Renovation
A Ukrainian craftsman orchestrates a cacophony of questions for a hesitant Lithuanian woman.
Translator Ilona and tour guide Matas plan to move in together after two years of dating. They finally settle into a new apartment just as building renovations begin. The constant drilling and banging soon drain all inspiration.
Ilona’s sharp-tongued mother visits to voice her regrets and unfulfilled hopes, comparing her daughter to former classmate Laura, who has defended her PhD and is now engaged. Ilona could have made many different choices. She dislikes Matas’s reminder that she is about to turn thirty and gently resists the idea of marriage.
One sunny day, a Ukrainian construction worker named Oleg accidentally steps into Ilona’s life from the neighbouring balcony – and profoundly changes it. A painter before the war, he knows of Čiurlionis, Lithuania’s most famous artist and composer. To impress him, Ilona pretends to be a poet. Their meetings become more frequent; the air thickens with unspoken attraction. Oleg urges her to talk to Matas if she truly loves him.
“Runner” (PÖFF Baltic Competition prize winner, 2021) star Žygimantė Jakštaitė and Šarūnas Zenkevičius (seen in a strikingly different role in “Borderline”) portray a modern couple caught in doubt and the struggle for love, while cinematographer Vytautas Katkus (director of “The Visitor”) delivers another visionary piece of handheld magic – full of reflections and shadows.
Edvinas Pukšta
Gabriele Urbonaite is a Lithuanian writer, director, and editor who holds a BFA in Film from Emerson College and an MFA in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University. She is an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Odense Talent Camp, and Reykjavik Talent Lab. She has directed several short films, including “The Swimmer” (2013) which won the National Lithuanian Film Award Silver Crane for Best Short Film. The short film “Goodbye” (2014) was made while she was based partly in the US and Lithuania, and “The Last Day Of School” (2018, short) had its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Her work often explores themes of cultural identity, migration, otherness, and features strong female characters.
Filmography:
Girls Feels: Into the Blue (2022, co-dir), Renovation (2025)
Award for Best Baltic Film, grant of 5000€ from Piletilevi
