cinematography
Lukas Karalius
Alina Lu
editing
Lucie Jego
Alina Lu
music
Gabriele Dikciute

sound
Simona Venckauskaite
Gabriele Dikciute
Alex Serbulo
Yuri Laguna
Vladimir Golovnitski
Romain Ozanne

with
Ina Marija Bartaite
Sharunas Bartas
Una Marija Bartaite
Bryan Ordonez Ruiz

productions
Studija Kinema
KinoElektron
co-productions
so-cle
Arte France Cinéma
producers
Sharunas Bartas
Jurijus Stancikas
Alina Lu
Janja Kralj
co-producers
Clementine Mourao-Ferreira
Olivier Pere
Remi Burah
associate producer
Bertrand Jacoberger
with the support of
ARTE France
Creative Europe MEDIA
Lithuanian Film Center
Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine en partenariat avec le CNC et l’accompagnement d’ALCA Bordeaux Métropole
Republic of Lithuania’s film tax incentive

world sales
Shellac
www.shellacfilms.com
sales@shellacfilms.com

On the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the land Ina Marija had chosen as her home before she died too soon, her father and her younger sister Una embark on a journey retracing her steps. There, amidst the extraordinary and resilient nature of the mangroves – in a Laguna battered by hurricanes yet perpetually reborn – they begin to navigate the tender terrain of grief. Sharunas Bartas, directing the film, lays his emotions bare in an act of transmission, allowing for a reconstruction anchored in the natural cycles of life and nature.

2025 Lagūna
2024 Back to the Family
2020 Sutemose (In the Dusk)
2017 Frost
2015 Peace to Us in Our Dreams
2010 Indigène d’Eurasie (Eastern Drift)
2005 Septyni nematomi zmones (Seven Invisible Men)
2004 Nieko nepraranda vaikai
(Children Lose Nothing, short)
2000 Freedom
1997 Namai (The House)
1996 Few of Us
1995 Koridorius
1991 Trys dienos (Three Days)
1990 Praejusios dienos atminimui
(In The Memory of a Day Gone by, medium-length)

“As a man and as a filmmaker, I could divide my life into two parts. The first – before I lost my most beloved daughter. The second – after she was no longer with us. For several years, only the faintest thread, thin as a string, kept me tied to this world. Yet, through the efforts of my loved ones – and my own – I did not break that thread. After years of filming in Mexico, the film changed radically from its original concept. I believe that’s understandable. The film was, after all, begun when my daughter Ina Marija was still alive. As filming came to an end – or rather, as I finished doing something I no longer needed – suddenly, everything changed. Everything began anew – with my youngest daughter Una Marija, we discovered another beginning, the second part of my life. With Una Marija’s help – and with the support of my loved ones – I finally managed to do what I’ve always done in all my films. To show people my feelings with absolute honesty. I found my way back.” (Sharunas Bartas)

Sharunas Bartas (Siauliai, Lithuania, 1964) graduated from the VGIK film school in Moscow. He founded Studija Kinema in 1989, the first independent film studio in Lithuania. From his very first films, he received critical acclaim. Three Days, Korridorius, and Few of Us built a rare and sensitive universe, which Peace to Us in Our Dreams continued to reflect, and which Laguna is a continuation of. The Centre Pompidou dedicated a retrospective to the director, adding to the list of those already organized in Poland, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Belgium, among others. In the meantime, Bartas had directed Back to the Family, which premiered at Rotterdam, and Frost and In the Dusk, both of which premiered at Cannes, in the Directors’ Fortnight and the Official selection.