Defense of the artistic research project “The Landscape in Lithuanian Auteur Documentary Filmmaking: Structuring, Meaning and Developement”

On December 16-18, 2020, the defense of Audrius Stonys “The Landscape in Lithuanian Auteur Documentary Filmmaking: Structuring, Meaning and Developement” will take place at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Artistic Supervisors: Prof. Arūnas Matelis, Doc. Dr. Lina Kaminskaitė–Jančorienė. Research consultant: Tue Steen Muller. Copies of the research paper and its summary are available at the library of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Gedimino pr. 42).

Online events. For participating please register until December 14 by the e-mail: daiva.buivydiene@lmta.lt.

Defense of the artistic part
December 16, 2020, 6 p.m.

PROGRAM

Documentary “Laiko tiltai” / “Bridges of Time” (2018)
Directors – Audrius Stonys, Kristine Briede

Defense of the research part
December 18, 2020, 10 a.m.

Chairperson of the doctoral thesis defence board:
Prof. Ramūnas Greičius (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)

Members of the board:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Giedrė Beinoriūtė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)
Sergei Loznica (internationally recognised artist)
Prof. Dr. Aušra Martišiūtė-Linartienė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)
Prof. Dr. Natalija Arlauskaitė (Vilnius University)

Reviewers:
Prof. Janina Lapinskaitė(Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Renata Šukaitytė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)

Abstract

A historical analysis of Lithuanian auteur documentary demonstrates that the landscape was guarded, documented and used as a space of expression by the filmmakers of the Soviet period of Lithuanian documentary, who were not able to address their viewer in a straightforward and truthful way. Meanwhile, the contemporary globalised world brought new challenges with it; the tendencies of cultural and national unification compel us to yet again look at the landscape as a cinematographic space that carries a unique historical and national memory within.A recurring view expressed by documentary practitioners, that the landscape in the documentary film is secondary and only serves as a background to the story, shows a need to rethink the role of landscape in the creative documentary. Many film directors continue to believe that the landscape is created by the character and any creative intervention that focuses on constructing the landscape or linking it to the dramaturgy of the film somehow contradicts the nature of documentary film.The Lithuanian documentary filmmakers and scholars have an insufficient understanding of the landscape and its significance when creating the film’s dramaturgical structure and meaning. This research paper argues that the landscape, as it appears in Lithuanian poetic documentary film, acquired a wider function: it moved away from its traditional understanding as the action’s background and became an important and meaningful element of cinematic dramaturgy.