WHAT HOW WHY

“Uždaryti / Closed Off”

Version 3

   “Uždaryti / Closed Off” is a short experimental documentary influenced by a poetic mode of documentary filmmaking which was broadly used in Lithuania during the time of the second soviet occupation. The film was made in 2020 when the word was suffering from Covid19 pandemic and it was strongly encouraged to stay at home as much as possible. The situation inspired artist to explore topics of political and artistic freedoms and its limitations. Main characters of the story - artist's close family members who grew up in Lithuania, when many of their freedoms were drastically restricted. Throughout the film, the artist is reflecting on her situation during the time of global pandemic while connecting to the history and experiences of the close ones.

   “Uždaryti / Closed Off” is a combination of archive material, found footage and footage and the tools artist had at her disposal at home during the lockdown. The base of the film is audible Skype interviews recorded during the Skype video calls. The audible text contains memories from the darker Lithuanian past and is accompanied by relevant found video footage from the same times. Another important aspect of the film - Lithuanian songs that were used broadly as a way to protest against the totalitarian regime, as well to maintain the national identity.

   Humans tend to often take things for granted until it gets taken away from them. With this film the artist wanted to raise awareness about being grateful about the political freedom that we have in Europe, because freedom is not always granted and when it is - we can lose it at any moment. From more personal artistic approach - working on this project was a way to reconnect to Lithuanian and to document an important family history.

Version 2

What

“Uždaryti / Closed Off” is an experimental documentary influenced by a poetic mode of documentary filmmaking. Main theme of the film is limitations of freedom - political freedom, artistic freedom. “Uždaryti / Closed Off” is based on the stories told by my family members who grew up during the 2nd Soviet occupation in Lithuania, when many of their freedoms were drastically limited. The film was made when the word was suffering from Covid19 pandemic, and it was strongly encouraged to stay at home as much as possible.

How

I composed my film by combining archive material, found footage and footage that I could record without leaving my student room. The main characters of my film became me and my family members who grew up under the Soviet regime. The base of the film are audible interviews with my family members recorded during the Skype video calls.

I received an enormous amount of information during the interviews, so eventually I got lost. To find my way out of the vortex of information, I used the method that worked for me in my previous projects - I fully transcripted the texts, printed it out and cut it out sentence by sentence. This allowed me to shuffle the sentences around, to filter out what is not needed anymore and to connect relevant information in non chronological order.

The movie was edited in Adobe Premiere software, which allowed me to play with different aspect ratios in order to visually/mantally distinguish images that represents freedom from images that represents limitations. Framed images = images from the Soviet past. Open, spacious images without any frames = nowadays, freedom.

Why

Covid19 crisis started exactly at the time when I had to start producing my bachelor graduation film. For me this meant that my graduation project had to be completed from home, using only the tools I have at my disposal. My freedom to create whatever I wanted got restricted and this situation triggered me to think about freedom. Only when my freedom got limited I noticed that I didn't value it as much as I could have, yet my family who grew up under the Soviet regime in Lithuania could not even dream of such a freedom I had while growing up.

I chose my film to be influenced by a Poetic Documentary mode of filmmaking because it was used broadly by Lithuanians during the Soviet occupation while they couldn’t express their artistic thoughts freely.

The film was made in order to raise the awareness about being grateful for the political freedom that we have because it is not always granted, and when it is, we can lose it at any moment.

Version 1

What

“Uždaryti / Closed Off” is an experimental documentary influenced by a poetic mode of documentary filmmaking. Main theme of the film is limitations of freedom - political freedom, artistic freedom and basic human freedoms. “Uždaryti / Closed Off” connects 3 generations - mine, when my artistic freedom was limited during the time of the Covid crisis and my parent’s, and grandparents - when their basic human freedoms were massively destricted during the time of the second Soviet occupation in Lithuania. The movie is based on the stories told by my family members.

How

I composed my film by combining archive material, found footage and footage that I could record without leaving my student room. The main characters of my film became me and my family members who grew up under the Soviet regime.

The base of the film are audible interviews with my family members. To filter out the relevant information and to get structure I transcripted all the interviews and printed it out. Then I cut out every question followed by an answer and mixed all the paper pieces. Then I was taking one question/answer from the pile and decided if the information on that piece of paper adds any value and if it corresponds with the message I want to express with my film. I grouped the sentences that I thought would fit together when I put it to my film so that the sentences would supplement each other and would form a story that makes sense.

In the movie I combine different aspect rations to visually/mantally distinguish visuals that represents freedom and visuals that represents limitations - framed images = images from the past. Images from nowadays - open, spacious, without any frames. Past = occupation, limited freedom, today = freedom.

Why

Covid19 crisis started exactly at the time when I had to start producing my bachelor graduation project / film. For me this meant that my graduation project had to be completed from home, using only the tools I have at my disposal. My freedom to create whatever I wanted got restricted and this situation triggered me to think about freedom. Only when my freedom got limited I noticed that I didn't value it as much as I could have. My family who grew up under the Soviet regime in Lithuania could not even dream of such a freedom I had while growing up.

I made this film in order to raise the awareness about being grateful for the political freedom that we have because it is not always granted, and when it is, we can lose it at any moment.

Poetic documentary mode of filmmaking was used broadly by Lithuanians during the Soviet occupation while they couldn express their artistic toughts freely, that's why I chose this documentary filmmaking mode.

"I Have Things Inside Me That I Want To Get Out. I think they are buildings."

Version 1

What

Short excerpt of a (possibly) longer film that is exploring the transformation of a person who’s dealing with displacement, loneliness and who finds solitude within, at last. The intention of this short video is to introduce the feeling, pace and the mood of the film. Sort of an intro, with glimpses of the other parts.

How

The film would be treated by the exploration of the notion of Home and how this notion expands during the events of the artist’s life. There would be 3 parts - home as a house, home as a feeling, me as home. The intro part of the film will be composed of mainly of poetic text accompanied by daydream-like images.

Why

Being stuck in between two worlds as a ghost might be frightening, but once both of the worlds become a part of you - you must take them both everywhere with you to feel complete, to feel at home.