Eurimages presentation preview web

creative documentary by Audrius Mickevicius ERA FILM, Lithuania AGITPROP, Bulgaria

Original title: P avyzdingas elgesysGenre: Creative documentaryDuration, format: 120 min., 2K (theatrical) and 2x52 min., HD (TV)Director: Audrius Mickevicius (Lithuania)Script: Audrius Mickevicius (Lithuania), Georgi Tenev (Bulgaria)Camera: Audrius Kemežys, Valdas Jarutis (Lithuania)Editor: Beppe Leonetti (Italy)Sound: Pinuccio Sciola (Italy)Composer: Marjan Šijanec (Slovenia)Graphic designer: Stefano Assili (Italy)Producer: Rasa Miškinyte, ERA FILM (Lithuania), www.erafilm.ltCo-producer: Martichka Bozhilova, AGITPROP (Bulgaria), www.agitprop.bgLocations: Lukiškes prison (Vilnius, Lithuania), Panevežys prison (Lithuania), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France)LOGLINEThe documentary explores the paradox of exemplary behaviour in murderers currently serving life sentences in Vilnius’Lukiškes prison and hoping to return to society. “Exemplary Behaviour” is a journey of transformation for the author, themurderers, and society who are searching for tolerance among humans.PERSONAL MOTIVATIONA few years ago my elder brother was killed by two men. One of the murderers escaped punishment, while the second,who alone took the blame for the crime, was later released from prison for exemplary behaviour. This made me decide tostart a socio-artistic research regarding what “exemplary behaviour”means when it applies to a murderer.In the summer of 2014, I received a first permission to meet prisoners in Vilnius Lukiškes prison, which is the largest andthe strictest prison in Lithuania. During my research, I met the main characters of my documentary – Rimantas Aleknaand Rolandas Cerapokas, who were sentenced for life. I noticed their deep personal need for change and their hope toreturn to society. During those 3 years of meetings, conversations, filmings, and communication, me and the filming crewwere fully trusted and acceptedby the prisoners and prison administration. After my brother’s murder, I completed myown journey from anger to forgiveness; the journey that became the backbone of this film. Unexpectedly, during thoseyears, a strong emotional bond formed between me and murderer Rolandas. Suddenly, I felt that he could replace mybrother. I invite Rolandas to be my brother.FILM LINESThe focus of the documentary is on character’s transformation, which happens in 3 lines:- PERSONAL LINE – a change of the attitude towards my brother’s murderers,- PRISONER’S LINE – a change of the attitude towards themselves and society,- SOCIETY’S LINE – a change from anger and stereotyping towards tolerance.

PERSONAL LINE SHOCK SCENE 1. CHILDHOOD – COLD OPEN.Image: 8mm family archive material from 50 years ago.Two small boys (me and my elder brother) run- ning towards their mother and grandpa. Sound: music by Marjan Šijanec, author’s voice (in Lithuanian) VOICE-OVER A few years ago my elder brother was killed by two men. He was left to die alone. Police found his corpse in one of the yards of our quiet hometown. His head was bloody, chest – broken, ribs sunk into his heart. In the morgue I couldn’t recognize him. Mom recognized him from the childhood’s scar on his chin. 14 months long trial. His killers were denying their guilt. They said they were drunk and slept during the crime. One of the murderers escaped punishment because the second, the younger one, took the blame for the crime. He got 8 years and 3 months of imprisonment. After 4 years he was released from prison for exemplary behaviour.

PERSONAL LINE ANGER SCENE 5. PRISON AT NIGHT. DOGSImage: NIGHT.EXT. General night view of the prison. The prison’s perimeter is guarded by service dogs. Prisoners have a “telephone conversation”by shouting to each other through the windows. Light isseen through barred windows, we see moving silhouettes of prisoners. Several night images from CCTV cameras. Camera: ExLS, LS, MS Sound: sounds of environment, author’s voice (in Lithuanian) VOICE-OVER You are damn animals! Damn your bloody hands that reek of alcohol! Your gangreneous souls rot in cages! I hate you!

