Kristina Buožytė (; born October 9, 1982) is a Lithuanian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and producer. In her early films she focused on women, explored their inner world and depicted them using fantasy elements. Her science fiction film ''

Vanishing Waves ''Vanishing Waves'' (originally titled ''Aurora'') is a 2012 sci-fi thriller film directed by Kristina Buožytė. Plot After a long period of preparation, neuroscientists start a spectacular research project. A member of the team, the matter-of ...

'' (original title ''Aurora'') is described as a hypnotic, sensual sci-fi experience and sexually explicit sci-fi tale which was rewarded with 22 international awards in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Her and Bruno Samper’s latest science fiction bio-fantasy ''Vesper'' is described as melancholic fairytale.

Career

Kristina Buožytė was born in

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. Since her adolescence she admired fantasy literature and attended theatre classes at Klaipeda Youth Theatre wanting to become an actress or a theatre director. In 2001 Buožytė entered

Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius, Lithuania, is a state-supported College or university school of music, conservatory that trains students in music, theatre, and multimedia arts. History Composer Juozas Naujalis founded a ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, but there was no course for theatre directing at that time, so she started studying Film and TV directing instead and got immersed in the cinema world. The film-maker graduated the academy with a bachelor's degree in 2005 and master's degree in 2008 both in Film and TV directing. During her years at the academy Buožytė created a number of short feature films, actively participated a
''Summer Media Studio''
in

Juodkrantė Juodkrantė (literally: ''Black Shore'', Kursenieki: ''Šatnūrta'' or ''Šatnūrte'', German: ''Schwarzort''In German, ''schwarz'' means "black" and ''Ort'' means "place", but an older meaning is "tip, point", preserved in mining jargon and place ...

, Lithuania, where she was awarded with the Best Film Marketing for ''Change the Record'' in 2005 and the Best Documentary Screenwriter for ''Send Me a Letter'' in 2006 as well as working in several film and TV companies as editor, script supervisor and director. Buožytė's first notable piece is the bachelor's degree diploma short film ''Change the Record.'' It is a comedic story about the young women who is longing for romantic feelings and involves in a relationship with a tiny man who appears while the vinyl records plays. The film was selected for the student film festival ''Cinema Mines'05'' (''Kino minos'05'') and received positive feedbacks from both critics and cinema professionals. Lithuanian cinema critic Skirmantas Valiulis drew correlation between Buožytė's ''Change the Record'' and

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and author. His films are distinguished by Melodrama (film genre), melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular c ...

's ''

Talk To Her ''Talk To Her'' () is a 2002 Spanish psychological melodrama film, written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. It stars: Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Geraldine Chaplin, and Rosário Flores. The film follows two men who f ...

'' where a tiny man engages in sexual activity.

''The Collectress (Kolekcionierė)''

Kristina Buožytė's master's degree diploma film ''The Collectress'' is about a young woman Gailė (Gabija Ryškuvienė) who lost her ability to feel the emotions after her father's death. In order to regain the feelings Gailė has to film the situations and watch them again. She starts to construct sexual situations, thus 'the collection' grows. According to the film-maker, the idea for the screenplay came when searching for the reason why people react to emotions shown on the screen more intensively than to those in real life. From its original plot itself to the visual depiction of the essential instincts, ''The Collectress'' was review as a

Freudian Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...

, brave and controversial film which contributes a new and fresh piece in Lithuanian cinema. The film was warmly welcomed internationally: it was shown in more than 30 film festivals in Europe (

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

Pusan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southe ...

, Valencia Film Festival,

Meinheim Meinheim is a municipality in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and ...

Kinoshock "Kinoshock" Open Film Festival of CIS and Baltic countries, also spelt Kinoshok, is a film festival staged in the Black Sea resort of Anapa, Russia, each September. "CIS" refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, comprising nine member s ...

(in

Anapa Anapa (, , ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. As of the 2021 Russian census, it had a population of 81,863. It is one of the largest ...

