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The Writer world premiere at Tallinn Black Night's Film Festival (PÖFF)

PÖFF (from Estonian - Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival) starts next week again. What's cool about Tallinn is that there's massive amount of high grade A-list offering available. Alongside similarily mieaningful festivals like Sundance, Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, Tallinn Black Night's Film Festival is world's A-category film festival, already for several years.


This time, should you be in town during the festival November 3-19, 2023 go see The Writer, a poetic film by young Lithuanian director Romas Zabarauskas.


[said Romas] I'm an out Lithuanian filmmaker, coming to Tallinn soon to support the World Premiere of my new feature THE WRITER and I need your support. Book a ticket here and join us on November 13th 20:15 at Apollo Kino Coca-Cola Plaza. After the screening, we'll have a short Q&A with me (Director, Producer, Screenwriter), Narvydas Naujalis (Director of photography), Glenn Elliott (Producer), Marc David Jacobs (Screenwriter) and then invite everyone for a free drink.

The film is about two former lovers reconnect in New York decades after serving in the Soviet army together. As the men confront their personal and political past, the encounter turns increasingly heated.



Romas has also said about the backstory

I got the idea for THE WRITER when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. I was born in 1990, the same year that Lithuania declared Independence. Our generation usually wants to move beyond the past – but Russia's terror made me realize it's still very much present.
Addressing it, I also hoped to explore the art of conversation. I love Rohmer, Resnais, Varda, Bergman, Cassavetes, and other filmmakers who take time for the dialogue to unfold. Together with three co-writers, we held passionate exchanges about history, geopolitics, and personal responsibility, now embodied by the two characters in the film, Dima and Kostas.
Ultimately, our film is about the power each of us has over our lives and our societies. How much can we direct our own lives, and how are they affected by the political circumstances? My politics are closer to Dima's: I believe that people can change and that they are responsible for their choices, and liberal democracies deserve to be celebrated. But who could argue with Kostas and all the data he brings to the (kitchen) table, proving a lot more still needs to be done?

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