Cinema for me is…
Pijus in 23 Frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
A constant seeker of beauty in the chaos around us.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
Explosive creative thinking, over-doubting myself or others.
3. Your dream job?
Having complete freedom in my creative thoughts and practices.
4. What do you like most about your country?
A sense of oneness with other Lithuanians.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
Cold beetroot soup.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
“Lįsk vabalo blauzdon” translated directly as “Climb into a calf of a bug”. Quite rarely used, however, a joyous way to tease someone.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Barcelona.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Lisbon to me was the most appealing fusion of colours, narrow cobbled streets and atmosphere saturated with urban culture.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Freedom, cooperation, ancient heritage.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
I seem to live in a never-ending cycle of losing and rediscovering films that truly reshape or enhance my interactions with the world. The most recent discovery was Michelangelo Antonioni’s Professione : reporter / The Passenger (1974, IT).
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
BFI Southbank, because it somehow makes the cinema experience so welcoming that it’s not a rare occasion to see a screening room filled with elderly people watching some classic film from the 50s. All of them laughing, interacting with the film and enjoying the experience. I haven’t seen such a pleasant sight anywhere else.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Federico Fellini is certainly one of my heroes, as he somehow managed to reach so many people with his films, while also maintaining his style and approach in a form like no other.
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
David Lynch, just to finally figure out Mulholland drive…
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
Two strangers, a man and a woman, running away from life itself in a convertible somewhere in the outskirts of Barcelona. Professione : reporter / The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1974, IT).
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Festen / The Celebration (Thomas Vinterberg, 1997, DK)
La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1997, FR)
L’eau froide / Cold Water (Olivier Assayas, 1994, FR).
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Stalker (Andreï Tarkovsky, 1979, RU). Even though I am not a believer myself, I share his concern. It seems, science and rationality might not be fully compatible religion-replacements for a modern human.
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
One of my favorites – the soundtrack of Pi (Darren Aronofsky, 1997, US).
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
In either one of Akira, Ghost in the Shell or Bladerunner. Endless technological possibilities in future megacities have always captivated me.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
A deep fake generated by AI, which beforehand will have analyzed my brain activity since the second my nerve system started functioning. That should be detailed enough to allow precise prediction of every single one of my possible actions, gestures or sayings.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
Imagination as vivid as the real world.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
My time on Earth.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Finding out that ideas are like people. They only seem to live on if they are constantly nurtured, always evolving and well-respected – secured from some, shown to others. Only in this way they seem to stimulate our belief in them.
23. What is your motto?
Favorite state of being – interested. I always seek being interested.