For the second year in a row, Kaunas International Film Festival will be opened by a Lithuanian film – this year it will be the documentary The Field of Magic by Mindaugas Survila. The premiere of the story about the people who have been living in the Buda Forest near the former Karijotiškės landfill for over 20 years will take place in Kaunas on September 27.
“We are establishing a tradition to begin the programme of the Festival with a Lithuanian film – last year we screened Eastern Drift by Šarūnas Bartas, and this year we chose the work of Mindaugas Survila who represents the young generation of Lithuanian filmmakers. Each year, we try to introduce both renowned Lithuanian works of cinematography and promising filmmakers,” said the Festival’s director Ilona Jurkonytė.
Four years in the making, the documentary The Field of Magic is a scrutiny of the miserable lives, holidays and survival of the residents of the Buda Forest. By giving voice to those who usually remain unheard, the filmmaker reveals the difficulties of these actions as well as shows the ability of the characters to be ironical about the surrounding world and the fear of losing touch with it.
“My visits to the Buda Forest were very frequent during the filming and gradually those people began accepting me: I would accompany them to the landfill, and celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve with them. All of a sudden I could see them in a completely different way as compared to the picture drawn by the press and the television – they not only do their share of hard work every day, but also read books, listen to music, make jokes, fall in love, sing, cry, play cards, do their hair and are always ready to help each other,” said the author of the film Mindaugas Survila.
The Field of Magic is the second documentary of the young filmmaker. The debut titled Meeting the Ospreys about the rare species of birds was awarded the best Lithuanian nature documentary in 2007 and received the prize of Petras Abukevičius, maker of the films about nature.
The 5th Kaunas International Film Festival will take place September 27 – October 9 in Kaunas and Vilnius. The Festival will visit Panevėžys film theatre “Garsas” on October 10–13 and Nida film theatre “Agila" on October 13–16. More information on www.kinofestivalis.lt.
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Gintarė Kavaliūnaitė
Public relations | Ryšiai su visuomene
Kaunas International Film Festival | Tarptautinis Kauno kino festivalis
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