THE DEVIL’S BRIDE (VELNIO NUOTAKA) – 1974, Lithuanian Film Centre, 78 min. Imagine a wildly surreal early 1970s Lithuanian rock opera directed by Ken Russell circa TOMMY that is equal parts JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (wailing guitar-heavy ballads, religious theme), FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (rural village setting) and THE WICKER MAN / BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW (folklore / folk magic), and you have some idea of the elemental strangeness and beauty of director Arūnas Žebriūnas’ THE DEVIL’S BRIDE. The film opens with one of our favorite musical sequences ever: a long-haired flower child God sits on his throne in the heavenly mountains, adored by angelic hosts in white robes and wings. Suddenly the guitars kick in, the angels throw off their robes revealing orange Mod dresses and bowler hats, and the party descends into a choreographed pansexual orgy like nothing you’ve ever seen. An incredibly ambitious sung-through musical ala THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (where the entire story is performed in song without traditional dialogue), the story revolves around a devil named Pinčiukas (Gediminas Girdvainis) who is booted out of Heaven and drops into a frog pond owned by farmer Baltaragis (Vasilijus Simčičius). Quick as you can say “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” Pinčiukas promises him the hand of his beautiful blonde love Marcelė (Vaiva Mainelytė) in exchange for their as-yet unborn daughter Jurga (also played by Mainelytė as an adult), and wicked complications ensue over the years. Based on the book Whitehorn’s Windmill by Kazys Boruta with music by Viačeslavas Ganelinas and utterly stunning, crystal-pure cinematography by Algimantas Mockus, the film is interlaced with Lithuanian folklore and surreal images: legions of female devils riding bareback on horses; a black carriage drawn by a team of devils disappearing into the waters of a lake; rituals of mistletoe roots and rowan berries and straw men. In a wild twist, the devil Pinčiukas winds up being one of the most sympathetic characters, doomed to live on earth while he longs to return to Heaven. A beloved cult hit in Lithuania and a major rediscovery for fans of film musicals, THE DEVIL’S BRIDE has been beautifully restored by the Lithuanian Film Centre for its first-ever U.S. release by Deaf Crocodile.

The.Devil's.Bride.1974.BDRIP.576p.x264.AAC.KJNU.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 16 min
Size: 	1.69 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x428 
Aspect ratio:  	2.40:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	3 000 kb/s
BPP: 	0.285
Audio
#1:  	Lithuanian 2.0ch AAC LC @ 160 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/AC3F2D549ED7F10/The.Devil’s.Bride.1974.BDRIP.576p.x264.AAC.KJNU.mkv

Language(s):Lithuanian
Subtitles:English

The post Arunas Zebriunas – Velnio nuotaka AKA The Devil’s Bride (1974) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
In 16th century Lithuania, where the plague is raging, a fanatical Jesuit comes to eradicate paganism. The fanatic begins his activity, entering into a struggle with everything that he considers a pagan deviation from the true faith. Especially he is alarmed by Pima, the daughter of a local priest who does not intend to hide her adherence to pagan rituals. But the fight takes a completely unexpected shade: the hero realizes that he is obsessed with passion and can not resist the temptation …
(Google translated from Russian)

Menulio pilnaties metas  1988.mp4

General
Container:  	AVI
Runtime: 	1h 16mn
Size: 	519 MiB
Video
Codec: 	avc1
Resolution: 	634x480 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	842 Kbps
BPP: 	0.111
Audio
#1:  	2.0ch AAC LC @ 105 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/94325D7E93D5263/Menulio_pilnaties_metas__1988.mp4
https://nitro.download/view/1D8FBAC01559E37/Menulio_pilnaties_metas__1988__ENG.srt

Language(s):Lithuanian with Russian voiceover
Subtitles:English

Many thanks to @Fernando for this copy

The post Arunas Zebriunas – Chas polnoluniya AKA The Hour of the Full Moon (1988) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Andrius and Liuka, offsprings of Šatai and Kaminskai families living in a countryside, falls in love with each other, however their love is disrupted by… a cow.

This is a lyrical tragicomedy about memories of childhood, adolescence, and first love in a small provincial town, shown through complexity of human relations at this periodical film.

