The Eternal Light

Local title
Igavene valgus
Original title
Amžinoji šviesa
Director
Algimantas Puipa
Country
Year
1987

One of the most original Lithuanian films in film history.

Based on a novelette of the same name by Rimantas Šavelis, Algimantas Puipa’s “Eternal Light” bravely marked the first years of the liberation of Lithuanian cinema from Soviet censorship.

The story is told in the Lithuanian coastal village where the drama of the feelings and destinies of the four main characters of the film – Amilia, Anicetas, Zigmas, and Pranė – are intertwined. In “Eternal Light”, Puipa and Šavelis do not talk directly about the consequences of post-war struggles, collectivisation, deportations, or primitive propaganda. They show an exhausted, spent space in which one cannot be oneself and feel anything other than existential emptiness, and thus create a much more convincing picture of post-war Lithuania.

Director
Algimantas Puipa
Screenwriter
Rimantas Šavelis
Cast
Vidas Petkevicius, Kostas Smoriginas, Virginija Kelmelyte
Cinematographer
Rimantas Juodvalkis
Editing
Izabelė Pinaitytė
Production
Lithuanian Film Studio
Runtime
Subtitles
Algimantas Puipa
Director
Biography

Algimantas Puipa (b. 1951)

Filmography

Selected: Velnio sékla (Devil's Seed, 1980), Elze is giljos (1999, Elze elu, PÖFF 2000), Dievu miskas (Forest of the Gods, 2005), Nuodemes uzkalbejimas (Patu sosin, PÖFF 2007), Mieganciu drugeliu tvirtove (Uinuvate liblikate kindlus, PÖFF 2012), Kita Tylos Puse (Teisel pool vaikust, PÖFF 2019), Cinephilia (2021)

Screenings

Screening030919 / Igavene valgus
SubtitlesEnglish
Screening duration