A Trip Through Misty Meadows

Henrikas Šablevičius made this film as a farewell to the siaurukas, a slow, narrow-gauge train recalling the idyllic times of independent Lithuania. The story was originally to be narrated with silent images only, but following preview screenings the filmmaker was told to add a voiceover. The criticism that “the film’s central hero cannot be a railway” led to the addition of a “human character” – the train’s overseer Povilas. Despite all this, A Trip Through Misty Meadows remains a shining example of the Lithuanian poetic documentary thanks to its unique cinematic language and visual allegories conveying a deep connection to the past, something that architects of the “new life” struggled to erase. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)