{"id":5357,"date":"2018-06-21T19:32:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T01:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/?p=5357"},"modified":"2018-06-21T19:32:19","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T01:32:19","slug":"ashes-in-the-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/ashes-in-the-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashes in the Snow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sandra Baksys.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cbiggest Lithuanian movie of all time\u201d is set for worldwide release October 12, 2018.\u00a0 <\/span>Filmed in accented English and some Russian with subtitles, Ashes in the Snow<\/em> will tell the world the little-known story of the U.S.S.R.\u2019s deportations of tens of thousands of innocent Lithuanians to their deaths in the frozen reaches of Siberia during and after World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Director
Director Marius Markevi\u010dius.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ashes<\/em> is the long-awaited feature film adaptation of The New York Times<\/em> best-selling young adult historical novel, Between Shades of Gray<\/em>, by Ruta Sepetys. The story centers on a 16-year-old Lithuanian girl whose family is exiled to Siberia during the first wave of Soviet deportations in June 1941. The film stars Gotham<\/em> Award-winning actress Bel Powley (Diary of a Teenage Girl<\/em>) and Martin Wallstrom (of the Golden Globe-winning TV series, Mr. Robot<\/em>). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many cool moments and stories from the making of this film,\u201d says director Marius Markevi\u010dius. \u201cMost memorable for me was having this team of actors in the leading roles coming from so many different countries, from Norway, Sweden, Great Britain \u2013 all committing themselves to a project about Lithuania and the Baltics. Bel immersed herself by spending time in Lithuania and learning everything she could. A couple of the actors had to learn Russian for their roles.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

According to Markevi\u010dius, Ashes<\/em> took 45 days to shoot at multiple locations in Lithuania, including Nida-Palanga and Vilnius. He explained that the film\u2019s Lithuania-based cast is composed of Siberian deportation survivors and their descendants \u201cto maximize the power of truthfulness and authenticity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

First Global Feature Film\u00a0<\/span>about Lithuania in English<\/strong><\/p>\n

Markevi\u010dius predicts that\u00a0Ashes in the Snow<\/em>\u00a0will be the first film that really puts Lithuania on the map and in the consciousness of people around the world. \u201cThis will be the first globally distributed major feature film in English about Lithuania, telling the story of one of the most seminal events of the country\u2019s 20th century history,\u201d he explains. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ruta
Ruta Sepetys and Michael Smith.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The seeds of that ambitious vision can be found in Markevi\u010dius\u2019 2012 documentary film with subtitles, The Other Dream Team<\/em>, which told the story of newly independent Lithuania\u2019s tie-dyed, post-Soviet return to Olympic basketball. (Previously, he did production work on the major Hollywood feature film, The Way Back<\/em>, starring Ed Harris as a Siberian gulag prisoner who escapes to freedom by trekking across the wastelands of central Asia.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, finally, with Ashes in the Snow<\/em>, Markevi\u010dius and Ashes\u2019 Lithuania-based producer, \u017dilvinas Naujokas, have mounted a Lithuanian scripted-narrative feature film that can cross borders into fully global distribution. Naujokas was lead producer of Tadas Blinda<\/em>, the 2011 Lithuanian-language historical epic that broke Lithuanian box office records.<\/span><\/p>\n

His Kaunas-based company, Acme Films, which has exclusive rights to distribute Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures films to cinemas in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, will handle Ashes\u2019 distribution in the Baltic countries. <\/span><\/p>\n

Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency is arranging screenings and negotiating distribution agreements for North America and other markets. \u201cThey\u2019re our international agent selling rights all over the world, piecing together this big, global puzzle,\u201d Markevi\u010dius explains. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Indie\u2019 Equals Authentic<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For all this, Ashes in the Snow remains an independent film not produced or backed by a major Hollywood studio. But there is a good reason for that, according to Sepetys, with whom its story began.\u00a0<\/span>She said she optioned the movie rights for her book to Markevi\u010dius and Naujokas \u201cbecause I wanted the movie to be authentic, not shot in Colorado with American actors like the big Hollywood studios wanted.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\"On
On the set of Ashes in the Snow. The outskirts of Vilnius were turned into a Siberian labor camp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And thanks, first of all, to American screenwriter Ben York Jones, Sepetys says the film is \u201ctotally authentic\u201d to her book. \u201cThe novel, the book, is there\u2014and more,\u201d she concluded, after reading the screenplay, viewing evolving cuts of the movie\u2014and after having spent nine days on location in Lithuania, witnessing the filming of non-Siberian \u201csummer flashback scenes\u201d in Nida and her book\u2019s emotional train station scene. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is at the train station where families are torn apart and frightened men, women and children are packed into cattle cars with no idea of where they\u2019re going, or whether they will survive. \u201cThe way the actual deportation scene was filmed, the people being herded and loaded\u2014it was so emotional for me\u2014just the injustice and indignity of it. Of course, I knew they (the film crew) would do a beautiful job capturing it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Violence Amped up From the Book<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThreads of violence and brutality cut from my original manuscripts because of the young audience\u2014certain plot elements\u2014ended up being restored in the screenplay,\u201d Sepetys notes. \u201cAs Ben was writing the threads of the characters, he felt those scenes just needed to be included.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lisa
Lisa Loven Kongsli – Elena, Bel Powley – Lina.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About bringing the Soviet violence the characters endured to life, Markevi\u010dius points out, \u201cThere\u2019s a fine line between too much and too little. We didn\u2019t want to go over the top in a way that would interrupt or distract from the arc of the story. But we also couldn\u2019t whitewash what happened in those Siberian prison camps. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, there is violence and tragedy, including the scene of the newborn baby and mother taken straight from the hospital to a cattle car.\u2026We don\u2019t know what rating we will get. But even though the film is pretty mature, a very serious topic, we think it will be a PG-13 because we were still going for that wider audience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Production
Production still from Ashes in the Snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sepetys says in three general audience test screenings followed by questionnaires (two screenings in the U.S. and one in Lithuania), \u201cWhen we screened for students, they came out of the theater, hand on chest, saying, \u2018OMG, I can\u2019t believe this happened.\u2019 But when I showed it to my father (whose own father\u2019s cousins were deported and sent back letters from Siberia), first Dad said, \u2018The film is better than your book. But I have to tell you, it (Siberia) was much worse than the film depicts.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Sepetys believes the same generational divide when it comes to knowledge about the brutality of the Siberian experience will be found in Lithuanian audiences.\u00a0 <\/span>And she hopes the film will have the same benefits in educating the younger generation there as elsewhere around the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

A Love Story Set in a Prison Camp<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Complicating the job of writing and filming Ashes, Markevi\u010dius notes, was that, unlike most World War II films, \u201cat its heart, this is a love story–not a typical WWII film laden with war scenes and military might. It\u2019s very personal and interpersonal. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Production
Production still from Ashes in the Snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBut in a film, unlike in a book, you can\u2019t get the love story by hearing the characters\u2019 thoughts; you have to see it all. And it\u2019s easy to cross the line to the melodramatic or over-romantic when you\u2019re trying to capture what is essentially a love story set in a prison camp.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

One reason screenwriter Jones was chosen for the project was because of his work on the film, Like Crazy<\/em>, the 2011 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner that Markevi\u010dius produced (and more recently, the Netflix original series, Everything Sucks<\/em>). \u201cBen just captures a young person\u2019s experience really well, and this is the story of a young Lithuanian girl who has her life turned upside down and doesn\u2019t know why.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another strand of \u201cauthenticity\u201d that Sepetys agreed on with Markevi\u010dius and Naujokas was that the production of the film should go to Lithuania\u2019s skilled motion pictures industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lithuanian \u2018Authenticity\u2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the extras and some of the principal actors \u2013 the elderly people \u2013 were actual survivors deported as children. When you see these beautiful faces, they are the real survivors,\u201d says Sepetys. \u201cThe rest are children or grandchildren of survivors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
The author of Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys (second from left), on the set of her novel\u2019s film adaptation Ashes in the Snow. \u201cAll of the extras and some of the principal actors \u2013 the elderly people \u2013 were actual survivors deported as children.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She continues, \u201cThe entire cinematography crew, the production designers, wardrobe, set building, costume and make-up crews, they were all Lithuanian. I am so anxious for the world to see the level of film production in Lithuania\u2014it\u2019s one of those best-kept secrets, but it shouldn\u2019t be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Particularly in an independent film like Ashes, creating production value\u2014bang for the buck\u2014is an imperative. \u201cThe main goal,\u201d Markevi\u010dius explains, \u201cis to build what looks like a big, big budget movie for much less than the typical Hollywood $50-$100 million. And I was really pleased by the production value created by our Lithuanian team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As an example, he recalls arriving on the set of the movie\u2019s faux Siberian prison camp, which incorporated abandoned industrial machinery and buildings from a shuttered sand mining operation outside Vilnius. \u201cBy the time I got there,\u201d Markevi\u010dius says, \u201cten or 12 structures had already been built. They were primitive, and some were just facades, like on any Hollywood set. But the scope and the scale of the work was pretty incredible, beginning with architects\u2019 sketches. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lithuanian teams built it all beautifully. And we accomplished things we could not have accomplished shooting in the U.S.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Deportees Re-Enact their Experience<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Having the cast filled out by Lithuanian actors and extras who were either surviving deportees, or the descendants of deportees, also contributed authentic human factors unique to Lithuania. Both Sepetys and Markevi\u010dius consider those human factors critical to the film, in which Markevi\u010dius says, \u201cWe wanted to tap into the immense power of truthfulness.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Production
Production still from Ashes in the Snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He adds, \u201cIt was pretty profound to see elderly people who were survivors, themselves, in these costumes and in these scenes, these long shoots in snow and cold that looked and felt like what they had been through.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

