Screenings of Jonas Mekas’ film Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR, dedicated to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, began its series of showings at the Lithuanian Children’s and Youth Center in Vilnius on Monday, March 7, at 5 p.m.
The Jonas Mekas Mobile Film Gallery had a very successful 2 month run last year: the gallery covered 3,500 kilometers, visited 21 Lithuanian cities and towns and provided more than 5,000 viewers with an opportunity to become acquainted with Jonas Mekas’ film. This high level of interest and requests from people around the country led to a continuation of the project.
This year, the mobile film gallery plans to visit ten Lithuanian cities and towns with continuous screening of Jonas Mekas’ film Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR free of charge.
“We are dedicating this initiative to the schoolchildren and students in the rural areas of Lithuania. Our main goal is to promote the fostering of historical memory and culture and to provide an opportunity to re-evaluate and look at historical events not only through our own eyes, but also through the eyes of foreign viewers,”says Edgaras Stanišauskas who came up with the idea.
The film Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR by Lithuanian American filmmaker and artist Jonas Mekas is being shown on mobile TV screens. It provides a chronological account of Lithuania’s struggle for freedom from the Soviet Union and the restoration of its independence. The film is based on American television news and televised debates that Mekas filmed at his home in New York from 1989-91 featuring interviews with the most influential politicians, analysts and journalists of the time, as well as images of freedom demonstrations, rallies, and the events of January 13th. The film insightfully reflects the development of new relations between East and West, as well as the fears and uncertainties associated with the new world order.
Project organizer: Jonas Mekas Foundation. Partners : Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center, Lithuanian Council for Culture.
