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Butterfly City
Start date: Nov 28, 2014, End date: May 27, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The city of Visaginas was created from nothing in the 1970s in order to service a powerful Soviet nuclear power station. It was intended to be a window of Soviet progress to the West, but later also represented energy self-sufficiency for Lithuania, when the country declared independence. EU membership, however, means Lithuania has to close the plant, the city’s only industry. Now the town is dying.Even today the city is like a mini-USSR: The main language there is Russian, and most of its residents come from either Russia or another Soviet republic. But although people there are officially Lithuanian citizens, they don’t feel part of Lithuanian society. The city is in a bubble, separated from the outside world, stuck in time.The film, in mainly observational form, follows characters from different backgrounds but all at crossroads in their lives. Not only social issues but also questions of language, culture, and religion are raised – and ultimately identity and belonging. With “Russians” elsewhere in Europe now violently affirming their sense of identity and defending their language, how will these “Russian”-Lithuanians react, and how will the rest of Lithuania react to them? The director, herself born in Vilnius of Russian parents, undertakes a journey of discovery.Trailer: http://vimeo.com/98036318 password:: BCpromo1410
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