At the beginning of the 1960s, as the French pioneers of cinéma vérité set out to achieve a new realism and as direct cinema in Québec began to vie for notice, the Baltics witnessed the birth of a generation of documentarists who favored a more romantic view of the world around them. This meditative documentary essay from Latvian writer Kristīne Briede and Lithuanian director Audrius Stonys portrays the less-remembered generation of cinema poets of the Baltic New Wave, who challenged the slogan-filled propaganda documentary films of the 1960s from behind the Iron Curtain by making deeply personal, meaningful and imaginative films.
Representing different generations — that of contemporary director Stonys, and of his friend and mentor, the late Hanz Frank —the filmmakers engage in a conversation about time, space, eternity, and the cinema, alongside appearances by other documentary filmmakers from the Baltic States, such as Uldis Brauns, Ivars Seleckis, Aivars Freimanis, Mark Soosaar, Andres Seet, Robertas Verba and Henrikas Šablevičius. (Lithuania, 2018)
Following the screening, producers Uldis Cekulis and Riho Vastrik will be present for a Q&A with moderator Lukas Brasiskis.
Bridges of Time has been selected by Lithuania as their candidate for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.
“Bridges of Time is a passionate defence of the need to make documentaries and the human desire to preserve moments in time… The directors eschew straight narrative in favour of a poetic approach taught to them by their predecessors”—Cineeurope