“We can never run away from our past. The past will catch up to us because it is us” says Joshua Oppenheimer, a USA-born documentary film creator, best known for his examinations of political violence and collective memory.
Carrying out the project “Cinema at the Library: The Younger Generation in Documentaries”, The Oak Grove Library continues the cycle of documentary films. This time we invite to the screening of the documentary film “Delta Zoo” (directed by Andrius Lekavičius), which will take place on Tuesday, the 12th of May, at 18.00, at the Oak Grove Library‘s Star Hall (Radastų st. 2, 1st floor).
“Delta Zoo” (dir. A. Lekavičius)
Lithuania, 2019, 1 h. 30 min., N–14, with English subtitles.
The film “Delta Zoo” transports us into the year 1990-1991, a time when Lithuania had just been developing as an independent nation. The film tells about a group of young people who, inspired by action films and driven by idealism, get involved in an unofficial special squad, ready to defend the country from soviet aggression. It’s a story about youth, courage, and the boundary between reality and idealised heroism. The film also raises questions about how young people understand responsibility, freedom, and their roles in history.
In the film, the director Andrius Lekavičius reveals that under the layers of adventures and romanticised heroism hides a difficult experience – being a young person getting ready for combat, when it’s very challenging to evaluate risk and perspectives of the future. This topic is especially relevant to young people today. Even though times change, the questions remain the same. What does it mean to be responsible for your country? How are values formed? How does youthful idealism confront reality?
Documentary cinema encourages to not only hear, but to experience these questions through true stories, real people, and their experiences. With the “Cinema at the Library: The Younger Generation in Documentaries” project we aim to actualise documentary cinemas a tool for education, which helps young people develop critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and the ability to reflect on difficult historical and social processes. In this way we invite to converse about that, which forms our personal and collective identity.
We invite the youth, students, and all those interested in cinema and history, to participate in the screening, and to discover documentary cinema as space to think, discuss, and know yourself, together.
The project “Cinema at the Library: The Younger Generation in Documentaries” is financed by the Lithuanian Film Centre.
The project’s information sponsors: PB “Kylantis Kaunas”, Ltd. “Diena Media News”, SP “Kas Vyksta”.
There will be photography and/or filming during the event, so please be aware that you may be seen in photos or videos of the event, which may be published in various media outlets.
