Lithuanian Folklore: the Origins [ENGLISH SUBTITLES] Lietuvių folkloro šaknys

This movie about the roots of Lithuanian folk customs was filmed in 1982 but it was banned from cinemas until 1984 because people in charge of Central USSR television regarded it as "too ethnic". The director of this film Gytis Lukšas recounts: "At the time when Lithuania's national broadcaster was not allowed to show even distaffs with traditional ornaments (because the Central Committee of the Communist Party regarded all ethnic items as idolization of the feudal-bourgeois past) a feature-length movie about the 9th century roots of our culture suddenly comes out! It featured the poetry of Marcelijus Martinaitis, ancient polyphonic folk songs & instruments, it was an open challenge! Moscow had requested to make this film but when they saw the end result, they got angry and banned it from the public for several years. However, unofficially people were still watching it in Lithuanian village culture centres, each such screening would turn into folk get-togethers even before the Sajūdis had started. At that time people in Lithuania were already talking about the independence and us being a European nation with deep cultural roots."

Filme rekonstruojami lietuviški papročiai, kaimo darbai įvairiais metų laikais ir apeigos. Skamba aukštaitiškos sutartinės, dzūkų apeiginės ir žemaičių karo dainos, senoviniai liaudies instrumentai (ragai, skudučiai, ratas), eilės, atskleidžiamos tautinės savimonės formavimosi prielaidos.

Filmavosi Marcelijus Martinaitis, Veronika Povilionienė, Gintaras Tilvytis, Arūnas Ivanauskas, Rima Lozovaitė, Liaudies buities muziejaus Liaudies muzikos teatro artistai, Vilniaus Universiteto dainų ir šokių ansamblis.