Film by the young Lithuanian artist E. Škarnulytė is selected for the Oberhausen Film Festival competition program

In the competition program of the oldest and most prestigious Oberhausen Short Film Festival which starts today, short film "Aldona" by video artist Emilija Škarnulytė will be shown. Inclusion of the film in this program of the festival that is taking place in Germany represents an important international recognition for the twenty-five year old creator from Lithuania. 

At the Oberhausen Festival which is in its 59th year and enshrines the old traditions, and is open to avant-garde, such world-renowned filmmakers as Milos Forman, Werner Herzog, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Agnès Varda and others have shown their short films.  

 The film "Aldona" tells about the director E. Škarnulytė's grandmother, who lost her eyesight during the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.  "This documentary film tells the true life story of my grandmother Aldona from Druskininkai. On one April day of 1986, for no apparent reason, Aldona lost vision.  Doctors said quietly, that this is probably due to the Chernobyl accident, which happened on 26 April in 1986.  Her eye nerves were poisoned,"- the director told the story of the film. 

The documentary portrays a blind woman's walk in the Grutas Soviet sculpture park. However, this is not a simple walk.  The author's selected style of depiction provokes more universal reflections, far-reaching generalizations that are offering for an attentive viewer the joy of discovery and aesthetic delight. 

The famous avant-garde filmmaker and publisher Pip Chodorov commended the film:  "'Aldona' is a touching and reflective observation of blindness, which shows that there is a vision on the other side of light and shadows."