Walnut.Bread.(Riesutu.Duona).1977.Restored.1080p.WEB.x264-ZemoG.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 9 min
Size: 	2.31 GiB
Video
Codec: 	h264
Resolution: 	1920x810 
Aspect ratio:  	2.40:1
Frame rate: 	24.000 fps
Bit rate: 	4 668 kb/s
BPP: 	0.125
Audio
#1:  	Lithuanian 2.0ch AAC LC @ 96.0 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/D8404CEBDB46B1F/Walnut.Bread.(Riesutu.Duona).1977.Restored.1080p.WEB.x264-ZemoG.mkv

Language(s):Lithuanian
Subtitles:English

Special thanks to @Marco for this rip

The post Arunas Zebriunas – Riesutu Duona AKA Walnut Bread (1977) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

“This is one of the most successful and unique Lithuanian films. By choosing the form of a musical or a rock opera the author remained in touch with the book, but at the same time created an original work of cinematography. Vivid and expressive although boldly modernised spectacle driven by catchy music composed by Ganelinas was made in a funny and relaxed manner. The Devil’s Bride is busting the myth about the grim nature of the Lithuanians. It strikes with cheerful dynamics and remains an exclusive example of Lithuanian cinematography.” Film critic Saulius Macaitis

2.07GB | 1h 16m | 1280×534 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/E9C4C9569C7EEA3/Velnio.nuotaka.(The.Devil’s.Bride).1974.720p.WEB.x264-ZemoG.mkv

Language(s):Lithuanian
Subtitles:English

The post Arunas Zebriunas – Velnio nuotaka AKA The Devil’s Bride (1974) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

In his dreams little Tomas escapes from his every day live to experience a lot of thrilling and exciting adventures.

601MB | 1h 3mn | 768×576 | mkv

http://nitroflare.com/view/CBE680527FFD4D2/Nightbird_(1973)_–_Arunas_Zebriunas.mkv
http://nitroflare.com/view/5A9AA39563B27A5/Nightbird_(1973)_–_Arunas_Zebriunas.srt
http://nitroflare.com/view/0A229420C5A9B97/Naktibalda(Nightbird)_EN_corr.srt

Language:Lithuanian
Subtitles:English,Russian

The post Arunas Zebriunas – Polunochnyk AKA Naktibalada AKA Nightbird (1973) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Unusual both because, as Näripea states, it “lacks the ideological markers of Soviet life” and because it features an unmarried mother as one of its main characters, Arūnas Žebriūnas’s Lithuanian The Beauty (Gražuolé) focuses on free-spirited nine-year-old Inga (Inga Mickyte), whose self-confidence is shattered when a new neighbour declares her ugly, opening up her early rite of passage into the adult world of disillusionment that her single mother (Lilija Zadeikyte) already fully occupies.

In a key sequence of this luminous film (Algmantas Mockus’s monochrome cinematography floods the screen with white), another little girl sits besides an aged poet who is watching the demolition of the building where, many decades earlier, he had lived with his parents. The girl expresses incredulity that a man so old could ever have had a mother, even as he bears witness to the literal ruins of his childhood. It is a bittersweet take on the passage of time and the replacement of one generation by the next in a succession of both changes and inevitable iterations, where every little child is an old and jaded adult in the making.

899MB | 1 h 6 min | 1027×428 | mkv

http://nitroflare.com/view/4669E5F173C2506/The_Beautiful_Girl.1969.mkv
http://nitroflare.com/view/473F2FDBAD12F4A/The_Beautiful_Girl.1969.srt
http://nitroflare.com/view/7449840CF985837/The_Beautiful_Girl.1969.srt

Language:Lithuanian
Subtitles:French, English

The post Arunas Zebriunas – Grazuole AKA The Beautiful Girl (1969) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Movie about a friendship of two children – a girl and a boy during the last day of summer holiday

Quote:
Young Vika is spending her summer vacation with her grandfather on a remote seaside area surrounded by mountains. She flutters like a butterfly in her dotted dress, both in the mountains and by the water. The girl’s best friends are the mountains, and she loves their echo the most. She considers her affections secrets, and shares them with her new friend, Roma, a young boy who is newcomer to the area and who soon sadly betrays Vika’s friendship. The summer vacation ends on a sour note, but on leaving, Vika throws a coin into the sea, a wish to return next year.

Although film critics have called The Girl and the Echo one of the director’s most outstanding films, the film was originally bad-mouthed by educators and journalists after its premier. The anger was mostly directed at the scenes where Vika, the protagonist, swam naked. The movie was black listed and removed from the local cinema canon and only received recognition in Lithuania after being awarded a special prize at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland.

1.31GB | 1h 03m | 720×560 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/83FF697DD48180B/Arunas_Zebriunas_-_The_Girl_And_The_Echo__1964_.mkv

Language(s):Russian,Lithuanian
Subtitles:English

The post Arunas Zebriunas – Paskutine atostogu diena aka the Girl and the Echo (1964) first appeared on Cinema of the World.