Screening of the Jonas Mekas film “Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR”
On April 18, the Lithuanian friends – diplomats, journalists, artists, poets, curators and managers in different fields of arts, members of Japan-Lithuania Friendship Association and the Lithuanian language students met for the first“Lithuanian Friends' Gathering”at the Lithuanian Embassy in Tokyo for the screening of the newest film by Jonas Mekas, famous Lithuanian filmmaker Jonas Mekas based in New York, "Lithuania and the collapse of the USSR" (2008).Made of footage which Jonas Mekas took with his video camera from the American television newscasts in 1989-1991 at his home in NY, the 5 hours long film offers a chronological overview of the Lithuanians fight for independence. The film includes reports on the freedom demonstrations, interviews and statesmen made with top politicians, journalists and analysts. According to Mekas, 'It is a capsule of record of what happened and how it happened during that crucial period as recorded by the television newscasters. It can be viewed as a classic Greek drama in which the destinies of nations are changed drastically by the unbending, bordering on irrational will of one single man (Vytautas Landsbergis, the then head of the state), one small nation determined to regain its freedom, backed by its fight against the Might & Power, against the Impossible.'The Lithuanian Embassy is planning a public screening of the film later this year in cooperation with “Jonas Mekas Japanese Diary Association (メカス日本日記の会)”.The second “Lithuanian Friends' Gathering” is planned for the week of July 7th at Hillside Forum where the Lithuanian landscape photo exhibition“Unseen Lithuania”will be shown.
On April 18, the Lithuanian friends – diplomats, journalists, artists, poets, curators and managers in different fields of arts, members of Japan-Lithuania Friendship Association and the Lithuanian language students met for the first“Lithuanian Friends' Gathering”at the Lithuanian Embassy in Tokyo for the screening of the newest film by Jonas Mekas, famous Lithuanian filmmaker Jonas Mekas based in New York, "Lithuania and the collapse of the USSR" (2008).
Made of footage which Jonas Mekas took with his video camera from the American television newscasts in 1989-1991 at his home in NY, the 5 hours long film offers a chronological overview of the Lithuanians fight for independence. The film includes reports on the freedom demonstrations, interviews and statesmen made with top politicians, journalists and analysts. According to Mekas, 'It is a capsule of record of what happened and how it happened during that crucial period as recorded by the television newscasters. It can be viewed as a classic Greek drama in which the destinies of nations are changed drastically by the unbending, bordering on irrational will of one single man (Vytautas Landsbergis, the then head of the state), one small nation determined to regain its freedom, backed by its fight against the Might & Power, against the Impossible.'The Lithuanian Embassy is planning a public screening of the film later this year in cooperation with “Jonas Mekas Japanese Diary Association (メカス日本日記の会)”.
The second “Lithuanian Friends' Gathering” is planned for the week of July 7th at Hillside Forum where the Lithuanian landscape photo exhibition“Unseen Lithuania”will be shown.
