The Cinematheque

“A raw and riveting modern western … Jonynas [pursues] unflinching authenticity to evoke the mood of unforgiving coldness and imminent danger.”

Edvinas Pukšta, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025

Acclaimed director Ignas Jonynas (Invisible, EUFF 2020) returns with a razor-sharp psychological thriller that explores the fragile motivations behind survival in the wake of grief. Mourning the loss of his wife, Vilius—a solitary ornithologist living in a secluded border region—spends his days monitoring bird migrations while raising his neurodivergent daughter. His quiet world is shattered when a staged accident entangles him in the dangerous web of a local border-smuggling syndicate. Dragged into a spiral of blackmail and manipulation by a merciless crime boss, Vilius is pushed to extreme lengths to protect the only person he has left. Jonynas balances claustrophobic tension with a stark, moving study of single fatherhood under siege.

In Lithuanian with English subtitles