CinEast 2nd Week
by Maddy on 16.10.2019
Last week we had such bad weather that it was hard to do anything. Lucky us, that the Cineast festival is up and running, with movies, animations, events and party.
Although, I couldn’t go to everything I wanted to, here are the movies I got a chance to watch.
Nova Lituania
This black and white movie of Kaupinis takes us in the inter-war Lithuania, where a geography professor, Gruodis, tries to come up with a solution concerning the imminent danger of the WWII. As the title of the movie gives away, he thinks the best idea to save the Lithuanian state is to form another one in the other part of the world, somewhere in Africa. Of course, everyone is considering him a lunatic, and the only one believing in his crazy idea is a former Prime Minister. His project for saving the country seems to be his way of trying in saving his failing marriage. The black and white take on the subject recreates the doom feeling of the period and imminent threat on the state, but also indulging in satirical moments.
Short fiction film marathon (North)
On Wednesday, we went to the short fiction film marathon where we have seen 8 movies: Why so Sirius?, Weightlifter, Tremors, One hundred and Twenty-eight Thousand, Loved Ones, Mama, Is that, like, your real job and Community gardens.
The one that I liked the most was the first one, Why so Sirius?, a black comedy where the situation is so absurd that the two women concerned, one widowed by the other, don’t know how to act around each other. It is worth mentioning, that the situation it is even cringier as there is no signal for them to call for help.
Trabant: there and back again
When I saw the title of this documentary, I thought that it was a pamphlet. Actually, I couldn’t be more wrong as this is a thrilling and adventurous journey. Dan Přibáň takes his yellow circus Trabant, one of the worst European cars ever made, in an unimaginable road trip; from India to Europe, passing through Nepal, Himalayas, Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan, Russia, Ukraine and back home to Czech Republic.
His point to make was that one doesn’t need a big and fancy car to make this road trip. The Trabant is enough if you have a hard spirit and dark humor. All what Dan Přibáň and his crew went through is the worst that can happen to you in a road trip, but also, those are the parts that make it worth it at the end of the day.
Summer survivors
As last week was the world mental health day, this movie is another take on the struggles mentally ill persons go through.
The combination of characters of a post graduate psychologist, Indre, an early stage bipolar, Paulius, and Juste who is recovering from her suicide attempt, makes this movie the perfect set up for a good movie. Indre is supposed to take the two patients to another clinic on the sea-side. The trip was supposed to be just a transport of patients but it transforms in the beginning of the healing process for Paulius and Juste.
Beautiful corruption
A situation from East, with the whole eastern bunch, cinematically western represented, about a country in the South-East of Europe, Republic of Moldova.
This movie is about a young man who has no chance in escaping all his debts, and when he finds a solution, it is an illegal one. He doesn’t accept these illegal solutions, he actually rejects them and fights against them. Of course, his reaction of disagreement to the illegal solutions literally costs him.
Corpus Christi
This movie is the incarnation of forgiveness, hope and change. The protagonist of the movie is young Daniel who wants to become a priest. His dream is hard to achieve as he has a grim past, he is just finishing his sentence in the penitentiary.
Daniel’s life changes when he gets to a small village that had just passed through a tragedy. With his help, the villagers start to heal and with their help Daniel fulfils his dreams. This seems to be a fictional story, but it is actually inspired from real life events.
Unfortunately, all of these movies are not scheduled to run again for the last week of the festival. You still have a chance to the last Gastronomic Evening tonight at Bovary Café (reservations are recommended) or to see one of the movies in the competition Cat in the wall and Oleg.
Don’t miss the last week of CinEast festival. And also, don’t miss the closing part with Malaka Hostel and Baltic Balkan on Saturday (19.10). For more information about the program, it’s here.