On the evening of July 1, the Rail Park echoed not only with passing trains but also with the buzz of the audience and the soundtrack of a film, marking the opening of the sixth edition of Deep Rivers Run Silent 2025, a cultural events cycle organized by the Media Education and Research Center Meno Avilys. Though the Rail Park Hangar was still unfamiliar to many Vilnius residents, the opening night drew over 250 visitors. Between now and August 7, this newly activated Vilnius space will host 18 free events: film screenings, concerts, live radio listening sessions, a theatrical performance, discussions, and artist talks.
The opening night began with welcome speeches by programme director Ona Kotryna Dikavičiūtė and partner programme curator Martyna Ratnik. The organizers emphasized that collaboration with local cultural and activist organizations remains at the core of the project — this year, no fewer than 15 partners have joined Deep Rivers Run Silent. Their events revolve around the theme of shifting spaces and the (un)freedom to move within them. Meanwhile, the Meno Avilys-curated program will feature five archival, restored, and rarely screened films that explore ways of reclaiming agency in the face of social, political, and personal restrictions. One of them — Czech director Jiří Menzel’s 1966 classic Closely Watched Trains — was chosen as the festival’s opening film. The choice was deliberate: in 2025 Meno Avilys celebrates its 20th anniversary, and Closely Watched Trains was the very first film screened during its inaugural open-air cinema session.
The screening was introduced by Meno Avilys founders — film educator Gintė Žulytė and cultural historian and media researcher Dr. Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė. They shared stories about the organization’s beginnings: Meno Avilys was born from a desire to bring cinema outdoors, pioneering open-air screenings in Lithuania. Žulytė and Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė also expressed gratitude to film critic Živilė Pipinytė, who helped shape the very first program, to program director Ona Kotryna Dikavičiūtė for carrying the mission forward 20 years later, and to the current team for their dedication.
Closely Watched Trains is a restrained yet darkly humorous coming-of-age story about the inexperienced Miloš Hrma, a young station guard in Central Bohemia at the end of World War II. Beneath the modest setting of the railway station lies a profound reflection on personal autonomy and resistance against systems of oppression — both political and intimate. With sensitivity and wit, Jiří Menzel weaves together melancholy and satire, offering a humane, tender, and paradoxically luminous story of first loves and life in the shadow of war.
The summer program still holds 17 more events, including partner contributions by: the NGO Architecture Fund, the film production company Taip toliau, Skalvija Cinema Center, community radio Radio Vilnius and the program Blissfully Yours, the educational film initiative Young Programmers, the film club Cinézine and the migrant rights NGO Sienos Grupė, the National Student Film Festival Aurora and the Skalvija Film Academy, Vilnius Queer Festival Kreivės and the LGBT+ project Rainbow Musical, the cult and genre film series Mondo Bizarro, the Contemporary Art Centre’s cultural venue at Sapieha Palace, the analog film collective Baltic Analog Lab (Latvia), and the short film festival Valga Hot Shorts (Estonia).
The full program is available on the Meno Avilys website and social media.
The project is funded by Vilnius City Municipality, the Lithuanian Film Centre, and the Lithuanian Council for Culture.