Borderline

After his wife’s death, mourning ornithologist Vilius ( 40 ) is left alone to look after his daughter, Urte. One day, while driving home, he accidentally hits a group of smugglers evading the border control guards. The criminals, impressed by the bird tracking GPS in Vilius’ car, see an opportunity, and offer him a job. Seduced by the big pay and by the great opportunity to escape his daily struggles, he agrees in no time. His job is to track loads of smuggled goods crossing the border, instead of migrating birds. During one operation, the smuggler assigned to watch the house turns on Urte and attacks her. When Vilius returns, he finds a dead body on the floor. He acts quickly to hide the body and come up with an alibi, but his actions raise suspicion among the rest of the team. When Vilius receives another task, he knows it will be his last.

DIRECTORS NOTE

My generation grew behind the ‘iron curtain’, so anything to do with freedom and liberation seemed to only exist on the other side of the wall. But the freedom on the outside doesn’t always release you from your internal prison. This reflection raises a question: what if physical and legal freedoms, and existential freedoms as a human state, have nothing to do with either? In the film ‘Borderline’ I aim to explore the protagonist’s internal struggles while searching for how to determine the borders of freedom for all of us – inside and out. The Illegal crossing of borders and participation in smuggling activity is only significant as a catharsis for our main character’s psychological turmoil. Big money and the new adrenaline rush create a sense of absolute liberation for Vilius - temporarily. The whole film revolves around the idea of crossing borders, which is closely related to what Vilius does for a living – ornithology. He observes migrating ducks, whose natural prerogative is to be oblivious to the existing borders. May our dreams and lives be so free.

TALENTS

Šarūnas Zenkevičius, one of Europe’s rising stars.

Recognized as one of the continent’s top emerging actors, Zenkevičius was selected for the 28th edition of European Shooting Stars, an initiative by EFP, that highlights ten standout talents each year.

In Borderline, his gripping performance has impressed the Shooting Stars jury, who praised his ability to build tension with restraint: "While the intensity rises in the film, he keeps all that tension inside him, without bursting. It’s very easy to be melodramatic, which he avoids. Instead, he contains all the energy, and he is like a bomb that is waiting to explode."

Another local talent, Danguole Beinarytė, takes on the role of Vanda, the head of the smuggling group, continuing director Ignas Jonynas’s tradition of casting non-professional actors in pivotal roles. A renowned choral conductor in the Baltic region: "Conducting is about blending a thousand voices into one," she reflects. "Stepping into this role, I had to do the opposite—find the discord, the rawness, and become someone I am not: a sharp-minded, cold-hearted creature.” With her commanding screen presence and Jonynas’s vision, Beinarytė’s transformation into Vanda promises to be one of the film’s most gripping performances.