Loss (film)

Loss Nereikalingi žmonės
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Maris Martinsons
Produced by	Živile Gallego Linda Krukle Maris Martinsons
Written by	Maris Martinsons Raimondas Paškevičius
Starring	Valda Bičkutė Kostas Smoriginas Dalia Micheleviciute Andrius Mamontovas Daiva Tamošiūnaitė-Budrė
Music by	Andrius Mamontovas
Cinematography	Gints Berzins, LGC
Editing by	Maris Martinsons
Distributed by	Forum cinemas
Release date(s)	January 11, 2008 (Lithuania) June 17, 2008 (China)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Lithuania
Language	Lithuanian / English
Budget	2,1 million litas

Loss (Lithuanian: Nereikalingi žmonės, literary "Unnecessary people") is a 2008 film directed, co-written and co-produced by Latvian film director Maris Martinsons. In October 2008, it was announced that the film was Lithuania's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in the 81st Academy Awards, becoming the first Lithuanian feature film ever to be submitted for the Academy Awards.

Awards

International premiere of Loss was held in 2008 Shanghai International Film Festival, where it was awarded with 2 Jin Jue (Golden Goblet) awards: Best Director for Maris Martinsons and Best Music for Andrius Mamontovas. It is the first Lithuanian feature film to be screened in the competition of A class festival and awarded prestigious prizes.

2009 "Loss" was awarded with the Latvian Film Prize for the BEST FILM.

Synopsis

Loss is a story about a Priest (starring Andrius Mamontovas) in Ireland who meets a woman Valda (starring Valda Bičkutė) from his native Lithuania only to find out her mysterious identity is closely connected with a darkest secret of his past.

Desperate for a better life Valda left Lithuania for Ireland, hoping to find a new purpose in life but failed to fulfill a promise to come back she made to her son. Now a boy is adopted by Nora (starring Dalia Michelevičiūtė), a childless ex-wife of the desperate businessman Ben (starring Kostas Smoriginas) whose life is falling from his hands. Caught in a struggle with her husband’s mistress Laima (starring Daiva Tamošiūnaitė-Budrė) she must fight not only for her company but also for the custody of a child who now is her only hope in life.

According to Variety magazine film critic Eddie Cockrell, the satisfying Lithuanian drama was inspired by Six Degrees of Separation and Dostoevsky’s line “the tears of that one tortured child”. Loss delves into the harsh realities of six people’s lives whose destinies are brought together after a tragic accident that happened over two decades ago.

Style

The film is shot entirely on a hand-held camera. The camera's swift movements follow the heroes of the film creating a feeling of closeness to the film’s characters and allowing the audience to permeate into their hearts. To deepen the feelings even more, the director decided to shoot the film on a 16 mm film so that during its transfer onto 35 mm the display became grainy, intentionally contributing a special kind of atmosphere to the film. The haunting music score is reminiscent of Irish folk rhythms.

Production

Loss has been shot in Lithuania and Ireland. The exterior scenes were shot in Wicklow town, Powerscourt Waterfall, etc.

Box office

Total box office of this film from exhibition Lithuania is 594 763 Lt.

External links

• Official website
• Loss review at Variety
• Loss at the Internet Movie Database