Gabrielė Urbanoitė is one of the young Lithuanian filmmakers taking over the festival circuit in recent years. So far, she's made a name for herself primarily as an editor, for example on Austeja Urbaite's Remember to Blink . But this summer, she's presenting her festival audience with Direction Renewal , which she also wrote.
The World premiered in the competition lineup of 59th Karlovy Varia International Film Festival and was recently shown at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival .
The film, starring Žyginhaman Elena Jakštaitė ( European Shot Star 2021 ), Šarūnas Zenkevičius ( European Shot Star 2025 ) and rising Ukrainian talent Roman Lutskyi ( Under the Volcano by Damian Kocur, 2024), explores the pressures on a young woman to be purposeful and successful in her 30s. The film’s director is a friend of Urnaitė’s, the prolific Lithuanian camera wizard Vytautas Katkus .
Renewal was produced by Uljana Kim for the Lithuanian Uljana Kim Studio, Latvian Mima Films, and Belgium's Harald House. It is supported by the Lithuanian Film Center, the Latvian National Cinema Center, and LRT.
Ilona, a 29-year-old perfectionist, lives in present-day Vilnius, Lithuania. “At this point in her life, she begins to question how she truly wants to live,” reads a synopsis for Renovation . “She moves into a seemingly perfect apartment with her boyfriend Matas, with whom things are getting serious.” But as the building’s renovation begins, Ilona’s inner self-doubts also begin to surface. “She makes an unexpected friendship with Oleg, a Ukrainian construction worker. After spontaneously saying she’s a poet, she actually starts writing poetry.”
Things threaten to spiral out of control. "Their connection deepens his uncertainty," the synopsis reads. "Does he really want to calm down and start a family?"
On the sidelines of the Sarajevo Festival, Urnaitė, who earned her BFA in Film from Emerson College and her MFA in Screenwriting/Directing from Columbia University, spoke with Thr about real-life inspirations for Renewal : Your Voice film, the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Lithuanians, and what she hopes to do next.
Can you tell me a little about the inspirations for your film?
Yes, it came from my own experience, but also from that of my friends. We all feel the same way as we approach 30. I was living in the United States when I started writing, and I noticed a difference between my friends back home and my American friends and colleagues in the West. I think the pressure we associate with turning 30, we experienced even earlier. And I think it's cultural—it comes from our parents and their generation and the way they were raised. Actress Žyginhaman, who plays Ilona, also added some of her experience.
Why did you return to Lithuania?
I always planned to return. The pandemic has accelerated the process a bit. But I've always wanted to tell stories in Lithuania. I also continued making short films in Lithuania while studying abroad in the United States. I find it very important to be part of this growing film industry and stories from Lithuania. They are, or can be, universal, but for me it's important to convey this specific cultural experience in some way.
The war in Ukraine is a constant threat, especially in the background of Renewal . Can you share a little about how it affects life in Lithuania?
You're bringing up a good point. When I started writing the script, I really wanted it to be about small things, about small, everyday dramas that people face. And then, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, I felt like it shifted my perspective. And I couldn't focus on these small things. Of course, the war is still going on and people still need to take their own lives, and you end up worrying about their relationships and ambitions and everything, right? But there's also this bigger problem, and I think all of us in Lithuania feel this anxiety related to it, because there's a threat. Sometimes it looks bigger, sometimes it's smaller.
It's hard to say what will happen. But we felt this anxiety about the war and a lot of empathy for the Ukrainians because of our shared history. So it was important for me to reflect this. I see the world, or life in Lithuania, as it did before the invasion, and then, for me, it's changed a lot.
And especially because I'm a Ukrainian character, I couldn't ignore it, and I wouldn't want to ignore it anyway. It's important to reflect this time in this moment. It took me several months of rewriting to understand the main questions that preoccupied my mind. I considered, even during filming, how to truly portray it to do it justice, but so that it doesn't overwhelm the main story.
Did you always plan for Oleg to be a Ukrainian construction worker, or did you make him Ukrainian after the invasion of Ukraine?
I was Ukrainian from the very beginning. Over six years ago, the three main characters came to me instantly and together. I was Ukrainian because the building I live in in Vilnius underwent this renovation, and the construction workers were from Ukraine and Belarus. This was just a reality.
How did you find the three actors?
They're all professional actors. Šarūnas Zenkevičius, who plays Forests, and I worked together 10 years ago, we made some shorts together. And Roman Lutskyi, who plays Oleg, I saw in [the 2021 Ukrainian movie] Reflection by Valentyn Vasyanovych, and that was quite magical. I just saw his performance in that film and knew it was Oleg, even though it's a very different role and a very different film. Roman just read the treatment and agreed to do it. And when we Zoomed for the first time, for me, it wasn't a casting call. I knew I wanted to work with him, and it really seemed like a match. I've never experienced an actor and a character that are so close in my mind.
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This is so funny because I was like, oh, somehow, everyone, like, they had this innate charisma in some way, you know, like, without, because sometimes, especially young actors, sometimes you can say, oh, they're trying too hard. And I was like, oh, somehow I do care, and I want everyone to be okay, you know, give a hug or, high five, or something, but all in a slightly different way. So this is like they had done it, that everyone had, like, this level of, oh, I care, you know, and they worked so well that I was like, oh yeah, I can see there's chemistry here, there's chemistry there, and there's love there,
They're all very talented actors, but we also spent a lot of time, especially with žyginman and Šarūnas, working on the script, talking a lot about the characters, and finding each other, walking around the lake, just spending time together. Because development took a while, we used this time until halfway through bonding. And then we also rehearsed for a while, because we were filming the movie.
Many scenes take place in closed environments. How did you find filming in an apartment, which, I suppose, comes with some limitations?
It was one of the challenges, for sure. The key was finding the right apartment, which would be an interesting space in itself. I wanted it to be a Soviet-era apartment building, but it had to be different and unique, so that these people would want to move in. And that's exactly what we found. And then, Vytautas and I decided to find an angle for each scene and how to combine a handheld camera with a tripod. So I knew the film set would basically be a device, which was the image I had to work with, and then you have to look for these solutions and angles.
We also talked a lot about how to film simply but unconventionally. That was my concept. I don't like a very pretentious camera or a formalist camera. I like simplicity in film, but in a way that isn't boring and conventional.
Tell me a little about the renovation as a real construction site, but also a metaphor for real-life construction sites, and how the film titles.
The first draft was just to outline the action of renovating the building. But the metaphor, I think, evolved with the script and the characters. And yes, I like having double meanings, yes. And I like one-word titles.
How much or how little did you want to make the film about post-Soviet trauma?
I remember the first drafts of the script. I had this professor from Columbia who knows Eastern European cinema well, and he read my script, and he said, "Finally, an Eastern European film that's not about trauma." But then, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, I realized that we're all traumatized, whether we like it or not, whether we can admit it or not. These are transgenerational traumas, and it's about understanding how your parents and grandparents suffered. So this isn't in the foreground of the film, but it's somewhere in the background. I realized I shouldn't shy away from this trauma.
Do you already have an idea for your next film and will we see you writing and directing more features?
I really enjoyed this process, so I definitely want to do more. I'm also currently making a personal documentary about art and family. I come from a family of artists, so I'm delving into this theme of how art and family can coexist.
