(52 min., Documentary, 2005, 35 mm, colour, video, TagTraum, Studio Nominum)
A gracefully expressive journey into the lives of children living with leukemia at a pediatric hospital in Vilnius, Lithuania. The children enter into an alien world, bereft of color and warmth, but populated with kind strangers. Their new toys are invented out of stainless steel, and new friendships are formed in the crucible of the cancer ward.
The film is described as ‘a poetic, unsentimental Lithuanian documentary about the resilience of the human spirit.’ Its laconic style and formal simplicity have been likened to haiku by some critics. ‘Before Flying Back to the Earth’ is the most highly acclaimed Lithuanian documentary film and is considered one of the best documentary films of 2005 in the world.
With: Andrius and Edgaras, Rytis, Paula, Martynas, Mantukas, Deimantas, Edgaras, Pranas, Julius and their parents
Directed by: Arunas Matelis
Produced by: Gerd Haag, Arunas Matelis
Director of photography: Audrius Kemezys
Music: Kipras Masanauskas
Editing: Katharina Schmidt
Sound: Jonas Maksvytis