Audrius Stonys
Audrius Stonys is one of the best known and most well-established Lithuanian directors, whose work has highlighted the tiny country of Lithuania on the map of international cinema. Lithuania, which is located in Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, shares borders with Latvia and Russia. Audrius has produced and directed 15 documentaries which have won more than twenty awards. He is a member of the European Film Academy and European Documentary Network and has worked as a documentary teacher at the European Film College, Denmark.
Audrius started his film career during the last years of the Soviet empire, a time of great political uncertainty and emotional tumult which probably shaped his unique conception of cinema and poetic interpretation of the world. As the familiar and the conventional collapsed around him, Audrius took to films as a medium thru which he could look deeper and see more than normal human sight would allow him.
He believes that 'a documentary is born out of wonder and a desire to share, with the discovery of the possibility to stop time and contemplate the world's miracle'. It is indeed this ability to contemplate the world's miracles that gives his films an almost lyrical quality which is enhanced by silence, rather than dialogues. Sub-titles that distract the viewer from the visuals are done away with. A haunting soundtrack plays an equal, yet independent role in the film. Stillness wins over motion and the stunning imagery leaves the viewer with a deep emotional stirring which, he believes, is a thousand times more important than imparting a life lesson or filling in gaps in information.
Like the red light over the emergency exit in a theatre that helps one find the doorway in the dark, a film-maker, he believes, also helps the viewer find a light in the deepest darkness of his life, by lighting the red lamp of hope and belief.
After twenty years of film-making, Audrius feels ' I seem to find less and less of what is worth condemning in people, while more and more of what deserves understanding and empathy'. Exactly the kind of feeling he would want his viewers to experience through his films.
Website
To know more about Audrius visit: www.stonys.lt
