Retrospective: The Films of Mantas Kvedaravičius, Nov 18/19 and Dec. 2/3, 2022, Arsenal Cinema, Berlin

The retrospective presents five films by Mantas Kvedaravičius. His first documentary, BARZAKH (2011), based on Kvedaravičius’ PhD field work, was produced with the support of Aki Kaurismäki. The film, about the effects of persecution and abduction in Chechnya,  premiered at the Berlinale, receiving the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Special Mention and the Amnesty International Film Award and went on to win Lithuania’s Best Documentary of the Year prize as well as a number of other awards. Filmed during the first phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war, his second film, MARIUPOLIS (2016), is a study of the city, dedicated “to its poets and shoemakers.” His third film, PARTHENON (2019), filmed between Odessa, Athens and Istanbul, ventures towards the realms of fiction, in what he describes as a long-term project on “dispossession and desire” that also includes the recently released PROLOGOS (2021). When he and his partner Hanna Bilobrova made the decision to return to Mariupol, after the start of the war in early 2022, he had been living in Uganda and working on G.O.M.A., his third fiction film. In March, whilst filming what would become MARIUPOLIS 2, he was captured and killed by Russian forces.

Commenting on Mariupolis, Kvedaravičius states that his film is not merely about the absurdity of war; rather, it is “about voice, materiality, and body […] It is a question of the question of tragedy, the non-representable at the expense of the image.” Non-representability takes different shapes in his film practice, from the study of absence and its effects on the bodies surrounding it, to a filmmaking approach that captures people as well as “the wind that comes after someone is gone” with the same commitment and tenderness.

The retrospective includes conversations with some of Kvedaravičius’ close collaborators, which will take place after the screenings. Conversations will be held with Ieva Raubiško, social anthropologist and field research companion in Chechnya during the filming of Barzakh; Irina Prudkova, production manager for Mariupolis; and Hanna Bilobrova, Kvedaravičius’ partner and co-director of Mariupolis 2.

Curated by the Harun Farocki Institut and Rosa Barotsi.

 

Friday November 18, 2022, 20h
BARZAKH
Dir.: Mantas Kvedaravičius
Finland/Lithuania, 2011, DCP, Colour, OV with English subtitles, 59 min.
Followed by a discussion with Ieva Raubiško

Location: Arsenal 1
To the admission ticket

 

Saturday November 19, 2022, 19:30h
MARIUPOLIS
Dir.: Mantas Kvedaravičius
Lithuania/Germany/France/Ukraine, 2016, DCP, Colour, OV with English subtitles, 96 min.
Followed by a discussion with Irina Prudkova (Translation: Anastasiia Pokaz)

Location: Arsenal 1
To the admission ticket

 

Friday December 2, 2022, 19h and 21:15h
PARTHENON
Dir.: Mantas Kvedaravičius
Ukraine/France/Lithuania, 2019, DCP, Colour, OV with English subtitles, 119 min.
PROLOGOS
Dir.: Mantas Kvedaravičius
Lithuania/Greece, 2021, DCP 2k, Colour, OV with English subtitles, 89 min.

 

Saturday December 3, 2022, 20h
MARIUPOLIS 2
Dir.: Mantas Kvedaravičius Co-Dir.: Hanna Bilobrova
Lithuania/France/Germany, 2022, DCP, Colour, OV with English subtitles, 112 min.
Followed by a discussion with Hanna Bilobrova

Information about the films in December and tickets will soon be available on the Arsenal Cinema website.