Vytautas Žalakevičius

Vytautas Žalakevičius (Russian Витаутас Жалакявичюс; born April 14, 1930 in Kaunas, Lithuania, † November 12, 1996 in Vilnius, Lithuania ) was a Lithuanian writer and director.

Life and work

Žalakevičius studied from 1948 to 1950 at the Mathematics Department of the University of Vilnius. He then picked up a directing course at the Moscow Film School ( WGIK ), where he was taught by renowned faculty as Grigori Alexandrov and Mikhail Chiaureli. In 1956 he finished his studies with a thesis film directed Skenduolis (Eng. ' The Drowned '). His first full-length feature film, Adam wants to be human, with Donatas Banionis in the lead role, he directed three years later for the studio Vilnius. The film, for which he was also responsible scenario was aroused controversy because of the modern formal organization of film critics, but inspired a number of young Soviet directors and eventually met with great audience interest. A year later, he performed as artistic director together with other Lithuanian directors film episodes survivor heroes who gave him the first prize of the XII. International Film Festival Karlovy Vary earned.

In 1966 he succeeded with the film Nobody wanted to die his biggest commercial success, the, and the actor Donatas Banionis and Regimantas Adomaitis, the final breakthrough for him in the movie business. For the strip The sweet word freedom, he was honored in 1973 with the Grand Prize of the Moscow Film Festival, after which he joined Mosfilm, where until 1980 he filmed several strips of 1974. Then he returned to Lithuania, where he helped after the collapse of the Soviet Union to establish a new independent Lithuanian film industry.

Filmography (selection)