Rimtautas Šilinis retrospective  

Where’s the Queen’s Gold?

Although at first this seems to be a documentary about the Fifth Athletics Spartakiade of the Soviet Nations, where 712 of the best, fastest and strongest athletes are competing, the creators of the film manage to turn it into a true detective story. The expressive and illustrative music by V. Ganelinas ads to the atmosphere of suspense and the cheeky mood.

Awards

The 4th Union Sports Film Festival in Odessa – Gold Medal, 1972
The International Cortina d’Ampezzo Sports Film Festival – International Olympics Committee silver medal, 1972

In Search of the Self

 The creators of the film seek to figure out how it is that a gifted, well-meaning school graduate finds himself appearing in court. Otonas, who used to take part in various pupil competitions, is now being accused of stealing personal and state property. The boy says he did it out of boredom. His classmates remember him as an active person who always had interesting ideas. Teachers ponder that the more talented children should receive more attention in school. The story of the lost boy Otonas runs parallel to the construction of the Baikal-Amur mainline. Joining the construction would have been an opportunity to choose the correct path, but the boy misses it. And although this path would definitely have been appropriate and many young people did take it, in this film, it is the story of Otonas, who took the wrong turn, that seems immeasurably more important than the union-wide construction of a new railway mainline. These are the first steps of a brave person, unafraid to make mistakes.
Music by the composer V. Ganelinas helps convey the drama of the film.

Post Scriptum to an Old Film

The Zarasai County V. Kudirka kolkhoz was the worst-performing one in the whole of Lithuania. In order to bring its performance up, a whole form of local school graduates was invited to work there. The youths took it on - they worked together, lived together and even formed a brass band. The reward for their enthusiasm was not money but grain. The documentary director Viktoras Starošas made a film about this team in 1959, entitled “My Friends” (Mano Draugai) and... twenty years on, decided to check on the fates of these people. An x-ray specialist, an engineer, an assistant professor, a sports coach, a newsstand cashier - all reminisce about the past times. The film authors return to reveal the absurdity of the soviet times, when young people’s dreams used to be killed off as soon as they were born, giving way to utopian goals - building the bright communist tomorrow.

Entrance with a free tickets what will be available at the venue.

Rimtautas Šilinis

Rimtautas Šilinis was born on 6 October 1937 in Utena. In 1959, he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of the Vilnius University. He worked as a draftsman for the State Cinematography Committee, an editor of the Lithuanian Film Studio Chronicle and has been the editor of documentaries and popular science films. Since 1969 he began to direct documentaries himself. He has directed 68 documentaries and has written screenplays for 70. He made films on the themes of culture, history and sports. Between 2004 and 2006, he was the chief consultant in the public consulting board of the State Cinema Chronicle.

Rimtautas Šilinis has won four prizes for Lithuania’s best documentary, Italian TOK silver medal Cortina d’Ampecco for the film Where’s the Queen’s Gold (Kur Karalienės auksas?) (1972), gold medals at the Budapest and Odesa film festivals, Grand Prix at the Union AlmaAtos festival for the film Scar (Randas) (1985). The film Post Scriptum to an Old Film (Post Scriptum Senam Filmui) won him the best director award at the Union festival in Vilnius (1981).

R. Šilinis has also been awarded the Government Prize of the Republic of Lithuania.

Rimtautas Šilinis has won four prizes for Lithuania’s best documentary, Italian TOK silver medal Cortina d’Ampecco for the film Where’s the Queen’s Gold (Kur Karalienės auksas?) (1972), gold medals at the Budapest and Odesa film festivals, Grand Prix at the Union AlmaAtos festival for the film Scar (Randas) (1985). The film Post Scriptum to an Old Film (Post Scriptum Senam Filmui) won him the best director award at the Union festival in Vilnius (1981).

R. Šilinis has also been awarded the Government Prize of the Republic of Lithuania.

Selected Filmography
Lithuania During World War II. Cinema Documents, 2006
Presidents of the Republic of Lithuania. 1918-1940, 1997
The Island, 1990
Noah’s Ark, 1988
Scar, 1985
...We Were Nearby, 1984
Inheritance for the Twelfth Grandson, 1981
A Painting, 1981
Post scriptum to an Old Film, 1980
Juozas Baltušis on Film, 1979
Searching for the Self, 1977
Signed, Arkitekt..., 1972
Where’s the Queen’s Gold?, 1971