PERSONAL LINE DENIAL SCENE 11. THE HEALING SEQUENCE –HARLEYImage: MORNING. INT. A model of a red “Harley-Davidson” slowly rotates in the prison’s St. Nicholaschurch, which is currently used as a prisoner’s club. We see fine handmade details of the motorcycle. Slowly, the Harley starts to fall apart. Gravity disappears and parts of the motorcycle chaoticallyspread in the air. Due to the centrifugal force, they leave the frame. Empty church space with its stai- ned-glass windows remains. Realistic 3D simulation. Camera: DET, LS Sound: music by Marjan Šijanec, author’s voice (in Lithuanian) VOICE-OVER “No. It’s not him,” Mom said. “Your brother will return one day”. She has been cruelly tortured by her fate. She is paralysed by the obscurity, knowing nothing of what happened and why. She is frightened by any sound, void of any word or sentence. She mourns for her own blood. She is disoriented and blinded. Morgue stench is in her mouth. She is sick with sorrow. The words Mom told me after days of silence are the words I now tell You: “Do not believe that this murder took place. Do not believe that you had an elder brother”. Exhale the secret!

PERSONAL LINE RESIGNATION SCENE 23. THE HEALING SEQUENCE – WEDDINGImage: DAY. INT. CCTV image. Rolandas and Ingrida’s formal wedding ceremony at the Lukiškes prison. Their witnesses are prison guards. The civil registry division employee gives them their marriagecertificates and shakes their hands. Rolandas and Ingrida are husband and wife. The formal ceremony takes up about 2 minutes. The newlyweds await their 3-hour honeymoon. Then Ingrida will be taken back to Panevežys women’s prison and will be able to come back to her husband in a month’s time. Camera: CCTV black and white image, wide angle, real time shot. Sound: music by Marjan Šijanec, author’s voice (in Lithuanian) VOICE-OVER Let it be. My brother is lost. Our fight for him is lost. We forgive the murderers. This is all we can do to reduce the surrounding anger and hate. Killers harm themselves the most. How little do they know about their own death. They die alone as my brother did. I accept the pain You are giving. Forgive my rage, blindness and curses. Sorry. Exhale the secret!

PERSONAL LINE ACCEPTANCE SCENE 36. THE HEALING SEQUENCE –BEESImage: DAY. INT. Close up of the bees. Inside the bee hive there is a revolver which is incorporated into the honeycomb. The revolver is not visible due to a huge amount of bees on it. Smoke helps to reveal the revolver. Camera: DET, MS Sound: music by Marjan Šijanec, author’s voice (in Lithuanian) VOICE-OVER A time to give birth and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time of wailing and a time of dancing. A time to cast stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to seek and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to sew. A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. A time for me and a time for You. Exhale the secret!

PERSONAL LINE COMMITMENT SCENE 52. THE HEALING SEQUENCE –SLEEPImage: NIGHT. INT. A collage of characters’ sleeping faces. The last face and the one that is shown the longest is Rolandas’. The secret is revelead to prisoner Rolandas. Camera: ExCU Sound: music by Marjan Šijanec, author’s voice (in Lithuanian) VOICE-OVER Within me there are remains of someone I still don’t know. Remains of a killer – I hate Remains of a woman – I cry Remains of a clown – I entertain Remains of an immigrant – I’m homeless Remains of a child – I’m inoccent Remains of a soldier – I fight Remains of a peasant – I'm solid Remains of an alien – I don't care Remains of a scoundrel – I lie Remains of a prostitute – I sell myself Remains of Allah – I’m greater Remains of Jesus – I sacrifice myself Remains of Buddha – I transcend Remains of an idiot – I’m an idiot Remains of You – I’m a prisoner I exhale my secret to You: Fill the void that appeared in me a few years ago. Please. Be my brother.

