Renovation

True renovation begins from the inside.

Present-day Vilnius, Lithuania. Ilona, a perfectionist 29-year-old, feels the pressure to be settled and successful by the time she turns 30. At this turning point in her life, she begins to question how she truly wants to live. She moves into a seemingly perfect apartment with her boyfriend Matas, with whom things are getting serious. But as the building's renovation begins, it's not just cracks in the walls that are revealed—Ilona’s inner doubts also start to surface. She strikes up an unexpected friendship with Oleg, a Ukrainian construction worker. After spontaneously telling him she’s a poet, she actually begins to write poetry. Their connection deepens her uncertainty: does she really want to settle down and start a family?

Directors note

The idea came to me one afternoon about seven years ago, after watching Kieslowski's Camera Buff. I was living and studying in the U.S. at the time, and seeing a setting so similar to my hometown Vilnius, Lithuania made me nostalgic for home. The key components of the story came to me instantly: the woman in a relationship with a man, her life seems fine on the surface, but deep down she's discontent, and she meets a construction worker with whom she develops a special connection.

I was writing while approaching 30, but feeling that the things I planned to achieve—having my own home, a family, being settled and fulfilled—still were far away. In Renovation, I wanted to capture this feeling, the complexity of this age. On one hand, you're still very young, you can change your mind about your career, partner, or lifestyle. On the other hand, you start realizing that there's not enough time to try everything—that you have to make choices. In today's fast-paced, high-pressure world, whatever choice you make, it's becoming harder and harder to feel fulfilled and good enough.

While an existential crisis at 30 might be a universal experience, it's also culturally specific. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine made me realize how alive Soviet-era traumas are in us, in my generation born already in independent post-Soviet countries. We feel pressure from our parents to live a certain way, along with the existential threat of today. Constantly reminded of life's fragility, we begin to reevaluate how we truly want to live. I wanted to convey the reality of living with a war on the periphery—feeling the anxiety about it, but also the need to carry on with our lives. I wanted to explore these serious themes with humor and light, as balance is important for me both in life and in cinema. I'm fascinated by how human existence unfolds in everyday life, in small, often overlooked moments. This connects to the decision to film in mostly one location, a Soviet-era apartment building under renovation, which becomes a natural metaphor for Ilona’s internal transformation. To highlight the poetry in everyday ordinary moments, I chose to shoot on 16mmfilm, capturing the intimate dynamics with warmth and tactility.