A Lithuanian geographer’s plan to escape the second world war by creating an alternative colony overseas is the inspiration for this smart comic drama
This assured feature debut from writer and director Karolis Kaupinis takes a wry look at a little-known event in late-1930s Lithuania. Anticipating the coming war, a geographer proposes the setting up of an alternative colony overseas – a backup Lithuania – to be used in the event of an invasion. This is the jumping-off point for a densely detailed, slyly comic collision between international politics and absurdity.
It’s not immediately accessible film-making, but Kaupinis uses the medium smartly: everything from the boxed-in aspect ratio to the geographer’s increasingly oppressive living arrangements nods to Lithuania’s potential plight.