FILM STUCTURESEMOTIONAL STRUCTUREEMOTIONAL CURVE is the essential to the structure of the documentary. It is axis and also the main reference for thescript. The film’s emotional structure is inspired by the five stages of grief introduced by an American psychiatrist’s Eli-zabeth Kubler-Ross’ and explained in her book “On Death and Dying”. The structure of grief is a universal and commonstructure of the emotional change people experience when facing death: shock – denial – anger – resignation – accep-tance. We extended Kubler-Ross’ structure of grief and added a sixth stage – commitment - as a dimension for socialresponsibility. The six stages of emotional structure shape the film’s story.NARRATIVE STRUCTUREFilm’s narrative follows the emotional curve and is comprised of six parts.1. SHOCK - MURDER. It’s a cold open and an introductory scene of the film. The first moving images are of me and mymurdered brother during our childhood. The last picturesare of my brother being taken from the criminal case files.2. ANGER - THEY ARE ANIMALS. Lukiškes prison at night, service dogs. The disciplined and lawful CCTV perspective.Prisoners are treated from a cold distance, they are not personally introduced. An officer is talking.3. DENIAL - THEY ARE “NORMAL”. Barriers are slowly destroyed. Prisoners are presentedin more detail, we getacquainted with their varied daily routines. Murderers talk. All characters are introduced.4. RESIGNATION - THEY MADE A MISTAKE. A closer look at the murderers – they are authentic people. Humanconnection with the prisoners is formed during prisoner’s Rolandas wedding.5. ACCEPTANCE - THEY ARE HUMANS. Main characters are consciously participating in social activities and areputting in personal efforts to change, they show responsibility towards other people and society. Movement from anenclosed prison’s space to an open public space.6. COMMITMENT - BE MY BROTHER. There is a strong inner need to fill the void that appeared aftermy brother’sdeath. The murderer Rolandas is invited to become my brother.DEDICATION. The film is dedicated to my brother.

SYNOPSIS“Exemplary Behaviour” is a socialy responsible film. It is a feature-length creative documentary that seeks tocreate an emotionally and visually strong, thought-provoking cinematographic space that is meant to encou-rage tolerance for murderers. Tolerantia in Latin means an ability to bear hardship, to be patient. Today manyEuropeans still tend to lack tolerance towards other ethnicities, immigrants, prisoners, unorthodox thinking,etc. In this film, a prisoner becomes a metaphor for “the other”. The main goal of the film is to encourage tole-rance of “others”.There are approximately a thousand prisoners in Lukiškes prison and approximately a hundred of them aremurderers serving life sentences, the so-called lifers. Some lifers still hope to one day return to society, be use-ful and spend their last days in freedom. The main way to achieve this is through exemplary behaviour and per-sonal efforts to reform. Some murderers are able to change, but does our society’s attitudes change towardsthem? Is it possible to accept a murderer back into society and to forgive him? Lithuania is the only country inthe European Union that does not allow conditional release for inmates sentenced to life imprisonment.This documentary focuses on personal transformation of its main four characters. A murderer Rimantas Alek-na is a skilful craftsman who established prison’s wood workshop in which 43 prisoners are now employed.During his spare time, he makes wooden Harley Davidson models, which symbolize freedom. Rolandas Ce-rapokas is a murderer who wants to raise a child as a decent member of society. He marries an imprisonedwoman who is also sentenced for a murder. Bernard Stiegler is a world-renowned contemporary French philo-sopher and a former prisoner. He takes up extreme social responsibility and tries to create alternative modelsof contemporary society. Arunas Peškaitis - a Franciscan monk, lifers’ chaplain in the Lukiškes prison and aformer atheist who challenges society’s stereotypes.These are real stories of four people who find themselves in boundary situations and have their personal expe-rience with the prison and imprisonment.“Exemplary Behaviour” is an ambitious author-driven documentary with high artistic intentions, great narra-tive richness and orientation towards wide international audience. The film is a strong emotional journey oftransformation for the author, the murderers and society.

DRAMATURGICAL ELEMENTSVOICE-OVER – a personal and intimate perspective.A subjective voice that openly and intimately speaks of his brother’smurder. It speaks of trauma, acceptance, and forgiveness. The poe-tic voice-over resonates an emotional curve which follows the griefstructure introduced by an American psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross.The voice-over considers various aspects of morality, dignity,personal choices, guilt, death, responsibility, and freedom.HEALING SEQUENCES – an imaginative perspective.These sequences are extremely visual and hypnotic. They are me-ant to awaken viewers’ imagination and show how the impossiblebecomes possible. They are connected to the main characters ofthe film. The idea to make healing sequencies comes from a scien-tific phenomenon called “Prisoner’s Cinema”. Prisoner’s cinema ismainly reported by prisoners kept in dark cells for long periods oftime. It’s an experience of seeing light without light actually ente-ring the eye. It is a visual hallucination of light created by humanbrain that tries to compensate for lack of stimuli and the resultingmonotony. Healing sequencies are resting points for the viewer, theyare strengthened by voice-over texts and music of famous Sloveniancomposer Marjan Šijanec.REALITY SEQUENCES – perspective from the daily life.These sequencies reveal objective facts from a character’s life,behaviour, also their personal efforts to change. They introduce cha-racter’s surroundings and locations, show cases of collaborationbetween prisoners and prison staff, include a look into interpersonalrelationships between prisoners and culminates in a marriage of twomurderers, Rolandas and Ingrida.CCTV– an institutional perspective.Officialy, Lukiškes prison has 135 CCTV cameras - almost every spa-ce is recorded and the records are kept for 5 days. A cool institutio-nal “eye” follows and disciplines inmates everywhere. It creates astrong contrast when it is pointed at the intimate scenes of priso-ner’s life, such as weddings.





