Grief and emotion at the pre-premiere of the film "Kernagis": “There are irreplaceable people”
On 15 February the pre-premiere of the film "Kernagis" by director Andrius Lekavičius took place. Many friends of maestro Vytautas Kernagis and fans of his work gathered on the red carpet for the event. The documentary story about the maestro, who was loved by all of Lithuania, was not missed by President Valdas Adamkus, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė, filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, journalists Nemira Pumprickaitė, Edmundas Jakilaitis, Algirdas Kaušpėdas, vocalist of the band BA Benas Aleksandravičius, and other well-known people from politics, culture, business and sports.
After the film, many viewers mentioned that it is a very sensitive story about a man who is still painfully missed by everyone who knew him, who grew up and lived with his songs.
President Valdas Adamkus, who has called Vytautas Kernagis his friend for many years, recalled before the premiere of the film how, upon meeting Kernagis for the first time, he felt great sympathy for this talented, creative and particularly friendly person.
"I remember one of the first concerts of Kernagis in the USA, in Chicago, in the House of Lithuanians. The room was packed and people went wild/rustled. Vytautas brought everyone to their feet with his songs. It made a huge impression on me. Later we often met in Lithuania. I used to attend his concerts. I was extremely pleased to communicate with him, to feel his sincerity and human closeness. It impressed not only me, but everyone who was lucky enough to know him. And today, I remember him very often. It gives me a sense of pride that I had the opportunity to communicate with him more than once or twice, and not from afar," said President Valdas Adamkus.
Director Andrius Lekavičius, presenting the film, said that he considers the opportunity to create the first film story about maestro Vytautas Kernagis to be a great gift that happened to him.
"For me, it was a special journey through the life of someone who apparently hasn't left anyone indifferent. A chance to get to know him through archival footage shot by him and his friends. I didn't want to build a monument to V. Kernagis, but to paint his portrait, in which unseen colours also appear," says the director of the film, A. Lekavičius.
In the documentary film "Kernagis", the audience will see for the first time the moments of the life of maestro V. Kernagis, captured on video tapes and film, which have been stored in the family archives for a long time. Unseen shots captured by his and his friends’ video camera, fragments of film and television scenes – in which Vytautas Kernagis is incredibly well-known, irreplaceable and at the same time unseen.
