PARUS film festival

This is a cooperation project between Norwegian and Lithuanian artists and others that started in 2001 by the planning of the Parus film festival in the city of Sovietsk, Kaliningrad, Russia. The movie theatre "Parus" has everything required to screen movies, except the movies themselves. The summer of 2002 the group of artists arranged a small Norwegian-Lithuanian film festival.

Formerly a culturally and economically significant region and a transmitter between East and West, Kaliningrad suffers a state of stagnation nowadays. Situated among the EU countries, the region is deprived of its "givens" - the social, political and econimical progress. The organisers of the festival wanted to interrupt stagnation, but they were also questioning if cultural engagement was the correct means for this and if an alien initiative could be accepted.

The medium of film turned out to be a possible way of crossing cultures and linking them. Both the public and the organisers of the festival were Lithuanians, Norwegians and Russians. Norwegians were confronted with a foreign past, whereas the Lithuanians were confronted with a past closely linked to their own; the Russians experienced a present without any promise to last.

Participants: Cathrine Alvin, Egle Budvytyte, Virga Januskeviciute, Ignas Krunglevicius, Aura Maknyte, Siga Mikoliunaite, Darius Miksys, Ieva Sireikyte, Siri Harr Steinvik, Dovile Tumpyte, Ruta Vaitkeviciute, Vygantas Zolys.

Supported by: Nifca (Sleipnir), Noca (Oca), "Sosialistisk Opplysningsforbund" and "Ambrosius Egedius og hustrus legat".

– Documentary film (dur. 50 min.)

– 2006