In Search for the Path: From Nida to Hollywood

A 2-mile wide strip of land stretching 30 miles called the Curonian Spit brings fond memories of growing up in Nida, Lithuania.  The contrast of the salty Baltic Sea and the freshwater Curonian Lagoon divides the wilderness of its nature and the people. The striking landscape of bizarre sand dunes, never ending pine tree forests and unspoiled nature inspired a boundless need to perceive. Growing up with my grandmother provided the freedom to explore its present duality, while my parents made a living in the contrasting capital of Vilnius. The hardships led us to follow them to the city when I was nine, only to find further divorce. I was exposed to and quickly learned to adapt to two very diverse lives: learning from journalist photographer father and the business orientation of my mother. In both roles, I assumed the position of an observer, rather than a communicator. It was on my ninth birthday that my father gave me a camera and began introducing me to the visual language. With hindsight, the visual means of communicating allowed me to rediscover the intricacies I used to call ‘magic’ growing up amidst Nida’s sceneries. I continued an observer, discovering and uncovering new means to express myself. It was this storytelling that allowed for moments of shared connection within my family.

Just as I familiarized myself to life in Vilnius, we moved to London. There was a lot of searching that followed as we relocated from place to place. I graduated from the International Baccalaureate program in Belgium and subsequently attempted to study medicine and psychology in the UK and Australia. Having not found fulfillment in the 3 years of studies, I still knew not of what I wanted to say, yet it guided me towards wanting to liberate my self-expression. Unknowingly I searched for the means to tell my story. Overwhelmed by a lack of direction I spent months looking for answers in a Zen Buddhist Monastery in Korea, meditating.

It did not take long to find the one thing that made me happy and I wanted nothing more than to pursue it. I relocated to Singapore and immersed into the cinematic language studying at ‘The Puttnam School of Film’. The course covered all film departments. I learned about the means to tell stories through the visual language and found the freedom I sought in such expression. I did not envision myself to find such joy and, having found it, I have followed the path ever since. 

From observing many inevitable differences in history, culture, beliefs and values in numerous places, I was grounded in the idea that the stories people share embody universal emotions and that cinema has the capacity to portray it. The means of narrative storytelling may have developed from prehistoric cave paintings in Lascaux and been dissected by Aristotle in the ‘Poetics’, yet the experience itself has not changed. Thus, my utter love for stories. They can synchronize minds and express the otherwise inexpressible.

In the years following graduation, I gained further valuable industry experience and worked in Singapore, Europe and India. The experiences ranged from features, commercials, series, shorts, events and studio work. In 2016, I was the gaffer for an Indian feature film ‘Sanchar’. We spent weeks in a 45-degree desert heat, yet this was one of the greatest experiences in my life. The collaboration between the departments and the people with a focused and unified effort to tell one story, working towards the same goal, is the most inspiring story of all. I have pursued cinematography as my career ever since and have dedicated my time towards the profession. I am constantly pursuing learning from every opportunity and aspect of cinematography and visual languages. I have a passion to explore various storytelling methods and have qualified as a Steadicam operator to better understand the moving camera and its effects. I am also very much interested in documentaries.

The contrast of my life’s experiences, be it Lithuania, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, France, India, Australia, Singapore, Korea or Hollywood, has encouraged my ability to sense and adapt. As an observer, I believe empathy is of the greatest value in storytelling, filmmaking and life. I trust intuition, yet try to work with an open mind. I find collaboration in filmmaking to be the most fulfilling of processes. I believe it is being receptive to the story, one’s colleagues and the storytelling process that makes great films.

In 2019, I was the first Lithuanian cinematographer to graduate from the prestigious American Film Institute. Our graduating film ‘Florence’ has been in more than 25 film festivals. The cinematography on the culmination at AFI, ‘Florence’, has won European Cinematography Awards, Canadian Cinematography Awards, Los Angeles Cinematography Awards and New York Cinematography awards for Best Cinematography and Best Short Film.

American Film Institute helped me find my voice and the teachings inspire my approach to developing a visual language. At AFI, the cinematography program, led by Stephen Lighthill, ASC, gives us an opportunity to learn from the best cinematographers in the business, the likes of Masanobu Takayanagi, Bill Dill, Jacek Laskus, Rodrigo Prieto, Rachel Morrison, Robert Richardson, Robert Elswitt and Matthew Libatique. The program cultivates the best cinematographers in the world and learning from such masters of the craft is an opportunity I will cherish forever.

Since graduating from the American Film Institute I have been working on numerous feature films, short films, music videos and commercials in Hollywood. I was the B Unit camera operator and camera assistant on Tomas Vengris’s debut feature ‘Motherland’. I gaffed a Filipino feature ‘Tagpuan’ for award winning cinematographer Carlo Mendoza written by legendary Filipino writer Ricky Lee, directed by Mac Alejandre and starring Iza Calzado, Alfred Vargas and Shaina Magdayao, shot in New York. I was the camera operator for ‘She Watches from The Woods’ feature we shot in Ohio directed by Beau Ballinger featuring Meredith Garretson, Andy Umbergerm, Alma Sisneros and Phuong Kubacki. I best boy gripped a feature ‘Last Call in the Doghouse’ starring David Chokachi, Parker Stevenson, Judy Geeson and Yancy Butler directed by Bruce Reisman. 

I worked on various music videos and commercials. I gaffed music videos for Neil Diamond, Deathbyromy, Mickey Guyton, CYN, Ozomatli and worked with artists such as Maisy Kay, Luh Kel, Wes Period and Baka Not Nice. I gaffed commercials for Netflix ‘Grand Army’, Kelly Rowland’s commercial from Destiny’s Child, worked on ‘Adidas X Superstars’ commercial. I have worked on countless award winning short films and was the camera operator for the 2019 Student Academy Award winner ‘The Chef’. Most recently, working during such uncertain times, I was the cinematographer and the director for a music video ‘Last Breath’ by the artist ‘Ionie’ and it is currently in post production. I have had the privilege of becoming a member of the Society of Camera Operators (SOC).

Every new project starts with a story and it is that story one must choose to embrace and live and relive from every possible aspect of the character whose story it is. To feel what they feel, to love what they love, to yearn what they yearn, to fear what they fear to inevitably come to conclusions that make them, them. 

“To meet a mermaid you go down to the bottom of the sea, where the water isn’t even blue anymore, where the sky is only a memory, and you float there, in silence. You stay there and you decide that you’ll die for them. Only then do they start coming out. They come, and they greet you, and they judge the love you have for them. If it’s sincere, if it’s pure, they’ll be with you and take you away forever” – The Big Blue (1988)

The extreme contrasts of the journey led me to follow the idea of visual empathy. If one is sincere, first with oneself and one’s own experiences, one is able to see clearly. I believe that one must find himself in the memory of the past first in order to become honest with one’s own history. I have always attempted to observe from the perspective of the unknown and I believe it is my journey to follow. To see as it is without any attachments. To feel as it is without any judgements. Now. Letting go of all you know. Letting go of all you think you know, to simply be aware. When you enter a room, what do you see? Why do you see that? My observational journey has led me to live the search. In order to see light there needs to be dark. That is, what in my opinion, makes a great visual storyteller, a visual empath as I call it.

Thus, one day at a time, I hope to dare to disturb the mind, in a meaningful way. In a way that invites questions, the answers of which seek further questions from within.  To express a perception, not an impression of reality. Poetic, one that is perceived by the heart, not the eye.