Kolkhoz [(Russ.) = collective farm] An agricultural production unit including a number of farm households or villages working together under state control. The kolkhoz “Lighthouse†was founded in 1958 about 80km from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, when the village of Zubiskes was built. The founding head of this kolkhoz and informal mayor of Zubiskes was Romas Markevicius, who, although planning to become an architect, musician and writer, was chosen to build and run the kolkhoz and village. At heart he remained a poet and musician and, together with agricultural policy, he fostered cultural life in Zubiskes with a village choir, orchestra and by organizing various cultural events for the people. He also began to show interest in film and started filming the village- and his family life on 16mm. This unique original footage was given to us to be used in the film. After the collapse of the Soviet Union all cattle and machines were looted. The population shrank to the current 200 inhabitants, compared to its peak period when the village school alone had 300 pupils. The majority of young people does not see any future in the ruins of Zubiskes and intend to leave the village for the city. The remaining people are poor, they live on their small private farm holdings, mostly consisting of nothing more than a cow, a goat and some chicken. So does Audrys, the “cultural minister†of Zubiskes, his wife Sonata and their two small children; Romas and his wife Ada or Danute, the former accountant of the kolkhoz. All these people are confronted with the difficulties which the system change has brought and they try to find their way – most with little success; others manage better as the innovative farmer and new major of the village Marijonas. He adapted to the new capitalist situation and sold his remaining cattle to invest the money in digging ponds for possible tourism and ostriches, which have arrived in Zubiskes in July 2003. A daring and exotic idea, a depart into the future, not only his own, but the one of the whole village. The film’s atmosphere emerges from the contrast of the past and the present, male and female points of view, old and young. Private footage on 16mm feels like dreams or memories, which float through the vast Lithuanian landscape like the river Neris, which slowly passes Romas’ house. This slow pace is taken over into the film and brings alive the rhythm of the village. The film consists of 3 layers: The communist past, the difficult present and the future, which has to be created. These layers interact and create the whole, like in the people’s lives.
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