Virginija Vareikytė

For more than a decade, Artūras Morozovas has been photographing people in vulnerable situations – those who have experienced the Russian occupation and its consequences, those affected by the war in Ukraine, and those experiencing social isolation in Lithuania. He explores social problems that are still felt in both countries as a result of the Soviet occupation.

A nearly-suicidal, young woman visits a psychotherapist. She is in love with a priest, and the diagnosis of her husband's mental illness leaves no hope. The psychotherapist, in her attempts to resolve the amassed difficulties, seemingly begins to duplicate the life stages and behavioral patterns of her patient. A script for this film is based on motifs from the best-seller, scandalous novel, Witch and Rain, by female author, Jurga Ivanauskaite. By choosing a priest as the main role for a love story, the author broke an existing societal taboo. Faith, Love and Hope form the trilogy by the authors of this screenplay. Love stands as the grandest of the three.

To say life in Vilnius, Lithuania, during Soviet occupation was tense would be an understatement. People were followed and photographed; restaurant dinner plates were bugged to catch potentially illicit conversations; car accidents were staged to waylay people while surveillance equipment was installed in their apartments; and many were detained, interrogated, imprisoned, or worse. Through expertly assembled KGB archival footage, earnest present-day interviews, and cleverly crafted returns-to-the-scene-of-the-crime, directors Maxì Dejoie and Virginija Vareikyté present an acutely compelling contemplation of a “non war” from both sides.

Two women, a psychologist and a police officer, engage in a challenging mission - to reduce the record suicide numbers in their rural hometown in Lithuania. Valija and Gintare provide door to door empathy and compassion, healing the loneliest members of their community. As fear of losing another life reaches its peak, the women form a resourceful friendship and together they succeed to ease the crisis and prove that suicide prevention can be effective. The observational camera makes the audience witness and finally understand how they really succeeded in tackling this complex issue.