A Critical Cinema 2: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers

The Lithuanian government, that part which deals with the arts, saw that I had been favorably received by Moscow, from

Pravda

to

Literaturnaya Gazeta

. So they figured it was okay for them to permit me not only to visit my mother, but, as it turned out, to publish my collected poems. Until then I did not exist for them, officially, that is. Actually, they had mocked me in some articles in the official party paper. They had presented me as an example of a sick and corrupt mind, printing some paragraphs from my writings with words omitted, sentences turned around. That was around 1965. But once Moscow became favorable to me, Lithuania immediately followed suit. Suddenly I could film whatever I wanted. Usually visitors are not permitted to go into villages; they stay around their hotels. I was offered an official film crew to do whatever I wanted, but I said, ''I will be using my Bolex; I don't want any film crews." They found it strange, but they gave in. They had their own crews around much of the time, making their own film about me and my motherin Cinemascope. They sent me a print, which I have.

I also shot some Moscow footage on that trip, but I haven't used it so far.

MacDonald:

When you came to Utica in 1974 or 1975 to show

Reminiscences,

a woman of Lithuanian background came to the film and seemed very upset about it.

Mekas:

In general, the attitude among the older generation of immigrants is that if you go to visit one of those countries, you are a member of the Communist party, or at best you are a spiritual Communist, you are betraying the cause of those who are fighting for the liberation of Baltic countries. The younger generation, however, go for cultural exchange, on the assumption that the only way to help Lithuania is to go there and inform the people. Otherwise they know nothing, they live in controlled ignorance. So you send books, whatever you can, and when something you send gets therewhich is a miraclesomebody sees it and something happens. The older generation of immigrants is for a complete cutoff, which doesn't help either side.

MacDonald:

In

Reminiscences

Lithuania under Soviet domination seems relatively comfortable. There are a couple of instances where your brothers joke about what Americans will think; their mood seems to be, "We're doing pretty well; things are okay."

Mekas:

Yes. Lithuania is an agricultural republic which produces a lot of food for the rest of the Soviet Union. So it's in a privileged position. To a degree, that is. As long as we do not confuse food with liberty. . . . There, they do not confuse the two. They eat, but they also want liberty. Only Moscow and Washington confuse bread and economic prosperity with liberty.

When the Soviet film representative here in New York insisted on seeing the film, I showed it to him; he hit the ceiling. "How do you dare

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to make and show a film like this to the world! Why didn't you show the factories? Why didn't you show the progress?" I said, "In this film I'm interested only in my mother and my childhood memories, that's all. This is my past." But he couldn't understand it. He thought it was outrageous and an insult. Even a bottle of vodka didn't improve his mood. The star of

Solaris

[1972], Donatas Banionis, saw the film with him and he thought it was great. The two of them almost got into a fist fight. Only another bottle of vodka and a few songs calmed things down.

MacDonald:

Did you have a time restriction? How long were you allowed to stay in Lithuania?

Mekas:

There was no limit. They said, "Why don't you stay here forever?" And so did my mother; she was already looking for a wife for me there. But I had to come back.

MacDonald:

At one point during the second half of the film, you say, "the morning of the fourth day." It comes as a shock because it seems as if we've been there a very long time. By the way, an intertitle at the beginning promises "100 GLIMPSES OF LITHUANIA." Why do you stop after the ninety-first section?

Mekas:

Only ninety-one? I thought I went up to ninety-four or ninety-six. Anyway, I decided to take pity on the audience, to give them only ninety-one. On the other hand, what is "100"? It's just an idea; the film shows 100 glimpses in a loose sense.

MacDonald:

There's also one missing, number seventy-one.

Mekas:

I did not like that segment. I cut it out, never replaced it with other footage, and never corrected the number. Too much work involved. I figured most people wouldn't notice. Maybe eventually I'll put something there.

MacDonald: