Released

Kiemas

The Courtyard · 2000

90 min · Drama · Lithuanian · Lithuania, France

Co-production

Credits

Director
Valdas Navasaitis
Screenwriter
Valdas Navasaitis
Producer
Uljana Kim
Cinematographer
Rimvydas Leipus
Production designer
Jurij Grigorovič

Produced by

Synopsis

The first feature of Lithuanian Valdas Navasaitis is a drama which unravels the hopeless 1970s, when people were deprived of their roots and forced to sit and watch their lives slip from their fingers. In a decrepit house that once belonged to a bourgeois family, several families seek shelter. Senis, a 65-year-old alcoholic, lives on the ground floor with his wife and their 16-year-old daughter. Senis is a survivor of the Nazis as well as the communist camps. He drowns the pain of his memories in a nearby pub and in talking to a depressed young laborer, Lorenca. Later on, a young couple and a lonely eccentric who enjoys only his cat's company join the inhabitants. Children wile away the time with useless games or spying on adults. When Lorenca hangs himself at the ruins of a nearby factory, the lives are shaken up. During the dinner held for the deceased, they find a moment of common hope.

Timeline

  1. 20 May 1999Premiere, Cannes Film Festival
  2. 8 March 2000Opened in cinemas

Spoken languages: Lithuanian, Russian

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