A Simple Elegy 1990, 20 min., b/w LSDF Centre for Creative Initiatives LO SFK written by Alexander Sokurov camera: Alexander Burov sound: Vladimir Persov editor: Raissa Lissova Music by M. Curlenis. “Simple Elegy” is simple in form — also, probably, is it simple in content. It is compiled from documentary footage shot in 1990 when Russia imposed an economic blockade on Lithuania. We filmed in the building which houses the Supreme Council of Lithuania and in the streets of Vilnius. There are two protagonists in the film, the People and the Chief of State: the Lithuanians and Mr. Vitautas Landsbergis. This new leader of the Lithuanian state is an attractive figure. Landsbergis is an historian of culture and music. He received a classical education. Perhaps every state should seek to have such a person of education at its head. Yet we who made this film did not have any political intentions, only, quite naturally, artistic ones… It is important to note that “Simply Elegy” is a film in the “Elegy” series. Alexander Sokurov (from the author's summary) The office of the President of Lithuania, 1990. Inside, silence reigns, contrasting to the shouting of the crowds outside the windows of the governmental building. At the same time, this silence is mirrored by the intense silence of several women, whose faces remain on the screen for a long time. The silence is broken by music. The President plays the piano — the Nocturnes, composed by his famous compatriot, Ciurlionis. The President, musician and politician, has plunged himself into deep mediation (recalling aspects of “Soviet Elegy”) — a kind of phenomena of our times, something that Sokurov searches for and hopes to capture: something that remains and can still be rescued. Alexandra Tuchninskaya Translated by Alexei Jankowski with assistance from Benjamin Halligan.