The Cinematheque

Lithuania

Vitas Luckus, a major photographic artist nearly lost to the dustbin of history, is profiled in Lithuanian filmmaker Giedrė Žickytė’s award-winning documentary. Luckus was a man of bohemian impulses and hard-partying excesses living in a rigid Communist state. He kept a lion cub in his Vilnius apartment; took extraordinary photographs capturing life across the USSR; and was hounded and censored by Soviet authorities. He jumped to his death in 1987, at the age of 43, after an encounter with KGB agents took a terrible turn. His work, once largely forgotten, is now gaining international attention. Master and Tatyana traces Luckus’s fascinating life and masterly art from the perspective of Tatyana Aldag, his wife and muse. It won Silver Cranes (Lithuania’s national film awards) for best director, cinematography, editing, and documentary feature.