A.Balžekienė: “Cinema under the stars” is a living example of how to transform and constantly look for new forms | Culture

We talk about this year’s festival and the history of “Cinema under the stars” with festival director Andre Balžekien.

– 15th festival. Little anniversary. How are you?

– Getting to the festival and turning into nocturnal animals for a couple of weeks is a celebration. I say nocturnal because the sessions don’t start until after dark, after 10pm, and some of them end well after midnight. Then, together with other viewers, we go to Vilnius at night, which looks extremely photogenic.

Every year, walking home after the “Cinema under the Stars” screenings, I photograph St. Anne’s Church, I have quite a few such photos from different periods on my phone, but every time I can’t help myself. Paying attention to your environment, seeing it cinematically, is a side effect of a good film, the kind we show at the festival.

– What do you remember about the first festivals, how did the idea of ​​holding such sessions in the open air come about?

– The festival is created from the beginning by the team of the “Pasaka” cinema. One of its founders, Tomas Balžek, lived in America for some time and brought back an example of an open-air cinema from there. He and his friends organized screenings in Vilnius that you can watch from your car. As far as I remember, it was his idea, the suggestion that we try to organize “Cinema under the stars”.

In the first year, the festival was held in the courtyard of the Franciscan Palace. When I look at the photos now, it’s funny to see that instead of chairs, we had built wooden benches, which are usually used at city festivals. Later, for several years, the festival was held in the courtyard of the Contemporary Art Center. There used to be a parking lot for museum employees during the day.

Although we put leaflets on the windows of the cars from the morning with a request to take them out of the yard in the evenings, once one car remained in the center, we could not contact the driver, so we arranged it with chairs on the sides and showed a movie. And only after these two different location tests, “Cinema under the stars” moved to the courtyard of the Palace of Lords, where, I think, it finally took shape as a festival, found its format and continues successfully to this day. What has remained from the first year to now is a giant inflatable screen where we show movies from a cinema projection. This is what sets us apart from all other outdoor cinema events.

– The most common question that arises when thinking about outdoor cinema is the weather. After all, rain can turn all preparations into nothing.

– During those weeks, all colleagues’ phones register an increased interest in weather apps, and stress levels rise with every patch of overcast sky or raindrop. It is very difficult when you are already on your way from home to an evening event, but it is raining at your place, although your colleague is in another district of Vilnius and it is clear at his place. Cancel? Do not cancel?

Will it stop raining or will it rain even more? There doesn’t seem to be a right answer, taking responsibility is always difficult because there have been sessions we’ve canceled and then cleared up. And the audience was angry, and we are disappointed. It is no less difficult when the rain scares everyone out of the yard. I can only be glad that our most loyal viewers are of the “no bad weather, just the wrong clothes” series and don’t worry too much about a few drops of rain or the chill of the night.

There are 900 seats in the courtyard of the Palace of Lords, but can classics gather so many people?

I myself have watched movies in August with an autumn coat. In 2019, it was extremely hot and even at midnight we all felt good in dresses and short sleeves. Last year, on the contrary, was an unexpectedly cold season of “Cinema under the stars”. We focus on the films we want to show, the experience we want to provide, we think about the weather when it becomes a problem and we already have steps in place in how we do things, like handing out disposable raincoats to the audience.

– How has “Cinema under the stars” changed over the years?

– “Cinema under the stars” is a living example and a lesson for me personally on how to transform and not stop looking for new forms. At first we changed the venue, for a couple of years we organized a free opening session in the Cathedral Square as a festive start to the festival. The festival began as a kind of open-air cinema, showing films practically throughout the summer, almost every night.

Later, we realized that we were getting tired of it, as well as our spectators, who no longer felt the uniqueness of the event. It’s time to decide – are we an open-air cinema or more of a festival? We then concentrated the program on ten days and made the seemingly risky decision to show only cinema classics. Risky, because there are 900 seats in the courtyard of the Palace of Lords, and can the classics gather so many people? Time has proven that you can, if you select and present the program correctly.

We will be showing 10 classic films for the third year. They include both those who have seen these films and those who have heard that they are worth seeing. Adults bring their teenage children. It was by transforming the event into a festival showing iconic, time-tested films of the past that I felt it was becoming not only an event, but also a phenomenon. I am happy if we become a gateway for someone to have a wider interest in cinema, not only to enjoy the exclusive experience of cinema under the stars.

– How do you choose the program, after all, you can choose from thousands of good classic films.

– First of all, we are looking for a common idea, a concept that could unite this year’s films. And only after that we go to search for specific movies. This is an extremely creative and exciting process. The program “Kino po žvaigdėmis” has been shaped for several years by Giedrė Vyšniauskaitė, who has a good film education, sense and taste. She could perfectly plan everything by herself, but I am grateful that she allows others to be involved. Both the concept and the films are discussed by the entire core team of four people organizing the festival.

I am very grateful to Giedra and other colleagues – the executive manager Asta Martinonyta and the communication manager Ugna Užkurėlyta, that “Kinas po žvajųgħamis” has been our common child for many years, and we all agree on its upbringing. And we are constantly talking with Giedris Kazlauskas, a cinematographer who has been with “Kinu po žvažnígamis” since its first days. It is thanks to him and the team that all the cinema sessions run smoothly, which requires not only professionalism, but also a lot of physical endurance – it is not easy to withstand 10 night events in two weeks.

– What did you agree on this year’s “Cinema under the Stars” program?

– This year, we focused on the actors, we wanted to pay special attention to them, to appreciate their talent and sometimes inhuman devotion, preparing for the role. The main criterion was that they were still alive, creating actors. And then we looked for their distinctive roles and at the same time made sure that the selected films fit together in the overall program of “Cinema under the stars”.

It was interesting to learn about the biographies of the actors, for example, to learn that Ralph Fiennes’ mother read Shakespeare instead of fairy tales, that Frances McDormand refuses to conform to beauty standards and never wears makeup, that Meryl Streep had just buried a loved one when Kramer vs. Kramer and her partner Dustin Hoffman constantly manipulated it, recalling the tragedy on the set, only to make the actress’ performance more emotional.

There is a lot of darkness in the stories of the actors: Jim Carrey, who makes everyone laugh, suffered from depression for many years, Daniel Day-Lewis chooses to create a role by “becoming” his character and thus causing a lot of suffering to himself and those around him: he can sit in a wheelchair for months, get a job in a butcher shop or lock himself in prison .

Knowing this, you appreciate the roles they created in a completely different way. What the actors convey on the screen finds its way into our souls, we identify with the lives of the heroes without having to go through them ourselves (and in some cases, thank God). Actors do all this at the cost of their health, spiritual and physical, they put creativity and talent above their own interests. I would like to publicly express my utmost respect to Cinema Under the Stars and all the actors in general for this effort.

– How do you see the future of “Cinema under the stars”?

– I can’t predict the future, but I sincerely hope that the festival will continue its mission for a long time – to introduce the audience to the world’s best films through an exceptional experience. Due to climate change and unpredictable weather, organizing outdoor events is becoming increasingly difficult, but I believe that “Cinema under the Stars” will adapt to this and other challenges. It has proven time and time again that development and continuous search are the value of the entire organizing team.