On March 3, New York Baltic Film Festival at Scandinavia House presents a screening and director talk on the hit new Lithuanian coming-of-age film, The Southern Chronicles! Director Ignas Miškinis will be present for a film talk and Q&A about the film exploring a young man’s struggle with love and the future amid a newly independent 1990s Lithuania.
In a working-class neighborhood of the Lithuanian city of Siauliai, a few years after the restoration of the country’s independence, brawny 17-year-old Rimants (Džiugas Grinys) is on the cusp of adulthood. More interested in playing rugby, listening to bands and dealing on the black market with his friend Minde than studying at school — much to the disapproval of his parents — Rimants is certain that physical strength and money are the essentials for success in a changing, competitive society. But when he meets and falls in love with the beautiful, middle-class Monika, Rimants is introduced to a new world of literature, culture and alternative possibilities which he explores with guarded enthusiasm. However, frustrated by the difficult, fickle nature of young love and the ever-present obstacles of class, Rimants eventually casts aside the expectations of others and begins to contemplate a future on his own terms.
Based on the semi-autobiographical book by Rimantas Kmiti, The Southern Chronicles (Pietinia kronikas) was awarded Best Baltic Film at Tallinn Black Nights and is a portrait of a ’90s generation with a lot of humor, music and the special slang of Šiauliai.
“Viewers will begin to actively cheer for Rimantas’s success – whatever that might look like in the next moment” (Cinema Without Borders)
“Ignas Miškinis and Eglė Vertelytė’s script have a flair for storytelling… authentic and charming (Film Threat)
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Ignas Miškinis was born in 1978 in Vilnius. In 2003 he graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater with a master’s degree in film and TV directing. One of the brightest representatives of the young generation of Lithuanian filmmakers from his generation, his graduation short film Easily and Sweetly, sparked a new wave of interest in Lithuanian cinema among viewers. He later became one of the most known directors of commercials in Lithuania. Meanwhile Ignas pursued his passion for films and directed three feature-length films Diriginas (2006), Low Lights (2009) and King’s Shift (2016) which were successful in the international film festival circuit.