Bridges of Time

OFFICIAL LITHUANIAN ENTRY TO THE 92st ACADEMY AWARDS FOR THE BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM AND BEST DOCUMENTARY

“We film the earth, but we remember that heaven is above us." – Herz Frank

“Bridges of Time"

“Laiko tiltai"

Documentary, 78′, Lithuania/Latvia/Estonia, 2018

Kristīne Briede and Audrius Stonys’s meditative documentary essay portrays the less-remembered generation of cinema poets of the Baltic New Wave. With finesse, they push beyond the barriers of the common historiographic investigation in order to achieve a consummate poetic treatment of the ontology of documentary creation.

“Bridges of Time" is a cinematic poem about cinema poets.

  • Directors: Audrius Stonys (Lithuania), Kristine Briede (Latvia)
  • Producers: Arūnas Matelis (Lithuania), Algimantė Matelienė (Lithuania), Uldis Cekulis (Latvia), Riho Vastrik (Estonia)
  • Writers: Kristine Briede (Latvia), Audrius Stonys (Lithuania), Ramunė Rakauskaitė (Lithuania), Arūnas Matelis (Lithuania), Riho Vastrik (Estonia)
  • Film Editors: Kostas Radlinskas (Lithuania), Andra Doršs (Latvia)
  • Directors of Photography: Audrius Kemežys (Lithuania), Valdis Celmins (Latvia), Joosep Matjus (Estonia), Janis Šenbergs (Latvia), Laisvūnas Karvelis (Lithuania)
  • Music Composer: Giedrius Puskunigis (Lithuania)
  • Sound Mixer: Artis Dukalskis (Latvia)

© VFS Films, Studio Nominum, Vesilind

With sad music playing - about a temporary dream and timeless cinema
Rasa Paukštytė, magazine "Kinas"
With sad music playing, by frames of their own and others, Stonys and Briede remind us that cinema has existed in any time, without any clauses, advocates... "Bridges of Time" openly celebrates and speaks with frames, which don't need to be explained, or defended. They defend themselves with that silver light of 35mm film, that highlights the "cosmical being of a human" (Herz Frank). Revealing life as a wonderful dream, of which Braunis speaks in "Bridges of Time" while glowing. All the film heroes live through this temporality of the dream right in front of our eyes. "Bridges of Time" is a humane, emotional extraordinary experience.
The astoundingly beautiful doc about the forgotten masters of the Baltic New Wave
Laurence Boyce for Cineuropa
"Bridges of Time" is a passionate defence of the need to make documentaries and the human desire to preserve moments in time. “We film the Earth, but we remember that Heaven is above us,” says late Latvian director Herz Frank at the beginning of the movie. This sense of the achingly human yet serenely spiritual runs through the film, as the directors eschew straight narrative in favour of a poetic approach taught to them by their predecessors.
"A fight against time"
Carmen Gray for Modern Times Review
While Audrius Stonys stays entirely behind the camera, his notion of cinema as a contemplative «fight against time» and as a medium to reveal wonder reverberates through the philosophical musings and evocative cinematography of a film with no desire to over-explain or to bend its subjects into the framework of a linear story. Despite its emphasis on metaphysical reflection rather than easily digestible facts, Bridges of Time is indispensable as a comprehensive overview of these under-seen Baltic masters.

8 1/2 portraits of “Bridges of Time"

Lithuanian Oscar Entry 2020

Bernardo Bertolucci about poetic cinema

A talk with the creators of “Bridges of Time"