas Norvaišas. Filmed inside The Cosmic House—Charles Jencks’ former home and a postmodern architectural manifesto—the work turns the space into a living stage for a polyphonic encounter between sound, architecture, and layered histories.

Drawing from William Stok’s Cultural History Frieze, which charts a lineage of thinkers from Imhotep to Hannah Arendt, the piece reflects on humanity’s ongoing search for meaning. However, rather than offering grand narratives, it foregrounds the personal, the mundane, and the poetic as equally significant forces.

Through a series of filmed musical and performative fragments, the work navigates cosmic and philosophical themes by juxtaposing the intellectual with the sensory, the historical with the contemporary. Performers move through the space like orbiting bodies—sometimes lingering with symbolic details, sometimes passing with fleeting gestures—creating a rhythm of presence, attention, and ambiguity.

About the organisation:

A division of the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Sapieha Palace hosts contemporary art exhibitions, a moving images programme, guided tours, educational activities, concerts, and other cultural events, alongside ongoing restoration research.

The monthly programme Moving Images at Sapieha Palace aims to showcase the practices of contemporary Lithuanian and international artists, who maintain a critical stance on the present and explore the ways we perceive and experience the world. The screenings and conversations of the first season focus on the archive, memory, language, and feminist world-making.