TREATMENTCONCEPT“Exemplary Behaviour” is a documentary film that explores the understanding of exemplary behaviour in life-sentencedmurderers and their personal efforts to return to society. Lithuania is the only country in the European Union that doesnot allow conditional release for inmates senteced to life imprisonment. Some inmates are changing, but do society’sattitudes towards them change? Is it possible to accept a murderer back into society and to forgive him? What is theprice of tolerance?THEMEThe theme of the film is the tolelance and human dignity.In Lithuania, half of the population still support and accept death penalty. Young democracies and new EU members stilllive in the stage of anger or denial. Stereotypes from the recent past are still alive. Developing societies need a pushtowards acceptance and tolerance, towards transformation. The main characters of this film transform even while fa-cing life imprisonment. They are on boundary situation, in which any human would look for a way out or for help. We alltake our own long-term tolerance lessons.MAIN GOALSMain goals of the film are:- to show how murderers are trying to change and serve our society,- to raise tolerance for outcasts of our society (for the “other”)- to stimulate viewers’ imagination by representing how the impossible can become possible and how a murderer is ableto reform.KEY WORDSTolerance, Dignity, Freedom, Responsibility, Light, Death, Imagination, Emotions.GENERAL ATMOSPHEREGeneral atmosphere of the filmis humanistic, positive, and stoic. Evil, sorrow, compassion, faith, and light irony are para-doxically mixed in together. Journalistic and didactic undertones are not acceptable in the film.CAMERA WORKMain camera strategies: discipline, minimalism, pure and precise framing, long takes. Cameras “obey” prison’s rules,but their curious glances catch details that modify the prison’s denotations of realities. Affective visuality, delicate light,and subtle shift of meaning in long takes are the main tasks for cameraman. The observational manner of the film willdominate and will be reinforced by surveillance cameras’ wide angle lens footage. Details and extreme close-ups willprevail in character creation and should stimulate the viewer's empathy.SOUNDTRACKFilm’s soundtrack is essential in creating its emotional atmosphere. Its creators – a famous Sardinian sculptor PinuccioSciola and a well-known Slovenian composer Marjan Šijanec. The movie director Audrius Mickevicius collaborated withPinuccio Sciola since March 2014. Pinuccio Sciola’s stone sounds will create general atmosphere while the composer’sMarjan Šijanec’s music will enhance the emotional impact of certain dramaturgic intervals.

PRISONER'S LINEMAIN LOCATIONLukiškes Prison is the largest and the strictest prison in Lithuania.Its population currently includes around a thousand inmates. It wasbuilt in capital Vilnius by the order of Russian Emperor Nicholas theSecond and opened in 1904. Back in the day it was one of the mostmodern prisons with an Orthodox church, Catholic chapel, and a sy-nagogue. Currently the church building is used as a prisoners club.The prison is located in the very centre of the city where the con-temporary building of the Lithuanian Parliament stands nearby. Sin-ce 2003, Lukiškes prison is protected as an historical architecturalmonument of the state and it now has its own logo. In the nearestfuture the prison is going to be moved to the outskirts of Vilnius. Theprison is the dominant location of the film. Prison logo Prison logo Wooden model of the prison made by its inmates

PRISONER'S LINEMAIN CHARACTER. Rimantas Alekna (54), sentenced for lifeRimantas Alekna organized a robbery and a murder in 1997. His punishment – life imprisonment. He already spent 20years in the prison. Nesting-box ''Insect Hotel''Rimantas is an especially skillful craftsman. From the be-ginning of his imprisonment he started making machinesfor wood and metal processing. In 2001, he together withthe prison’s administration established metal and woodworkshops where 43 prisoners are now employed. The pri-son’s workshop is fulfilling an order sent by a Dutch com-pany “Vivara” and is making 154 types of nesting-boxesfor birds, insects, small mammals, as well as various itemsfor beekeepers. These prisoner-made products are beingsold all over Europe. Main countries of export are France,Germany, Netherlands and Great Britain.

