21° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
International Short Film Competition 2003
Sekmadienis. Evangelija pagal liftininka Alberta
by Arunas Matelis
Country: Lithuania
Year: 2003
Duration: 19'
A weird summer day
in the life of liftman Albertas. The short film is a kind of re-reading of
Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot set in Vilnius, the director's home
town and capital of Lithuania. Matelis depicts reality in slow rhythms and
non-representational situations, combining, with surreal scenes and moments of
ecstatic contemplation (a solar eclipse, the dust raised by a car), the
viewpoint of a documentarist with the irony of a
postmodernist.
«In the 21st century, genres do not exist anymore
and people are not scared by the sight of an approaching train on the screen.
The truth and essence of reality are not a fact but a personal impression.
Editing is not a way to narrate, but the form and architectonics of a film.
Reality is extremely interesting, complete and unpredictable. Just take it and
create your story» (A. Matelis).
Biography
film director
Arunas Matelis
Arunas Matelis was born in 1961 in Lithuania. He studied film at the Lithuanian Music Academy and at the Theatre and Television Faculty, before founding the independent production company Nominum (1992), which over the past ten years has been making films in the spirit of his manifesto "Total Cinema or Poetic Documentary. In 2003, Matelis received the "Platinum Film" award in Lithuania for the distribution of his film Skrydis per Lietuva¸arba 510 sekundziu¸tylos (Flight over Lithuania or 510 seconds of silent), realized in collaboration with Audrias Stonys. Sekmadienis (Sunday) is his newest film and was presented at the Cannes and Rotterdam Film Festivals.
FILMOGRAFIA
Pelesos milzinai (Giants of Pelesa, cm, doc., 1989), Baltijos kelias (Baltic Way, cm, doc., 1989), Desimt minuciu¸ pries Ikaro skryd (Ten Minutes Before the Flight of Icarus, cm, doc., 1991), Autoportretas (Self-portrait, cm, doc., 1993), Is dar nebaigtu¸ Jeruzales pasak (From Unfinished Tales of Jerusalem, cm, doc., 1996), Pirmasis atsisveikinimas su Rojum (First Farewell, cm, doc., 1998), PriverstinesEmigracijos Dienorasti (Diary of Forced Emigration, cm, doc., 1998), Skrydis per Lietuva¸ arba 510 sekundziu¸tylos (Flight Over Lithuania or 510 Seconds of Silent, cm, doc., 2000, co-regia Audrius Stonys), Sekmadienis. Evangelija pagal liftininka Albertas (Sunday. The Gospel According to Liftman Albertas, cm, doc., 2003).
Cast
& Credits
Regia, soggetto, sceneggiatura/Director, story,
screenplay: Arunas Matelis
Fotografia/Director of photography: Rimvydas Leipus, Andrejus Trukanas, Vytas Survila
Montaggio/Film editor: Vida Buckute
Suono/Sound: Viktoras Juzonis, Arunas Matelis
Produzione, vendita all'estero/Production, foreign sales agent: Arunas Matelis per Ultra Nominum
Coproduzione/Co-production: LKS (Lituania), HBF (Olanda), DFI (Danimarca)
Fotografia/Director of photography: Rimvydas Leipus, Andrejus Trukanas, Vytas Survila
Montaggio/Film editor: Vida Buckute
Suono/Sound: Viktoras Juzonis, Arunas Matelis
Produzione, vendita all'estero/Production, foreign sales agent: Arunas Matelis per Ultra Nominum
Coproduzione/Co-production: LKS (Lituania), HBF (Olanda), DFI (Danimarca)