HOW WE PLAYED THE REVOLUTION

Rock for independence: an archival story about Lithuanian musicians who gave freedom to the whole country

This story began in 1984, at the dawn of perestroika in the USSR. On the eve of the New Year's party of the Union of Architects in Kaunas, five young people gather a comic musical ensemble for a single day. The prank is getting out of control: a few months later, the whole Lithuania is already talking about the new rock band Antis (the name translates as "duck"), who cleverly combine the rhythms of Talking Heads and theatrical caricatures of Soviet propaganda. In a couple of years, the architects will perform on the same festival stages with Aquarium and Bravo, tour Europe and the United States, and inspire thousands of people to march for the independence of their country. “How We Played the Revolution” is the directorial debut of documentary filmmaker Giedrė Žickytė (her new film “The Jump” also participates in the main documentary program of the Northern Lights FF). Woven from archived VHS footage, this is a story about a small country that during a particular period in history managed to outshine all the news headlines in the world, about people who achieved civil freedoms with smiles and songs, about music, which at the right time became the most powerful weapon of good.

Original language: Lithuanian
Subtitles: Russian | English