PRISONER'S LINEBesides his duties in the workshops, Rimantas in his spare time-makes wooden models of Harley Davidson motorcycles, which areexhibited in the prison’s St Nicholas Orthodox Church -a prisoners’club. Rimantas is currently making another motorcycle model witha working engine and eventually is planning to make a Harley Da-vidson that can be ridden.The whole world knows, that Harley is asymbol of freedom.The director of the prison’s Production Section,Algis Greinys, is a member of an international Harley Davidson club“Free Hawks” and supports Rimantas’ ideas. They often collaborate.Throughout the 20 years of his imprisonment, Rimantas has beenshowing exemplary behaviour and therefore expects to be released.“I hope that after this film is released the Presidentwill grant me a pardon and I will spend my last yearsof life in freedom,”says Rimantas. New motorcycle model in progress 22 05 2015

PRISONER'S LINEMAIN CHARACTER. Rolandas Cerapokas (44), sentenced for lifeRolandas Cerapokas was convicted of 3 murders. His punishment – life imprisonment.He already spent 16 years in the prison. He works with Rimantas Alekna in the prison’s Production Section where hewatches over machines, transportation, and takes care of electrical and production issues. Rolandas and Rimantas arebest friends and coworkers.“I completely understand and admit my guilt. I deserve the punishment I received. I regret myactions and I apologize from the bottom of my heart to the people whom I hurt. Vodka has rui-ned my life …”, he says.

PRISONER'S LINE Fiancee Ingrida Ingrida in her cell, 29 06 2016Rolandas’ biggest dream – to raise a child. His coworker andfriend Rimantas has introduced him to Ingrida who is imprisoned Family meeting roomin women’s prison in Panevežys. They started penpalling and thenexchanged pictures. On the 30th of July 2015 Rolandas and Ingridagot married in Lukiškes prison. It was the first marriage for bothof them. Prison guards were their witnesses. Now, once a monthIngrida is escorted from Panevežys to Vilnius (150 km) to have athree-hour family meeting. Rolandas’ dream has come very closeto being fulfilled.“I really want children… a daughter… My brother’sfamily is ready to help raise the child. I myself wasunlucky, but I would like to raise a decent citizen forour society and at least partially atone for my sin,”Rolandas says.ADDITIONAL CHARACTERIngrida Cerapokiene (42) sentenced to 13 years for a murderand serves her sentence in a women’s prison in Panevežys. Ingridaclaims that she is innocent and slept at the time when the crimewas committed. Ingrida’s mother was categorically against thismarriage because, in her opinion, lifers most often are pedofiles.Ingrida works as a chief cook in Panevežys prison canteen whereshe cooks for 250 female inmates. Ingrida is a mother of five chil-dren and she has two grandchildren. She is very sceptic of Rolan-das’ wish to have a child because she thinks that jail environmentis too bad for a child to grow up in.Rolandas and Ingrida's marriage in Lukiskes prison, 30 07 2015

SOCIETY'S LINEMAIN CHARACTER. Arunas Peškaitis (55), a chaplain to lifersArunas Peškaitis is a psychologist, a Franciscan monk, a priest, and a chaplain for lifers in Lukiškes prison. He was adiligent Marxist and an atheist. He studied psychology in Vilnius University. After graduation and after his studies abroadhe got a “cushy job” at the Ministry of Culture and Education. In 2000 he made a radical change in his life and became amonk.“We are all sentenced for life on this Earth…The hate towards prisoners must decline inour society, otherwise we’ll explode. When Istarted to communicate with murderers, I wasvery surprised to see that they are normal andsane people,”says Arunas.In Lukiškes prison Arunas Peškaitis has his own officewhere he provides psychological counseling to prisoners.Also, once a month he celebrates a Mass at prison chapelthat is attended by many lifers.

