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Autobiographical Narratives of Family Histories in Recent Baltic Documentaries

11 November 2024, 5:30 pm–7:00 pm

Still from 'My Favourite War'

A SSEES Cinema Research Group seminar with Zane Balčus, Vilnius University (Lithuania)

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

SSEES

Location

Masaryk room
UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies
16 Taviton street
London
WC1H 0BW

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'

About the Speaker

Zane Balčus, PhD

 is a postdoctoral researcher at Vilnius University (Lithuania). Balčus has contributed to several books on Latvian cinema (“Latvijas kino: jaunie laiki. 1990-2020” (Latvian Cinema: Recent History, 1990-2020, Riga: 2021), “Rolanda Kalniņa telpa” (Cinematic Space of Rolands Kalniņš, Riga: 2018), “Inscenējumu realitāte. Latvijas aktierkino vēsture“ (Reality of Fiction. History of Latvian Fiction Film, Riga: 2011)). She is a researcher and a freelance film critic. From 2014 to 2019, Balčus was the director of the Riga Film Museum. She is also the manager of the documentary film industry event Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries in Riga, Latvia, and a researcher at the Institute of Arts and Cultural Studies of the Latvian Academy of Culture.