Bartas is one of the most prominent Lithuanian directors, whose work has garnered multiple awards and nominations from the most important film festivals around the world. “Peace To us In Our Dreams”, his eighth feature film, is no different, having premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight programme in May, and visited multiple festivals since.
September saw screenings of Bartas’s newest film in the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival (Georgia), where he received the best director award. “Peace To Us In Our Dreams” was also included in the main competition programme at the “Kinoshock” film festival (Anapa, Russia), awarding Bartas the special film press prize “For a fearless confession”, and cinematographer Eitvydas Doškus the Aleksandr Kniazhinsky prize for best cinematography.
“Peace To Us In Our Dreams” is lined up for screenings in 35 movie theatres around France. The Centre Pompidou in Paris will hold a significant retrospective of Bartas’s films, as well as his photography exhibition, and publish a book about the director and his work. Until the end of this year, the film will also be screened in festivals taking place in Spain, Portugal, and Sweden.
“Every filmmaker references themselves. In my opinion, you must be sincere, talk about the things you know, feel, and have experienced. That is why I try to give actors as much time as they need in order to film their most genuine emotions. I do not want to lie to the viewer. The visual arts are interesting precisely because you can observe another human, identify with them, and not feel so lonely. Art gives the opportunity to step outside oneself and find others experiencing similar feelings. That is the kind of cinema I am trying to create,” said Bartas during the premiere in Vilnius.
This is undoubtedly the director’s most personal film, where acting, reality and unseen archival footage from his personal collection intertwine. Bartas once again casts himself as the lead, stepping in front of cinematographer Eitvydas Doškus’s camera. The filmmaker’s first leading man role was in “Eastern Drift”, a film he won the Lithuanian Silver Crane award for directing. Bartas is joined by his daughter Ina Marija Bartaite and his real-life partner, violinist Lora Kmieliauskaite, both in their debut roles. Also appearing in the film is Russian actress Klaudia Korshunova, who made the trip to Lithuania just to shoot one scene. Korshunova previously earned the Silver Crane award for her role in Bartas’s “Eastern Drift”.
The late actress Yekaterina Golubeva, Ina Marija’s mother and frequent Bartas lead who passed away in 2011, also briefly appears in the film, during the screening of an old home video.
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS5BHl_PkDs
It is summer in a country home near Vilnius. Visitors from the city are greeted by a big, friendly dog. A 50 year-old Man (Bartas), tired from his daily routine and looking to recharge, invites his teenage Daughter (Bartaite), who is hoping for a stronger paternal bond after her Mother’s death, to spend the weekend together.
The two are joined by an ambitious violinist and the man’s Companion (Kmieliauskaite) after her failed recital. The young woman, lost between important decisions, fosters strong feelings and attempts to save her broken relationship, but cannot find joy in her life.
The beautiful Daughter more and more frequently visits her older childhood Friend (Edvinas Goldsteinas), who she hadn’t seen in a long time. She likes having honest conversations, riding bicycles, walking in the forest and looking for love beneath the trees with the mysterious young man, who knows all the country-side residents and their habits, hobbies, sins, fallacies, and dreams.
The young man, who has taken to stealing, runs off with a shotgun carelessly left behind by some hunters. He is fearless, goes on the run from the police, and starts observing people through the loaded gun’s scope.
This film is distributed by “Kino Pavasaris Distribution”.
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