, Russia),

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

(

Cairo Film Festival The Cairo International Film Festival is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year since its inception, except for 2011 and 2013, when it was cancelled ...

) and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

(

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

). Buožytė received The Best Film Award in Lithuanian Cinema and TV Awards Silver Crane (

Sidabrinė gervė (Silver Crane) are the Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the no ...

) and the Best Director Award at the

film festival in Russia in 2008. The international success of the film-maker's debut opened possibilities for her further career.

''Vanishing Waves (Aurora)''

Buožytė's second feature film ''Vanishing Waves'' is about the emotionally remote scientist Lucas (Marius Jampolskis) who participates in neurological experiment where he successfully contacts a young comatose woman named Aurora (Jurga Jutaitė). Lucas subconsciously communicates with Aurora's suppressed personality, breaks the rules and lies to the superiors about their relationship. Because of the uncertain boundaries between dream and reality ''Vanishing Waves'' is often compared with

Christopher Nolan Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...

’s ''

Inception ''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action heist film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by inf ...

'', except when Christopher Nolan's films are called sterile and sexless, Buožytė gives the audiences an immersive depiction of unconscious dreamworld as a surreal and explicit psychosexual smorgasbord that would make Freud blush. ''Vanishing Waves'' is also compared to

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

's ''

Eyes Wide Shut ''Eyes Wide Shut'' is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the 1926 novella '' Dream Story'' () by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's setting from earl ...

'' because of its soft-core sex scenes and

Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. His films explore spiritual and metap ...

's ''

Solaris Solaris is the Latin word for sun. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Sol ...

'' because of its symbolic titular planet. Meanwhile the director points out that film explores the psychological aspects of the relationships - all the feelings, the attitudes, the sufferings and the pleasures begin in human's head, thus the main focus is on the

egocentrism Egocentrism refers to difficulty differentiating between self and other. More specifically, it is difficulty in accurately perceiving and understanding perspectives other than one's own. Egocentrism is found across the life span: in infancy, ea ...

of the main character and its transformation during the experiences of desire, pleasure and love. It is the first science fiction film made in Lithuania and the first Lithuanian film distributed in North America. ''Vanishing Waves'' was named the Best European Fantasy Film in 2012 and received 21 other awards of which 15 went to Kristina Buožytė for her creative work as a screenwriter and director. Buožytė's films fulfilled with eroticism, philosophical searching, and visual splendor makes her new provocative and exited European talent and it deserves to be noticed by cinephiles around the world.

Filmography

Source:Lithuanian Film Centre
Artists Profile: Kristina Buožytė
Lfc.lt. Retrieved March 8, 2014. Short film Feature film

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * Lithuanian Film Centre
''Artists profile: Kristina Buožytė''
Lfc.lt * Kewley, Pat (July 24, 2013)
''Vanishing Waves Is an Erotic and Surreal Sci-Fi Head Trip''
PopMatters.com * Sélavy, Virginie (May 13, 2013). Record of:
Kristinia Buozyte on Vanishing Waves
''. Electricsheepmagazine.co.uk * Wilkins, Budd (July 26, 2013)
''DVD REVIEW: Vanishing Waves''
SlantMagazine.com * Scheck, Frank (March 17, 2013)
''Vanishing Waves'': Film Review
The Hollywood Reporter. *
Change the Record
' video (part 1) *
Change the Record
'video (part 2) * Kulvietis, Marijus
''Recenzija: Kolekcionierė''
Kinas.info. * ''Kino minų'' informacija (November 15, 2005)
''KINO MINOS'05 - profesionalūs lietuviško kino žaidimai''
Lithuanian Film Centre. Lfc.lt. {{DEFAULTSORT:Buozyte, Kristina Women screenwriters Lithuanian film directors Lithuanian women film directors 1982 births Living people Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni People from Klaipėda

Career

''The Collectress (Kolekcionierė)''

''Vanishing Waves (Aurora)''

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

Further reading

External links