SarUnas Bartas. Time of Utopia Will Never Come

Writing a book or compiling a volume about the work or the films of Sarūnas Bartas is no simple task. There are several reasons for this. First of all, Bartas’s films are the purest expression of imagistic consciousness-works that are deeply and inseparably tied to form, a form that belongs uniquely to the art of cinema. The word cinema, incidentally, is not one Bartas is particularly fond of. Secondly, the Lithuanian director is an “uncomfortable” interview subject. He rarely answers questions directly, since words carry a different weight for him. He doesn’t like to operate through them. Extracting “information” from him is just as difficult as “reading” his films.
And yet, there are the films of Sarūnas Bartas. There are articles written about him. His work is regularly featured in retrospectives around the world. His films enter the main competitions of the most prestigious film festivals. There are conflicts with society, widely reported in the tabloid press. There is a tragic personal life. There is a political stance-on recent global events and, in particular, on the war in Ukraine-that is publicly known. And finally, there are his many interviews, in which, despite his reticence and hermeneutic approach, he reflects on his work and, one way or another, lets something slip. All of this cannot help but provoke reflection-among critics, cinephiles, professionals, and simply filmgoers.