Michael

On the occasion of its 100th anniversary, the film is presented in cooperation with the Early Film Festival Pirmoji banga. Live sound by the artist Augustė Vickūnaitė.

Legendary Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer’s (The Passion of Joan of Arc, Vampyr, Ordet) Michael is widely considered a landmark in early queer cinema. Adapted from a novel of the same name by the Danish writer Herman Bang, it is the story of an aging artist, Claude Zoret, and his love for a young man, Michael, who is his model and protégé. Zoret gets a commission to paint a portrait of the Countess Zamikow, but he can’t quite capture the expression in her eyes. Michael, however, can. He has fallen in love with her.

Michael is a chamber play, depicting a few people and their mutual relationships. All significant things remain unspoken. Dreyer has the camera tell the story in glances, facial expressions and objects. For Dreyer, working with the actors was what mattered, guiding them to give nuanced and precise emotional performances to be captured in close-ups.

The screening is organised in cooperation with Goethe Institut in Lithuania.