“If you haven’t followed the rise of lithuanian cinema on the Global Film Festival Circuit in Recent Years, You May Not Know The Name of Young Filmmaker and Cinematographer Vytat. But WHEN THE KARLOVY Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) Recently Unveiled that his foture directorial delebut, the visitor, wold world premiere as part”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
“IT’s the End of Summer. Danielius, A New Facher in His Mid-30s, Leaves His Family in Norway and Travels to His Native Lithuania to Sell His Parents’ Flat, Reads a Plate The visitor. “HE TRIES TO Reconnect with Old Friends, But The Strong Bond Had With at Them Broken HIMSELF TO BE GUIDED BY HIS SOLITUDE. ”
The Kviff Website Promises A Meditation on the Human Condition. “TIME SEMS TO HAVE STATED COMPLETELY IN A WORLD WHICH Lights Up The Fragality of the Human Soul and Images of a Home That Is No Longer Ours,” It Says.
The Cast is Led by Darius Šilėnas, vismamantė ruzgaitė, and arvydas dapightly. The visitor World Premieres in Kviff’s Crystal Globe Competition on Monday, July 7.
Born in 1991, Katkus Has Twice Won the Award for Best Young Director of Photography from the Lithuanian Association of Directors of Photography. In 2019, his First Short Film, Collective Gardensscreened in the Cannes Critics’ Week Program, Followed By His Second Short, PlacesPremiering in the 2020 Venice Film Festival’s Horizons Program. His Third Short, Cherriesin 2022, was selected for the Cannes Film Festival.
His cinematography on variety lithuanian features, including marija kavtaradze’s Summer Survivors an Johatsu from Directors Lina Luzyte and Nerijus Milerius, Has Also Turned Heads in Recent Years. And at the Locarno Film Festival Last Year, Saulė Bliuvaitė’s Toxicon whose katkus was the Director of Photography, Won The Fest’s Golden Leopard, Itp Award.
IT’s no surprise thing that katkus’ DEBUT as a feature Director, Produced by Marija Razgutė and Brigita Beniušytė, Was a Popular Ticket Heading Into Karlovy Vary Vary Vary Vary Vary Vary Vary. Runs Through July 12. OH, AND DID I MENTION THAT HERVED As Director of Photography on the Movie and Co-Wrote the Screenplay With His Friend Marija Kavtaradze
Plus, the Editor of the Film is none of the kind of Lithuanian Director Laurynas BareiŠa, Whose Second Feature DROWNING DRYWas Lithuania’s 2025 Oscar Submission in the Best International Feature Film Category. (The SAME WAS TRUE FOR HIS DEBUT FEATURE PilgrimsWHICH WON The Horizons Section for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival 2021). Totem Films is Handling Sales for The visitor.
Katkus Took Time to Talk To Thr About the Film, the Importance of Solitude, WHY HE LIKES CHOTING UNUSUAL Angles and USING Non-Traditional Framing, and His Future Plans.
Vytautas Katkus, Courtesy of Kviff
The Idea for The visitor CAME FROM Issues Partly Explored in His Shorts and Other Inspirations. “There Are A Lot of Small Details, and The visitor is the Combination of these Small Details, ”Katkus Tells Thr. “There are personal experiences, a lot of experiences from makeing short movies – Things and was Thinking About While Making the Short Movies, and that I Wanted to Explore More.”
The Initial Idea Katkus and Kavtaradze Had Was to Write Three Different Stories Talking About the Same Topic. Soon, they realized they to Institute Focus on One Narrative. “We Looked for the Possibility to Create One Story in One Universe, and Our Focus Was to Talk About Loneliness or Maybe SolITUDE in a Way that is not negative,” Katkus Explans. “We Wanted to Show that You SomeTimes Need to Have It. And You Have To Understand that Right Now You Need to Have and Enjoy It Stories, SO IT Became A Kind of Mosaic. ”
Katkus Clearly Likes to Create An Atmosphere and Give His Viewers Room to Come Away from the Movie with Their Own Lessons and Interpretations. “I Really Want to Give The Viewer The Possibility to Explore Layers and Think About Their Own Feelings,“ He Tells Thr. “I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO SAY, BUT I DON’T WANT IT TO BE QUITE STRAIGHTFORWARD, BUT more OPEN. If 100 people watch One Movie, It Is A Very Different Movie for Each of Them.
Nostalgia is a recurring theme of The visitor, Though. “There a a Lot of Nostalgic Moments, But I Didn’t Want to Make a Very Nostalgic Movie,“ The Filmmaker Highlights. For example, danielius is enjoying the end of the Summer Season and Sems to Want to Hold on to It Just A Little Bit Longer. “In his head, he Knows he can comet back, but he still wants to try this kind of joy or Happiness of previous Times.”
Remember How Seinfeld HAS OFTEN BEEN CALLED “A SHOW About Nothing” Because It Concentrates on Trival Parts of Everyday Life? Katkus’ Approach is Similar. “There is a narrative in The visitorbut it is not a story, but a narrative by emotion, ”HEXPLAINS.“ IT’s more like a kaleidoscope. ”
Katkus’ Camera Work Tends to Feature Unusual Angles and Framing. WHERE DOES that come from? “AS A CINEMATOGRAPHER, I REALLY LIKE TO PREPARE as Much as Possible,“ He Tells Thr. “BUT at SAME TIME, I REALLY LIKE TO CHANGE THINGS UP A BIT OPEN TO SOMETING THAT HAPPEN IN FRONT OF THE CAMEA. To Light the Scene and Put Down Marks and Tell Them, ‘You have to stand on this Mark and look to this side’. ” Lighting, Camera and Other Things “May Beatify, But The Energy From The Actors Won”, ”He Explands. “SO I REALLY WANT TO GIVE THEM FREEDOM, AND I THEN TRY TO Catch Moments with the Camera and Adjust to the Actors, Not Vice Versa.”
‘The visitor’ CourTesy of Kviff
With that Approach, The Production Team May Not Stick to Planned Choreographies and Other Premed Things. “BUT This KINE OF DOCUMENTARY STYLE or REALITY CHECK IN A MOVIE REALLY MOVES ME.”
Katkus have a busy karlovy vary in front of him. In addition to The visitor in the Main Competition Lineup, He Also Served As the Director of Photography on Gabrielė Urbonaitė’s Renovationwhoh is more of a chamber piece and screens in the proxima competition of the fest.
If you are a katkus fan and wonder if he plans to keeep writing and dying, you will like the Answer. “I have some ideas,” HE Tells Thr. He Doesn’T have a details yet, but shares: “I have something that i’m Trying to: [Kavtaradze] is involved. ”