Meticulously composed documentary film about an old heathen ritual that is kept alive in a few places in Lithuania. The film is set in a village in the Semogitia region. The ritual takes place on the evening of Easter and continues deep into the night. The inhabitants of the village dress up in colourful costumes as 'artists', 'soldiers' or 'Jews'. They congregate in the church where the 'soldiers' guard a divine statue and the 'Jews' try to steal it. This miraculous mixture of Christian symbolism and old heathen customs becomes increasingly burlesque as the alcohol transforms the religious feast into an exotic one. The village drowns in mud and drink. After the party the village gets back to normal.
- Director
- Arunas Matelis
- Country of production
- Lithuania
- Year
- 1996
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 1996
- Length
- 30'
- Medium
- 35mm
- Producers
- Studio NOMINUM, Romas Marcinkevicius
- Screenplay
- Arunas Matelis
- Editor
- Arunas Matelis