He concludes, \u201cNot only were our Lithuanian crews skilled, but a lot of them had a connection to the Siberian experience. So, you could feel their heart and soul going into it from the top down, from the cinematographers to the extras and even the caterer. You could really feel it on the set, and that was very moving to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Siberia on the Baltic<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

But where did the movie-makers find Siberia in Lithuania?\u00a0<\/span>On a February shoot hundreds of feet out on the 0.5-meter-thick ice covering the Kur\u0161i\u0173 Marios\u00a0<\/span>between the Curonian Spit and the Lithuanian mainland. \u201cWe filmed on the frozen sea\u2014the coldest environment I ever worked in, as a guy born and raised in Los Angeles. From all our research, we thought it looked like a frozen tundra, like the Laptev Sea. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty interesting to have our base camp out on the ice 50 feet or more from shore, where we had our tents set up and would bring things back and forth with ATVs. Then from our base camp, we would venture out hundreds of feet farther onto the ice to film where there would be no signs of civilization, to get everything authentic. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Production
Production still from Ashes in the Snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d be wondering if all our people would be OK, and then we\u2019d see a big truck with ice fishing supplies driving out there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, when 12 and 14-hours workdays on the ice gave way to a shoot at the labor camp set near Vilnius, just before a shoot, the heavy snow required for filming was melted by heavy rains and warming temperatures. \u201cWe had to use fake snow and digital effects in post-production to clean up areas that had melted away,\u201d Markevi\u010dius recalls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also in post-production, 60 hours of film were pared down into a three-hour \u201crough cut,\u201d which was edited, with the help of the aforementioned test screenings, into a film of about 100 minutes.\u00a0<\/span>Editors Veronika Jenet (Oscar- nominated for The<\/em> Piano<\/em>) and Jonathan Dillon (an editor for Fox, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate studios) focused on reducing the run time while \u201cgetting the flow of the story just right,\u201d Markevi\u010dius explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

English Stands in for Lithuanian<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The choice of English as the language of the Lithuanian characters in the film was considered key for Ashes\u2019 international marketability, and follows the model of English for Polish in the blockbuster Holocaust film, The Pianist<\/em>, starring Adrien Brody. Language coaches helped Ashes\u2019<\/em> lead actors learn to speak English with \u201can Eastern European accent,\u201d Markevi\u010dius says.\u00a0<\/span>For Lithuanians speaking English in minor roles, that was no problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Production
Production still from Ashes in the Snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russian is spoken by the actors playing Soviet authorities and guards and is subtitled, for authenticity\u2019s sake. \u201cRussian would have been a frightening foreign language for the Lithuanian deportees,\u201d Markevi\u010dius says, \u201cso we wanted the audience to see and share in that experience.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

There is one major scene where the Lithuanian national anthem is sung\u2014in Lithuanian. Explains Markevi\u010dius, \u201cI decided to depart from the rules for that scene because the national anthem is so important. <\/span><\/p>\n

The prisoners in their cattle car feel their train is departing, and they don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s to their death, and they strike up and sing the anthem in unison.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lithuanian Government Support<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As an indie, Ashes in the Snow<\/em> had to rely on a creative mix of funding, including a grant from the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture. Other main sources of financing were private equity and Lithuanian-American investors who believe strongly in the importance of the film\u2019s historical message, Markevi\u010dius explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Production
Production still from Ashes in the Snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He notes that the production also enjoyed a 20 percent rebate from the Lithuanian government, and the enthusiastic personal support of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskait\u0117. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a gesture of thanks, Grybauskait\u0117 and other officials visiting Washington, D.C., for the Baltic summit in early April were invited to a private screening. As part of a series of screenings for small and supportive audiences, Markevi\u010dius says Ashes in the Snow<\/em> is also being shown at the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies Conference (AABS) in June at Stanford University.<\/span><\/p>\n

After everything that has gone into the film, Markevi\u010dius concluded, \u201cI am ready not to talk about it, but to show it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Production
Production still from Ashes in the Snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Adds Sepetys, \u201cMy overwhelming feeling about the film is still what drove me to write the novel, which is, \u2018Why is this part of history not more well-known?\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow in the world anyone survived this lottery of life or death in Siberia is truly a testament to the human spirit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Production
Production still from Ashes in the Snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sandra Baksys. The \u201cbiggest Lithuanian movie of all time\u201d is set for worldwide release October 12, 2018.\u00a0 Filmed in accented English and some Russian with subtitles, Ashes in the Snow will tell the world the little-known story of the U.S.S.R.\u2019s deportations of tens of thousands of innocent Lithuanians to their deaths in the frozen reaches …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[206,204,214,70],"tags":[111],"class_list":["post-5357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-books","category-culture","category-film","category-history-1900","tag-baksys-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5378,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5357\/revisions\/5378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}