Donatas Banionis

Donatas Banionis

Born: April 28, 1924
Died: September 4, 2014
in Kaunas, Lithuania
Donatas Banionis (28 April 1924 – 4 September 2014) was a Lithuanian actor. He is best known for his performance in the lead role of Tarkovsky's Solaris as Kris Kelvin. He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Movies for Donatas Banionis...

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
Title: Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
Character: Kris Kelvin (archive footage)
Released: November 4, 2017
Type: Movie
Oscar winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto weaves man-made and natural sounds together in his works. His anti-nuclear activism grew after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, and his career only paused after a 2014 cancer diagnosis.
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The Silent Lithuanian Revolution
Title: The Silent Lithuanian Revolution
Character: Donatas Banionis
Released: February 7, 2013
Type: Movie
The revolution in Lithuania has already started, but no one knows who announced it and who is leading it. The action is not taking place somewhere far away, but here in Lithuania and now. The characters of the film themselves turn into creators and shape the further course of events.
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Sacrifices of Andrei Tarkovsky
Title: Sacrifices of Andrei Tarkovsky
Character: Self
Released: April 4, 2012
Type: Movie
Dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Andrei Tarkovsky. The film uses unique materials related to the years Tarkovsky spent in Italy, personal accounts of friends and professionals, the shooting locations of his films, to what degree his works reflects his personal life. The film brings us closer to the man to whom contemporary filmmaking owes so much.
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Title: Novye priklyucheniya Niro Vulfa i Archi Gudvina
Character: Nero Wolfe
Released: July 7, 2008
Type: TV
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Revisiting Solaris
Title: Revisiting Solaris
Character: Chris Kelvin
Released: January 1, 2007
Type: Movie
The astronaut Chris Kelvin receives a visit from a woman who is a double of his dead wife. This story, told in Stanislaw Lem’s eponymous novel, was once adapted into the film Solaris by the legendary Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky. According to Deimantas Narkevičius, Tarkovsky was not as critical of the increasing impact of electronic media on relationships and on the complex nature of human memory as Lem, the original author of the story. In this video, the actor Donatas Banionis reappears in his role as Kelvin, forty years after Tarkovsky’s film was shot. Revisiting Solaris is based on the last chapter of Lem's book, which had been left out of Tarkovsky’s adaptation. In order to visualize the landscape of Solaris and expose complex specters of the past, Narkevičius combines the new footage and a series of photos from 1905 taken by the Lithuanian painter and composer Mykolojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis.
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Anastasia
Title: Anastasia
Character: Doctor's father
Released: January 1, 2006
Type: Movie
They only wanted to challenge the unjust government. But once they did...they had no way back. When Baltic states regain their independence from the Soviet Union, thousands of Russians living outside Russia find themselves cut off from their native land. Some of them return to Russia, others become naturalized citizens and go on with their lives in the new country. However, two Russian brothers, Kostya and Yura, are among those who do not want to return to Russia, nor to live under the new government. When brothers find out that they must leave the country or will be deported, they decide to challenge the government that they believe has violated their rights. The brothers capture a minivan full of passengers and demand a ransom of a million dollars as a compensation for the injustice inflicted upon them. According to their plan, none of the hostages will be hurt, however, as the brothers capture the minivan, the first blood spilled.
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Meeting
Title: Meeting
Released: May 30, 2005
Type: Movie
Based on the play “Impossible Meeting” by P. Barz.
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Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Ladder of Vladimir the Red Sun
Title: Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Ladder of Vladimir the Red Sun
Character: Sveneld
Released: December 31, 2004
Type: Movie
The second part of Bulat Mansurov's planned epic film series; “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars". The film depicts the life and reign of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kiev, known in legends as Vladimir the Red Sun. The story begins in 972 AD, after the death of his father, Grand Prince Svyatoslav, which ignites a power struggle among Vladimir and his brothers. The film emphasizes that Russian princes only succeeded when they maintained good relations with the Bulgars and other steppe nations. It also depicts Vladimir's reflection on his rise to power upon receiving the book "The Ladder" in 1005, ten years after his conversion to Christianity.
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The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Tale of Saint Olga
Title: The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Tale of Saint Olga
