Through life with a camera: the work of cinematographer Audrius Kemežys
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Vilnius Short Film Festival presents
This short film program invites you to take a look at the creative path of cinematographer Audrius Kemežys from Birštonas. Audrius Kemežys is one of the most famous and prominent Lithuanian cinematographers, awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts. Although he had to leave this world much too early due to a serious illness, during his creative career he shot more than fifty different films, some of which left a clear mark on the history of Lithuanian cinema.
This retrospective is an opportunity not only to see his filmed works, but also to see the flow of time captured in them, where both the depicted characters, the depicted environment, and the filming and imaging technology itself change. Audrius Kemežys' creative path is like a journey through life with a camera.
As befits a creative journey, this program is very diverse - it consists of various documentaries and feature films by different directors that explore the relationships of different people with the world and themselves. These films reveal Audrius Kemežys's characteristic attention to the characters and environment filmed, as well as his ability to powerfully reveal the film's intention through images.
The program was presented at the 19th Vilnius Short Film Festival in January 2026. The curator of the program is film director and screenwriter Lukas Kacinauskas.
Vilnius Short Film Festival is the only international film festival in Lithuania that qualifies for the Oscars and European Film Awards and one of the largest festivals exclusively screening short films in the Baltic States. Every January, this festival presents the newest and most outstanding short films from around the world and brings together filmmakers, industry representatives and film lovers. The festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary on January 20-26, 2027.
Duration: 95 minutes.
Census: N-16
Program films:
Nebulae of nebulae
Dir. Audrius Stonys / documentary / Lithuania / 2006 / 30 min.
The film "Nebulae of the Clouds" is a philosophical essay about the fragility of the human body in the face of time. This meditative film tells a story without words. What does it mean to have a human body, to live in it, and to gradually age with it?
Specialist
Dir. Giedrė Beinoriūtė / documentary / Lithuania, Latvia, France / 2012 / 16 min.
“You have to work every day, every day, every day,” an ant shouts to Eglė from the speakers. Eglė is studying sound direction and is recording sounds for a radio adaptation of a fairy tale. Eglė wants to be a good specialist. And she definitely will be. This film is part of the international documentary project “15 young by young”.
Crowds
Dir. Ramunė Rakauskaitė / documentary / Lithuania / 1997 / 3 min.
The film abstractly explores the crowd as a changing form, composed of many details. Movement, density and rhythm transform people into lines, flows and patterns, in which individuality dissolves into the overall form. The crowd is perceived here not as a narrative character, but as a visual phenomenon, constantly changing and reshaping itself.
Magpie2
Dir. Mykolas Vildžiūnas / documentary / Lithuania / 2010 / 28 min.
The last exhibition of Benas Šarka. It features discarded sea objects that have been transformed into “Birds that feed your eyes”. Benas Šarka is an avant-garde artist, creator, human, and bird. When asked who he is, he answers with a quote from Shakespeare: “I am a mortal mixture of water and clay.” In Benas’s life, you will hardly notice the rituals of everyday life or stumble upon a long philosophical monologue. He accepts only one form of communication – creativity. Only through knowing her do you get to know Benas. Only through telling stories about her is a portrait of this artist born.
Minstrels wear maxi coats
Dir. Agnė Marcinkevičiūtė / feature / Lithuania / 1999 / 18 min.
The film tells the short story of one love song, set in Užupis in the 1970s, where, despite the reality regulated by the Soviet occupation, the spirit of Lithuanian freedom reigns and minstrels roam in maxi coats.
The directors of these films will participate in the program
