Audrius Stonys Retrospective

Uku Ukai

Year
2006
Country
Lithuania
Duration
30’
Director
Audrius Stonys

“Sorrow does not come merely from contemplating death, which forces us to look into Eternity, but also from life, which compels us to confront Time”, wrote the Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyayev. The renowned Lithuanian documentary maker Audrius Stonys has taken these words as the motto for his film, a meditative visual essay which portrays old people undertaking all kinds of activities, meditation and group laughter therapy. Without a single word of commentary, he creates from sophisticated, aesthetic images a compelling study of human corporeality which, in an ideal union with spiritual equilibrium, can sustain us with the pledge that old age doesn’t have to be a painful wait for the last breath. Uku Ukai does not ask the viewer to understand, but rather to enter into synchrony with the sounds and images. Uku Ukai is spiritual gymnastics: bodies run, breathe, reach out without needing to reach anything. While images flutter and sounds ricochet, the viewers become the real film. Inhale, exhale.

Production
Studio 2, Lithuania, Arunas Stoskus
Sales:
Deckert Distribution GmbH, Marienplatz 1, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, +49 – 341 215 66 38, [email protected]
Awards
2006 – Golden Mikeldi Award at Bilbao IFF; IDFA; 2007 – Best Short Film at Art Film Fest IFF; Lorenzo de Medici Prize at Festival dei Popoli IDFF; Karlovy Vary IFF
Director
Audrius Stonys
Cinema House, Blue Hall
Cinema House
vul. Saksahanskoho, 6
Audrius Stonys retrospective. Q & A with director
22 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
 6 — 13 
June 2025
Earth of the Blind
Audrius Stonys Retrospective
Earth of the Blind
Year
1992
Country
Lithuania
Director
Audrius Stonys
Duration
24’
Audrius Stonys Retrospective
Alone
Audrius Stonys Retrospective
Alone
Year
2001
Country
Lithuania
Director
Audrius Stonys
Duration
28’
Audrius Stonys Retrospective
The Bell
Audrius Stonys Retrospective
The Bell
Year
2007
Country
Lithuania
Director
Audrius Stonys
Duration
56’
Audrius Stonys Retrospective