Vytautas Žalakevičius: Time Suspended

He lived and worked under Soviet rule—in a world that left no room for creative freedom or individual expression. And yet he was the one who sought to give Lithuanian cinema a new direction. As early as 1958, with Adam Wants to Be a Man, he paved the way toward modernity—toward a cinema that was more self-aware, contemporary, and focused on the inner lives of its characters.

On set, his methods remained a mystery to many. Actors trusted his intuition, though they rarely received clear instructions. He did not explain or give direct guidance—he created situations rather than roles, building tension instead of psychological constructs. He discovered new actors—such as Juozas Budraitis—whose talent was later recognized by filmmakers of the caliber of Michelangelo Antonioni. Antonioni invited Budraitis to collaborate, though the realities of the Soviet Union ultimately made this impossible.

He once said: “Cinema is a disease: dangerous, contagious, and almost impossible to cure”. In his case, it was a painfully accurate diagnosis. For him, cinema was neither a profession nor a calling—it was a form of existence: uncompromising, demanding, and at times destructive. “All my life I’ve tormented myself and others…”—he admitted in one interview, as if aware that his work would always remain closer to a dream than to its fulfillment.

He was an exceptionally colorful and contradictory artist. This contradiction, however, is not merely a personality trait—it is the foundation of his cinema. His work unfolds as a field of tension: between freedom and a world that constantly seeks to restrict it, between values that cannot be reconciled—though freedom always remained paramount for him.

Those embarking on a journey into Lithuanian cinema should see Nobody Wanted to Die. It is one of Žalakevičius’s most important and poignant films—a raw, mesmerizing tale of postwar Lithuania, occupied by the USSR after World War II, where “brother stands against brother” and every choice carries irreversible consequences.

Created in the shadow of ideology, the film resists simple interpretation. Beneath the layer of the official narrative—which still divides Lithuanian audiences today—lies a tension woven from cracks, silences, and hidden meanings. It is precisely this contradiction that gives the film its power and keeps it strikingly vivid and disturbingly relevant.

Set against the backdrop of Soviet Lithuania, the film nevertheless managed to get past the censors. It was described as an action film and even classified as a western (often compared to Seven Samurai). In reality, it is one of the first postwar Lithuanian films to so clearly reveal the tragedy of a nation left with no choice—and of an individual crushed by history.

Nobody Wanted to Die remains one of the most widely seen Lithuanian films. In 1995, to mark the centenary of cinema, UNESCO included it on its list of the 100 most important works of world cinema.

As part of the section Vytautas Žalakevičius: Time Suspended, the following will be presented:

• Nobody Wanted to Die (Niekas nenorėjo mirti, dir. Vytautas Žalakevičius, USRR, 1965),
• Adam Wants to Be a Man (Adomas nori būti žmogumi, dir. Vytautas Žalakevičius, USRR, 1959),
• Feelings (Jausamai, dir. Algirdas Dausa, Almantas Grikevičius, script by Vytautas Žalakevičius USRR, 1968).

The retrospective is curated by director Vita Maria Drygas, the granddaughter of Vytautas Žalakevičius.

The partners of the section are the Lithuanian Film Centre, the Lithuanian Culture Institute, and the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Poland.

The festival is co-financed by the City of Warsaw, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the Polish Film Institute.

The festival’s main partners are the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute (FINA), the Gutek Film, and the New Horizons Association.

The festival is co-organized by the Documentary and Feature Film Studios (WFDiF) and the Mazovia Institute of Culture.