Autobiographical Narratives of Family Histories in Recent Baltic Documentaries

During the Soviet era, within the centralized cinema system, personal expression in documentary films in the Baltic countries was the exception rather than the norm. While some filmmakers adopted more pronounced subjective positions, including physical presence on screen and self-reflexivity, it was only after the restoration of independence in the early 1990s that first-person narratives became more widespread, encompassing themes such as family histories, formative personal events, and historical re-evaluations.

This paper focuses on autobiographical narratives in which filmmakers from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania explore their family histories from the perspective of the postmemory generation. The intertwining of generational accounts creates a broad interpretative framework for examining the impact of specific historical events on the filmmakers’ families and formation of their identities. Particular emphasis is placed on themes such as deportations of the 1940s, everyday life during the Soviet era, and earlier historical periods. I examine these individual stories as microhistorical documentary films, where personal and public histories intersect closely. Through the use of public and private archival materials, photographs, and often animation, filmmakers express themselves in their own voices or find an appropriate equivalent to clearly position their stance. The first-person narrative perspective provides a particularly sensitive and empathetic view, creating a strong connection between the present and the past.

This project has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No. S-PD-24-103

Project title: Baltic Documentary Cinema: Modalities and Challenges of First-Person Filmmaking

Image credit: Still from ‘My Favourite War’