When I decided to compile this number of the magazine "Photography" published by the Lithuanian Union of Photoartists (No. 1(37)), I was thinking first about photographing film masters and film photographers. In 2017, the personal exhibition "Weekend in Hell" was purely about the filming site, its dynamics, the taste, pauses and the creation of a film or, sometimes, illusion.
In making this number, I realized that limiting it to photography of cinema slots alone would be unfair, since photography with cinema or cinema with photography has a lasting connection from the very beginning of the two media, so only to review the documentation of the event would be a plate.
Both media have their own specifics, which dictates the relationship. They look at content differently, memory treatment, and can be complementary. It is far from possible to discuss all aspects of the relationship between these two media in a single magazine, so this time we provide the reader with information from research on photography in cinema to a funny conversation with an artist who tells personal experiences in both media.
We are very fortunate that Natalia Arlauskaitė is completing almost simultaneously writing the book "Fierce Peace: Photograph of Failed Regimes in a documentary film". I am grateful to her for her excellent excerpt "Iconic War Photography in cinema", prepared specifically for our publication.
Ilona Vitkauskaitė examines the strategies of reconstruction or restoration of the past in cinema and photography, based on the film "Act of Killing" (directed by The Act of Murder). J. Oppenheimer) and photographer Alexander Gronski.
Egor Schmonin, a Canadian film researcher who came to look around the vast expanses of Lithuanian poetic film and photography, surprised him with knowledge of lithuanian photographic stages and encouraged the world viewer to view the poetic and metaphorical creation of the Baltic region in the Soviet era as a kind of phenomenon of documentaryism and as an instrument of expression of that generation, raising questions about identity, applied polarity, internal conflict and other public efforts to remain themselves.
The magazine publishes three interviews with very different people who have come into contact with film and photography in different ways. Arūnas Kulikauskas talks about his experience working with John Meku, selecting and printing photographs from film tapes. These are works that have travelled to a number of famous exhibition halls around the world. The exhibition of this series can be enjoyed at the MO Museum (Pylimo str. 17, Vilnius) 29.11.2019–16.8.2020.
When we talk about cinema and photography, we can't eliminate the photography of Juozas Budraičio. They are many and diverse, from portraits and documentaries to intuitively captured city walls. The less frequently exhibited fixed cinema sites of J. Budraitis are also shown, where the mood for lunch breaks, waiting or end of the working day is created. And the conversation with the author turned more not about cinema, but about photography and its domestication.
You also do not want to forget the first Lithuanian film "Nerutina", which was created only from photographs by Director Jūratė Samulionytė in 2007. We invite you to read about the creative process and challenges in an interview with the author.
It is already a tradition to organize an exhibition when the magazine is released. We called it "24 frames per second and slower." The exhibition is exhibited at the Vilnius Photography Gallery (Stiklių str. 4 / Didžioji str. 19) 12.12.2019-11.1.2020. Authors participating in the exhibition: Juozas Budraitis, Paulius Makauskas, Algimantas Mockus, Viktoras Radzevičius, Audrius Zavadskis, Paulius Zavadskis, Miglė Narbutaitė. The exhibition will feature the film "Nerutina" (2007), directed by Jūratė Samulinytė, which was featured in the "Silver Crane" short film category.
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