SOCIETY'S LINEMAIN CHARACTER. Bernard Stiegler (65), a philosopher, an ex-convictBernard Stiegler was incarcerated for an armed bank robbery for five years (1978-1983) and during this period he beca-me interested in philosophy. His character has changed radically and he has become one of the world’s most well-knownand active contemporary philosophers. He said:“Prison was my great master”.He describes his imprisonment experiences and perso-nal transformation as a continuous ascetic experienceduring which he experimented with himself. Bernard in-vented a method that he named melete. Melete is a toolfor self-transformation, a practice of remembrance and offorgetting through reading and writing. To him, the prisontransformed into a philosophical school where he was re-born as a different person.In 2006 he founded the Institute for Research and Innova-tion (IRI) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. In 2010he started the philosophy school Ecole de PhilosophieÉpineuil-le-Fleuriel. Stiegler’s research revolves aroundrelationships between humans and technologies. Techno-logy is a considerable part of human life which makes“te-chnological prisoners” of all of us. In the film, Stiegler willshare his imprisonment experiences, personal attemps tochange, also he will elaborate on philosophical discourserelated to guilt, human condition, social isolation, mad-ness, death and freedom.

SOCIETY'S LINEADDITIONAL CHARACTERSViktoras Davidenko, director of the prisonIn 2012 he was appointed director of Lukiškes Prison by theMinister of Justice of Lithuania. As a director he initiateda number of changes. Under his supervision prison cellswere renovated, a lot of attention was paid to the aesthe-tic feel of the surroundings and prison’s flower gardens.Volunteers from various organizations are helping developa variety of activities that would help prisoners transformand integrate into society much faster. Among many otherthings, he also ensures that prison staff collaborates in thefilming of this documentary.One of the most unique ideas proposed by Viktoras wasthe idea to establish an apiary in Lukiškes prison. It is al-ready decided that the apiary will be built on a flat roof ofthe Production Section building and the stairs to it havealso already been built. The prison will produce their ownhoney. The apiary will consists of few hives and other ne-cessary equipment that will be built in prison. Linden treesthat grow around prison area will be the perfect environ-ment for bees. One of the prison’s lifers and one of the maincharacters in the film, Rimantas Alekna, will be its mainbeekeeper.Algis Greinys, director of Production SectionAs of 2010 he has held the position of Production Sectiondirector and the head of Public enterprise “Our Crafts” inwhich 43 lifers are now employed. According to him, priso-ners are the best employees because they are very disci-plined and responsible. The biggest punishment to a pri-soner is unemployment. By losing their job prisoners losetheir occupation and wage. As per request sent by a Dutchcompany “Vivara”, they make 154 types of nesting-boxesfor birds, insects, and small mammals. They make ap-proximately 5000 – 7000 nesting-boxes a month, i.e. twotruckfuls of them. Their high quality nesting-boxes are soldall across Europe.Algis is a member and veteran of an international HarleyDavidson club “Free Hawks”. He was one of the first Li-thuanians who had a Harley Davidson motorcycle. He seesHarley as an absolute symbol of freedom. Together withhis wife he traveled across Europe on his beloved Harley.

