Once Upon a Time in Lithuania (Когда-то в Литве, 1990) by Zenonas Shteynis

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Once Upon a Time in Lithuania
Когда-то в Литве
Kogda-to v Litve (ru)
Kadaise Lietuvoje (lt)
Колись у Литві (uk)
Ngày xưa ở Lietuva (vi)

Year 1990
Director(s) Shteynis Zenonas
Studio(s) Lithuanian Animation Films Studio
Language(s) English
Lithuanian
Russian
Genre(s) Folklore & myth (Rus./USSR minorities)
History
Surrealism/dream-logic
War & battles
Animation Type(s)  Drawn (cel)
Length 00:19:35
Wordiness 0.78
Animator.ru profile Ru, En
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Subtitles:
Kogda-to v Litve.1990.en.1.25fps.1696090999.srt
Date: September 30 2023 16:23:19
Language: English
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 25 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Cynir

Kogda-to v Litve.1990.uk.1.25fps.1710309655.srt
Date: March 13 2024 06:00:55
Language: Ukrainian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 3343 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Cynir

Kogda-to v Litve.1990.vi.1.25fps.1696090302.srt
Date: September 30 2023 16:11:42
Language: Vietnamese
Quality: unknown
Upload notes:
Creator(s): Cynir



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Description:

A short animated film about the mythology of pagan Lithuania and the founding of Medieval Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

An earlier 1974 filmstrip called "The Dream About an Iron Wolf" adapting the story (in Russian) can be read here.

According to the legend from the Bychowiec Chronicle: "Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, killed a proud and powerful aurochs while hunting and afterwards dreamed of a howling iron wolf. The pagan priest Lizdeika prophesied: A capital will arise here, power and beauty of which will be legendary throughout the world. Its glory will be as mighty as the howl of the iron wolf...".

Lithuania's pagan ruler, Grand Duke Gediminas, was on a hunting trip in the forests of the Šventaragis valley around the mouth of the River Vilnia. When night fell, the party, feeling tired after a long and successful hunt, decided to set up camp and spend the night there. While he was asleep, Gediminas had an unusual dream in which he saw an iron wolf at the top of the mountain where he had killed an aurochs that day. The iron wolf was standing on the top of a hill with its head raised proudly towards the moon, howling as loud as a hundred wolves.

Awakened by the rays of the rising sun, Gediminas remembered his strange dream and consulted the pagan priest Lizdeika about it. The latter interpreted the dream as follows: "Let that happen to the Ruler and the Lithuanian State what was fated to happen!". He told the Duke that the dream was a direction to found a city among these hills. The priest explained that the howling of the wolf represented the fame of the future city: "That city will be the capital of Lithuanian lands, and its reputation would spread far and wide, as far as the howling of the mysterious wolf...".

So the Grand Duke of Lithuania, obeying the will of gods, immediately started to build the future capital, and gave it the name - Vilnius - from the stream of the rapid Vilnia.

This film serves as a harbinger of the rebirth of modern Lithuania. In 2022, it was restored to 4K format.

The first video above is the original Lithuanian-language version, with the text at the beginning dubbed in Russian (it has better image quality). The second video is the English-language version.

 

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