Yesterday and Forever
From Sun 02 to Thu 06 JunMade in 1984 and immediately banned as if it were featured in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Yesterday and Forever (Vakar ir visados) made against all odds an indelible impression on the public imagination of Lithuanians in the late Soviet period and beyond.
Co-written with prominent Lithuanian poet Marcelijus Martinaitis, the film borrows its title from one of his poems. The poet appears along with a folklore singer Veronika Pavilionienė in the filmic encounter between the present and the past.
Steeped in regional visuals and sounds, such as spoken word, folk songs, and spells, Vakar ir visados reimagined the soundscape of traditional crafts and indigenous rituals in such a differing way than the institutionally curated Soviet narratives of ethnic histories, that the film upset the Soviet bureaucracy.
Introduction
Screening on 2 June will be introduced by film critic, curator, and culture columnist Monika Gimbutaitė and writer, filmmaker and leading curator of Eastern European cult films Daniel Bird
About Monika Gimbutaitė
Monika has previously worked as a culture editor for a news portal, held the role of CEO at a publishing house, and did programming for various film festivals. Currently, she is working on her PhD thesis about film policy in contemporary Lithuania.
Supported by the Lithuanian Embassy in London, the film’s screenings are a part of the Un.censor.ing symposium on cultural heritage resilience and censorship organised and curated by Dr Gabriele Salciute Civiliene and presented by the department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London.
See also