"When Ilona called me and invited me to come to Kaunas Film Festival, I was very glad," remembers Eidrigevičius. "Kaunas was a very important stage of my creative work together with the cities of Panevėžys and Vilnius."
In the film which was shot in Uzbekistan, the artist played himself. The actors speak English, Russian, Uzbek and Persian in the film, while Eidrigevičius sings Lithuanian folk songs. The artist shared his experience with the audience that it was very useful to know folk songs. He told about various situations in life when folk songs helped him a great deal. Thus, the artist was not caught unawares when during the shooting of the film all of a sudden the director asked him to sing a song.
The author of the film, Jacques Debs, who is also visiting Kaunas Film Festival, said that he was deeply moved by Eidrigevičius' works. Therefore, he invited the artist to take part in the shooting of his film about the exotic Uzbek game. The filmmaker rejoiced the versatile and multi-national talented team involved in the making of the film: the music was created by the famous Turkish filmmaker Burhan Öcal, while one of the roles was played by the famous Uzbek singer, 16-years-old Dilbar Gunayeva.
The meeting of Jacques Debs and Stasys Eidrigevičius with the viewers of the film was recorded by LTV2 channel and will be showed on Monday, October, 10:10 pm in the special broadcast titled "Meeting with the artist Stasys Eidrigevičius in Kaunas International Film Festival".
The plotline of Bouzkachi: The Chant of Steppes builds on a love triangle. Mohabat likes two men but she can not make the right choice and decides to marry the one who wins the bouzkachi contest. A poet and an artist have to cross mountains and steppes to engage in a noisy and dusty contest of horsemen in order to gain the hand and the heart of the beautiful Mohabat. "The rules of the traditional Oriental game called bouzkachi are strict - a team of riders has to get the headless carcass of a ram clear of the other players to win the contest," Ilona Jurkonytė, director of Kaunas Film Festival, describes the film released in 2009.
For 40 days Eidrigevičius painted the version of the old Persian love story for the film. The painter's canvases open and close parts of the film similarly to the illustrations of book sections. Film creatively blends with the recognisable Eidrigevičius' touch.
Stasys Eidrigevičius, a graphic designer, was born in Mediniškiai, Lithuania, in 1949. He lives in Poland since 1980. Eidrigevičius is versatile artist: he illustrates books, takes pictures, draws posters, makes installations, etc. The artist has been awarded multiple times for book illustrations, graphic design and poster art in Poland, Spain, Finland, Japan and other countries.
Jacques Debs is a French filmmaker, writer and film producer. He works with French TV channels and has shot almost 100 documentaries screened in international festivals all over the world. The filmmaker takes interest in the periphery of the Western civilisation: regions and cultures that challenge our perceptions and question our values.
Bouzkachi: The Chant of Steppes screenings followed by the meetings with filmmaker Jaques Debs and Stasys Eidrigevičius will take place on:
October 12, Monday, 6.00 pm in "Pasaka" film theatre, Vilnius
Full programme of the festival can be found at http://www.kinofestivalis.lt/.
More information: Vilma Venckutonytė, tel. +370 682 55507, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; festival's website http://www.kinofestivalis.lt/.