CREATIVE CREWGeorgi Tenev (co-writer) is a Bulgarian novelist, scriptwriter, and playwright. He is a votingmember of the European Film Academy. He wrote and directed the full-length documentaryHouben Paints Money (2012). In 2013 he co-wrote the script for Alienation, a feature film di-rected by Milko Lazarov. The film premiered at the 70thVenice Film Festival and was awardedwith the FEDORA Film Critics' prize and the special \"Europe Cinemas Label\" mention. In 2015 heco-wrote a sequel of 30 short documentary films, Heroes of the World War Forgotten. GeorgiTenev is a voting member of the European Film Academy.Audrius Kemežys (DOP) is a well-known Lithuanian cameraman, the DOP of the film. Hereceived his BA in Film and Television Cinematography from the Lithuanian Academy of Musicand Theatre in 1998. Since then he has shot more than 50 films and is one of the most expe-rienced and awarded cameramen in Lithuania. Audrius was filming in many films of famousLithuanian director Sarunas Bartas. He has collaborated with director Audrius Mickevicius inthe production of the movies Man-Horse (2008) and 2 Cups of Yoghurt (2011).Beppe Leonetti (editor) completed film editing studies at Centro Sperimentale di Cinemato-grafia in Rome.From 2006 to 2009 Beppe worked with Nanni Moretti, editing segments of themovie “Chacun son cinéma” that was screened at Cannes Film Festival in 2009. In 2011 he edited“Là-bas. A criminal education”, the movie that won the Lion of the Future at the 68th Venice FilmFestival and the Flash Forward Award at the 16th Busan Film Festival.In 2011 Beppe founded anindependent production company “Incandenza film” (www.incandenzafilm.it). Since 2015 Bep-pe Leonetti is a board member of Doc/it, the Association of Italian Documentarists.Pinuccio Sciola (sound) – a famous Sardinian sculptor who created stone sculptures andused them as music instruments. His music “The Sound Stones” (“Pietre Sonore”) is incredi-bly diverse and has affecting sound textures, therefore perfectly conveys the film’s emotionalatmospheres. On the 13th of May 2016 the sculptor unexpectedly died. However, during film’sdevelopment in the summer of 2015, a successful and high-quality recordings of Pinuccio weremade by Audrius Mickevicius. More information: www.pinucciosciola.it.Marjan Šijanec (composer) is a famous Slovenian composer. He graduated from the Uni-versity of Ljubljana at the Academy of Music. His creative goals are of especially wide ran-ge, starting from chamber music, operas, music for movies, and ending in music for electronicorchestras. The composer is among the first to create computer music in the territory of theformer Yugoslavia. During his long career, Marjan Sijanec has received numerous national andinternational awards for his work. More information: www.sijanec.comStefano Asili (graphic designer) has a PhD in Architetcture. He has attended internationalworkshops with Massimo Vignelli, Armando Milani, Roger R. Remington. He organized the Ita-lian International Graphic Design Week in 2011. Stefano has designed logos, posters, identi-ty and exhibit systems for local and national institutions (INAF - Italian National Institute forAstrophysics, National Health Institute, CNI - National Council of Engineers, etc.). Among hisacknowledgements, he won the Council of Europe Landscape Award in 2011. His works arepublished and exhibited in Italy and abroad.

e DIRECTOR: Audrius Mickevicius DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT “Death equalizes us. It helps us to feel and recognize the real wor- ld, which is currently becoming more of a simulation. Our authen- tic social life is often replaced by it’s representation that lacks real human contact. Virtually anesthetized world gives us conditional freedom and safety, but fear for the real contact with “the other” often remains. I am interested in exploring film structures and ways of narration which can convey intimate subjective expe- riences and emotions, as well as discuss relevant social issues.” Audrius Mickevicius is a Lithuanian interdisciplinary artist (film, photography, architecture, installations, graphics, sound, writing), a professor in the Department of Media Art at the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts and a guest lecturer in European universities. He completed his architectural sudies in Vilnius (1988) and visual communication studies in Co- penhagen (1996). Audrius became obsessed with cinema at a young age. In 1983 he made his first 8 mm film “Requiem for Quartet”. Since then Audrius has made 17 more films. In recent years he created several experimental, documentary, and fiction films, which were screened in various international film festivals and MoMA, New York. Since 2010 the film director has been a member of the Lithuanian Filmmakers Union. He works and lives in Vilnius, Lithuania. Previous selected films: Fiction “2 Cups of Yoghurt” 30’, HD, 2011 with FRALITA FILMS (Lithuania-France); Creative documentary “Man-Horse” 72’/52’, HDV, 2008 with NOMINUM (Lithuania), YLE (Finland), Cineworks (Finland), MDR (Germany); Documentary “Media Ecologies” 26’,HDV, 2008 with FOAM (Belgium), NADINE (Belgium); Documentary “Migrating Birds” 26’, HDV, 2007; Expe- rimental “No” 43’, DVCAM, 2003 with UBERFAHRT (Germany). CONTACT Cell: +370 61210917 E-mail: [email protected] Skype: audrius_mickevicius''2 Cups of Yoghurt'' ''Man-Horse''(2011, fiction 30min. Lithuania, France) Nominated for ''Silver (2008, creative documentary 72 min. Lithuania, Finland, Germany)Crane'' (Lithuanian Film Academy Award) as a best short film. Screened in various international film festivals and MoMa, New York.Screened in various international film festivals.

