“A multifaceted and inventive crime thriller” – On March 3, see The Activist, the electrifying queer noir that’s already generated buzz across Baltic cinemas! Director Romas Zabarauskas will be present for a film talk and Q&A following the screening.
A masked intruder murders Deividas, Lithuania’s most influential human rights activist, just as the urban center Kaunas prepares for its first LGBTQ+ march. Only hours earlier, Deividas had clashed with his secret lover, Andrius, who is too afraid to come out or publicly support the fragile community. Consumed by grief and guilt, Andrius launches his own covert investigation, soon discovering that Deividas was surrounded by two-faced enemies. As the police stall and threaten to revoke the Pride march permit, the city seethes with hatred and fear. A ruthless neo-Nazi gang poses as the self-proclaimed defenders of civilization. With nothing left to lose, Andrius dares to play with fire: assuming a new identity as an idealist working at a printing house, he infiltrates the gang to uncover a disturbing truth.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
R
omas Zabarauskas established himself as a provocative Baltic storyteller with a drama-driven, politically engaging, and visually lush body of work. He is a Tallinn Black Nights regular from his debut We Will Riot (2013) to his latest films The Writer (2023) and The Activist (2025), which, together with The Lawyer (2020), form a thematic trilogy. His debut short Porno Melodrama (2011) premiered in Berlinale Panorama and told one of the first queer stories in Lithuanian cinema. Zabarauskas holds a BA in Film (2012) from Saint-Denis University (Paris), including an exchange year at Hunter College (New York), and an MA in Communication (2016) from KSU (Vilnius). He is currently pursuing a PhD in Film at the National Film School of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.