"On stage - cinema!" - announces the Vilnius City Film Festival "Cinema spring" and traditionally returns to the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater (LNOBT). On March 2-3, the audience will see 6 special films, including Charlie Chaplin's "Gold Rush" with St. Christopher's Chamber Orchestra, Häxan night session with Manfred soundtrack, the last musical experience of Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto - concert and three advance premieres. Viewers can already purchase tickets for all "Kino pavasaris" LNOBT screenings.
Konradas Kazlauskas, executive director of Kino pavasaris, says that for many viewers, screenings at LNOBT have become an integral prelude to the festival marathon. "I'm glad that this format is getting a lot of attention from visitors - the whole team is working very carefully to ensure that viewers can see films in one of the most significant cultural spaces in Lithuania, probably on the biggest cinema screen in the country. Here they will be the first to see the most important premieres of "Cinema Spring" films, take part in a night screening or the already traditional Ch. In Chaplin's film, which will be voiced by St. Christopher's Chamber Orchestra, he says. "The latter are already turning into a kind of legend, and the audience who have visited them once do not delay the next year - they know that the tickets to the show disappear the fastest."
Festival program and procurement manager Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė says that music plays a very important role in all films shown at LNOBT, so watching them in this theater is an unforgettable movie night. "The program will include pre-premieres of the festival's films and two film screenings with live dubbing prepared exclusively for this program," she says. - One of them will be intended for the whole family to laugh, and for the late Saturday session we will invite a completely different audience - viewers who like nightlife, horror films and electronic music."
Ch. Chaplin's "Gold Rush" is a cinematic experience celebrating its centenary next year
The legendary boiled shoe dinner, dance with loaves of bread and a hut balancing on the edge of the abyss - all this awaits Ch. In Chaplin's comedy "The Gold Rush". The film, which was praised by critics in its time, remains one of the director's most famous works to this day. The original Ch. Chaplin's soundtrack will be performed live by St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra. This film is presented to the audience by the long-term partner of the festival "Vilniaus pergalė".
"Ch. Chaplin's sessions with St. We have been organizing the Christopher Chamber Orchestra for the third year already, - says D. Grigaliūnaitė. - We continue this because we know how many viewers are waiting for these screenings and how many people do not manage to buy tickets for them. After all, to see and hear one of the best comedies of all time "Gold Rush" - exactly as Ch. Chaplin is a unique experience that happens quite rarely not only in Lithuania, but also in the world."
Creepy musical night session
Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns and the Satanic Sabbath, Benjamin Christensen's legendary silent film traces the history of witchcraft from its earliest days to 1922 in a series of dramatic vignettes. Gothic horror, restorative documentary, and essay genres intertwine here, a combination that makes this film unlike any other in the history of cinema.
"In the late screening for adults, we will show the 1922 silent, witchy horror film Häxan, which will be voiced live by Manfredas, a music producer who loves cinema, and one of the most important representatives of Lithuanian electronic music," D. Grigaliūnaitė is happy.
Concert-film and big-screen-worthy advance premieres
LNOBT viewers will be the first to see as many as four films from the upcoming festival: the well-known Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's new film "Monster" (Monster), the 2023 Cannes Palme d'Or award-winning and 5-Oscar-nominated drama "Anatomy of Death" by director Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall), Neo Sora directed composer Ryuichi Sakamoto's last performance, the concert film Ryuichi Sakamoto | OPUS" (Ryuichi Sakamoto | Op) and the new film Evil (Doesn't) Exist from director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi who won an Oscar for Drive My Car (Evil Does Not Exist).
"Music will also play a special role in the screenings of these films," says D. Grigaliūnaitė. - The last concert of R. Sakamoto, the Japanese composer who retired last year, who created music for dozens of movies, is particularly sensitive - the film, created by R. Sakamoto's son, is the composer's farewell and an opus to his work and life. The work of this composer will also be heard in another film of the program, "Monster" - it was R. Sakamoto's last film work. Meanwhile, the music created by the Japanese composer and performer Eiko Ishibashi became an incentive for the director R. Hamaguchi to create the film "Evil (doesn't) exist". I would also like to draw attention to one of the most awarded films of recent years, "Anatomy of Death" - although there is not much music in it, it contains a lot of characters' feelings and messages."
All screenings of "Kino pavasaris" LNOBT can be found here: bit.ly/scenoje-kinas. The 29th Vilnius City Film Festival "Cinema Spring" will be held on March 14-27. The festival is partially financed by the Lithuanian Film Center, Vilnius city municipality, "Creative Europe" MEDIA.
