The birth of Cinema of Lithuania dates back to 1909. The first short films in 1909 where shot by Antanas RaÄiÅ«nas who filmed the sights of his native village and Vladislav Starevich who made a short film Prie Nemuno (By the Nieman River, 1909) The first Lithuanian newsreel screened in cinemas in 1921 was made by Feognijus Dunajevas.
The first film production companies and first films schools were founded in 1926. In 1927 a short film RÅ«pestingas tÄ—vas was produced by Lietfilm. Lithuania's most important film directors during the era were Jurgis Linartas and Vladas Stipaitis. The Soldier Lithuania's Defender (1928) and a feature film OnytÄ— ir Jonelis (1931) produced by a film company Akis, are the most notable films of the era.
After the Soviet takeover in 1940 the Lithuanian Republican Newsreel Studio was founded, in 1962 it was renamed the Lithuanian Film Studio.
The first Soviet era feature film "MarytÄ—" using Lithuanian composer and actors was produced by Mosfilm. Until 1956 all Lithuanian feature films were made in cooperation with other motion-picture studios in Soviet Union focusing on Communist themes.
After the death of Stalin in 1953 a more liberal period in Soviet Union's cultural policies followed. Filmmakers started to enjoy greater artistic control at the same time the Soviet State Committee for Cinematography (Goskino) in Moscow provided the money, state censorship body Glavlit and CPSU Department of Culture had the control over releasing the movies.
In 1957 the post Stalinist era Lithuanian feature film Žydrasis horizontas (The Blue Horizon) was directed by Vytautas Mikalauskas.
In the late 1980s an independent Lithuanian national cinema industry was reborn during Persestroika social and political reforms in the Soviet Union. The first independent film production studio Kinema was founded by the director Šarūnas Bartas in 1987. Another notable documentary filmmaker emerged during the era is Arūnas Matelis.
After Lithuania regained independence on March 11, 1990 the state funding of filmmaking drastically decreased and smaller studios emerged instead. During the era about 10 documentaries and 2 feature films have been made yearly. The most notable directors have been Vytautas ŽalakeviÄius, the director of ŽvÄ—ris iÅ¡einantis is jÅ«ros (The Beast Emerging from the Sea) (1992), and Algimantas Puipa the winner of the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Lübeck Nordic Film Days and the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Rouen Nordic Film Festival for Vilko dantų karoliai (A Wolf Teeth Necklace) (1997).
The most internationally known film director of Lithuanian descent born in Chicago, Illinois, USA is Robert Zemeckis
In 2011, only one home-grown feature length film was released in Lithuania.
Actors
- Regimantas Adomaitis
- Donatas Banionis
- Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė (Seven Years in Tibet)
- Laurence Harvey
- Aurelija Mikušauskaitė
- Antanas Å kÄ—ma
- Adolfas VeÄerskis
Directors
- Arūnas Matelis
- Šarūnas Bartas
- Artūras Barysas
- Romas Lileikis
- Adolfas Mekas
- Jonas Mekas
- Algimantas Puipa
- Donatas Ulvydas
- Jonas Vaitkus
- Emilis VÄ—lyvis
- Vytautas ŽalakeviÄius
Acclaimed Lithuanian films
Soviet Era (1940â€"1990)
Independence Era (1990â€"present)
Awards
- SidabrinÄ— gervÄ—
Festivals
- AXX
- Ciaba Film Festival
- Kaunas International Film Festival
- Kino pavasaris
See also
- Cinema of the world
- World cinema
References