PRODUCER: Rasa MiškinyteRasa Miškinyte graduated from the European Film College in Ebel-toft, Denmark. She has an MA in Audiovisual Arts from LithuanianAcademy of Music and Theatre. From 2001 to 2006 she worked asa producer at the Lithuanian National Radio and Television studio. ERA FILM Company Profile Established in Vilnius in 2001 by the Lithuanian produ- cer, Rasa Miskinyte, ERA FILM is known for producing award-winning international documentary films. Re-cently, ERA FILM entered a new era with an additional focus onanimation and transmedia projects.Previous producing credits include: Creative doc“Under the Hood” 75’, DVcam, 2013 with Planet Korda Pictures (Ire-land) MDR, Belsat TV & TVP (Poland); Creative doc “Dreaming the Path” 87, HD, 2012; Creative doc “Book Smugglers”73’/53’, HD, 2011 with Planet Korda Pictures (Ireland) and BBC-NI (UK) and TG4 (Ireland); Creative doc “Sharunas Bartasan Army of One” 51’, Dvcam, 2010 with Leitmotiv Productions (France); Animadoc “The Bug Trainer” 53’, HD, 2008 withSe-ma-for Productions (Poland), NHK (Japan), AVRO (The Netherlands), YLE (Finland); Creative doc “Spanish for Adults”51, Dvcam, 2007 with Evohe Films (Spain), Televisio de Catalunya (Spain), ZDF/Arte (Germany/France), YLE (Finland).As line producer/Associated producer: Creative doc “The Fall of the Wall” 80’, HD, 2009 for FR3 (France); Creative doc“L’Affaire Farwell” 2 episodes 52’, DigiBeta 2007 for ZDF (Germany), ARTE G.E.I.E. (France), YLE (Finland); Creative doc“The Putin System” 95’, DigiBeta, 2005 for France2 (France), NDR (Germany), LRT (Lithuania).CONTACTERA FILM, UAB, www.erafilm.lt • Kazimiero Ladygos str. 1-119, LT-08235 Vilnius, LithuaniaCell: +370 682 96128 • E-mail: [email protected] CO - PRODUCER: Martichka BozhilovaMartichka Bozhilova has been producer of the Bulgarian AGI-TPROP group since 1999. Her multi-awarded films have repre-sented contemporary Bulgarian cinema at top film festivals in theworld: Cannes, Berlinale, Sundance, Toronto, Pusan, Tribeca, IDFAand many others. In 2006 she received the International Trailbla-zer Award, launched by Robert Redford and Sundance Channel atMIPDOC in Cannes for creativity, innovation, originality and brea-kthrough in documentary cinema. Founder and director of BalkanDocumentary Center (BDC) for supporting documentary filmmakersfrom the Balkans. Jury member at DokLeipzig 2014 and IDFA 2014.Ambassador of the European Documentary Network (EDN) andmember of its Executive Committee.AGITPROP is probably the most awarded Bulgarian film production company. AGITPROP has produced a number of films- creative documentaries and fiction films with a strong author’s style, among which the multi-internationally awardedGEORGI AND THE BUTTERFLIES (IDFA winner), THE MOSQUITO PROBLEM AND OTHER STORIES (Cannes), CORRIDOR#8 (Berlinale), OMELETTE (Sundance). AGITPROP produced the first original Bulgarian content for HBO and National Ge-ographic Channel. The company’s latest films include LOVE & ENGINEERING (Tribeca NY, Visions de Reel; Karlovy Vary),DAD MADE DIRTY MOVIES (sold to more than 30 territories), and THE BOY WHO WAS A KING (Toronto IFF). AGITPROPis involved in the management of the Balkan Documentary Center. AGITPROP has co-produced with Germany, USA, Fin-land, Sweden, Switzerland,Italy, Greece, Romania, Croatia, UAE. Among AGITPROP’s leading TV partners are: Channel 4,Sundance Channel, HBO, ARTE, PBS, YLE.CONTACTAGITPROP, Ltd., www.agitprop.bg • 68 Budapest Str., ap.1, Sofia BulgariaCell: +359 2 983 14 11 • E-mail: [email protected]