Arūnas Žebriūnas’ classic “The Girl and the Echo” to run across French cinemas

A restored 1964 classic “The Girl and the Echo” (lit. Paskutinė atostogų diena) by the Lithuanian director Arūnas Žebriūnas is opening across French cinemas today. This month, the film will be available to viewers in 24 French cities. This is the second Lithuanian classic film released in France. The classic story of a girl and dreamy summer holidays will screen in 16 cinemas in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, Grenoble, Toulousse and other cities.

The opening screening will happen tonight in Paris at the “Espace Saint-Michel” and will be presented by Lithuanian Culture Attaché in France Austė Zdančiūtė, illustrator Elena Selena and Emilie Cauquy (La Cinémathèque française).

The Lithuanian Film Center has extended cooperation with French distribution company “ED Distribution” for the distribution of the film in all French-speaking territories in Europe. In 2018, company successfully presented Žebriūnas’ film “The Beauty” (lit. Gražuolė, 1969) and released French subtitled DVD.

One of the most important works of Žebriūnas tells story about Vika, a dreamy girl on vacation who loves the sea, mountains and echoes, and does not want to fit in with local kids, and Romas, a boy also on vacation, who does want to fit in, but cannot. The boy becomes her confidant and their friendship blossoms, but then she is harassed by bullies and the boy doesn’t muster up courage to stand to her, which ruins their relationship forever.

The story earned Special Prize “Majority’s Silver Sail” at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1965 and the Grand Prix at the Cannes International Youth Film Festival in the same year.

Film was restored in 2019 by the Latvian company “Locomotive Classics”, audio restoration was done by composer Sigitas Mickis. “The Girl and the Echo” has been shown across Lithuania as well as in La Rochelle and Gindou film festivals this summer.

Currently, the film, together with four other works of Lithuanian film classics, are available in the Locarno’s digital film platform “Heritage Online” and open for worldwide distribution.

The Lithuanian Film Centre works consistently to digitize and restore the heritage of Lithuanian classical cinema for preservation and public access, providing distribution of these films nationally and abroad.

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