Feelings

Black and white, 35 mm
Lithuania, 1968, 90 min
Section: Baltic Films

Synopsis

The Second World War is ending. Widower Kasparas moves in with his brother Andrius, who lives on the other side of the bay where the German occupation has already ended. Andrius’ wife Egne is still in love with Kasparas. Her relatives and a group of Lithuanian nationalists are planning on fleeing to Sweden. Egne persuades her husband that they should all go together, hoping to once again regain Kasparas’ affection after crossing the sea. But Kasparas opts to return home and border guards detain Andrius. Nine long years pass before the brothers see each other again....

About the director

Algirdas Dausa (b. 1940) graduated from Moscow’s VGIK film school (1965) then started making documentary films, including Outside the Door (Už duru, 1966 ) about Lithuanian director Juozas Miltinis and his famous theatre in Panevežys. He and Almantas Grikevičius created the feature Feelings (Jausmai, 1968), adapted from the Egon Livas novel, awarded the Special Jury Prize at the San Remo IFF. In 1995 critics judged it the best Lithuanian film of all time.

Almantas Grikevičius (b. 1935) graduated from Moscow’s VGIK film school (1967), then started shooting documentaries. His features tend toward themes of war and national isolationism. In 2002 he made a documentary about well-known Lithuanian filmmaker Vytautas Žalakevičius entitled Remarks on the Margins of the Life-Style (Pastabos gyvenimo budo paraštese).