Audrius Stonys Retrospective  

Open The Doors to Him Who Comes

This film is about the island of peace, created by Father Stanislovas in the small village Paberze in the province of Lithuania. In the ocean of lie, conformism and fear of soviet regime this one person confronted the system by confessing basic humanistic and Christian values with his own simple life. Stonys’ first film laid the foundations of his documentary poetry: filming the life of humble people like a cinematographic liturgy to reveal the secret breath that animates the visible world.

Baltic Way

The Baltic Way was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on August 23, 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning 675,5 kilometers across the three Baltic states – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Stonys seizes the irrepressible breath of freedom wafting the places and the bodies of people along The Baltic Way.

The Earth of The Blind

As film director Audrius Stonys puts it himself, “the film came into reality while trying to answer a question: how can one film the invisible?”. The film subtly interweaves together moments of interaction between people, animals and their surroundings. Long shots, absence of words, and meditative images interplay with music thus opening up a haptic and philosophical realm which is beyond the visible. In 1992 the film received the FELIX Award for the Best European Documentary Film.

Awards

Felix for the Best Documentary in Europe, 1992
Oberhausen Film Festival –Award for the Best Experimental Film, 1992
International Visual Art festival“Media wave”, Hungary– Prize, 1992
Mons International Film Festival –Award for the Best Cinematography, 1992

Apostle of Ruins

Georgian Alexander Oboladze spends all his time wandering through the backstreets of Vilnius old town. He knows every corner better than anyone else. He is looking and finding the lost time and creating his own world from the things left by the others. This film had to be about his last days in Vilnius, but happened to be a film about his last days on this Earth. Alexander passed away before seeing this film.

Audrius Stonys

In 1989 Audrius Stonys graduated with a degree in TV and film directing from the Vilnius Conservatory. In 1989 he studied at the Jonas Mekas Film Anthology Archives in New York. In 1992 his film “Earth of the Blind” received the Felix Award from the European Film Academy as Best Documentary Film of the year. In 2004 and 2005 he lectured in documentary cinema at the European Film College in Denmark. He is an active participant at various international creative workshops and is also a jury member at film festivals.

Filmography

Gates of the Lamb, 2014
Cenotaph, 2013
Ramin, 2011
I Walked Through Fire, You Were With Me, 2010
Four Steps, 2008
Bell, 2007
Uku ukai, 2006
Countdown, 2004
Last Vagon, 2002
Alone, 2001
Flight over Lithuania or 510 Seconds of Silence, 2000
Fedia. Three Minutes After the Big Bang, 1999
Harbour, 1998
Fying Over Blue Field, 1996
Antigravitation, 1995
Apostle of Ruins, 1993
Earth of the Blind, 1992
Baltic Way, 1990
Open the Door to Him Who Comes, 1989