Released: December 31, 2004
Type: Movie
The first part of Bulat Mansurov's planned epic film series; “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars". Tells the story of pagan Rus' during the time of Prince Igor, his murder by the Drevlyans, Olga's revenge, Olga's repentance and adoption of Christianity.
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Title: Nero Wolfe i Archie Goodwin
Character: Nero Wolfe
Released: January 3, 2002
Type: TV
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Only Time...
Title: Only Time...
Character: Alexander Yanovich
Released: January 1, 2002
Type: Movie
The last day of the year ends. At the Christmas market, where a lot of people were still bustling during the day, in the evening there were only three snow-covered graces, three beautiful women. They have nowhere to hurry, no one is waiting for them at home. And here, at the Christmas market...
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The Courtyard
Title: The Courtyard
Character: The old man
Released: March 8, 2000
Type: Movie
The first feature of Lithuanian Valdas Navasaitis is a drama which unravels the hopeless 1970s, when people were deprived of their roots and forced to sit and watch their lives slip from their fingers. In a decrepit house that once belonged to a bourgeois family, several families seek shelter. Senis, a 65-year-old alcoholic, lives on the ground floor with his wife and their 16-year-old daughter. Senis is a survivor of the Nazis as well as the communist camps. He drowns the pain of his memories in a nearby pub and in talking to a depressed young laborer, Lorenca. Later on, a young couple and a lonely eccentric who enjoys only his cat's company join the inhabitants. Children wile away the time with useless games or spying on adults. When Lorenca hangs himself at the ruins of a nearby factory, the lives are shaken up. During the dinner held for the deceased, they find a moment of common hope.
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Adomas Mickevičius. 1798 - 1855. Realybės versijos
Title: Adomas Mickevičius. 1798 - 1855. Realybės versijos
Released: January 1, 1998
Type: Movie
A documentary film about Adomas Mickevičius.
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Anna
Title: Anna
Released: March 1, 1996
Type: Movie
The film tells of faithful devotion to spiritual ideals. It is based on Riga St. Anna Stocken's Life Story of the Cistercian Monastery of Mary Magdalene.
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Шляхтич Завальня
Title: Шляхтич Завальня
Released: January 1, 1994
Type: Movie
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Depression
Title: Depression
Character: "Oldster"
Released: June 6, 1991
Type: Movie
A crime story which take action in Riga Sea Port.
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Yatra Witch
Title: Yatra Witch
Released: January 17, 1991
Type: Movie
Soviet horror movie based on the play by the writer Vyacheslav Adamchik Raisa Gromyko. The film takes place in the XVI century.
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Seven Days After the Murder
Title: Seven Days After the Murder
Released: January 3, 1991
Type: Movie
A terrible tragedy occurs in the family of a famous general: one of his daughters is killed. The investigator leading the case understands that an outwardly prosperous and friendly family only seems to be pretending to be happy.
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Bloodsuckers
Title: Bloodsuckers
Character: Telyaev
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
When a young man wants to marry a poor girl, her cousin envies her very much. She even makes everybody believe that the main character was in love with her. He escapes from many difficulties in order to find his beloved who also became trapped in a luxurious villa with some strange relatives. The people inside villa are vampires, they were called upyri in those days in Russia. They suck blood of anyone who comes to see them. The young man too much in love so he looses his head and goes directly to the nest of vampires.
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Human Target
Title: Human Target
Released: June 4, 1990
Type: Movie
A detective goes undercover in a small Russian town.
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Title: Entrance to the Maze
Character: Mazardi
Released: May 1, 1990
Type: TV
A Russian mystery miniseries set both in medieval times and in the days of Perestroika.
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Entrance to Labyrinth
Title: Entrance to Labyrinth
Character: Mazardi
Released: May 1, 1990
Type: Movie
The actions of this mystery movie takes both in the past (in medieval times, as the scientists' hallucinations) and in the days of Perestroika.
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Vera – The Hard Way to Enlightenment
Title: Vera – The Hard Way to Enlightenment
Released: January 29, 1989
Type: Movie
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The Thirteenth Apostle
Title: The Thirteenth Apostle
Released: June 2, 1988
Type: Movie
Russian adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles"
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На исходе ночи
Title: На исходе ночи
Released: May 16, 1988
Type: Movie
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Загон
Title: Загон
Released: March 19, 1988
Type: Movie
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Snake Catcher
Title: Snake Catcher
Character: Mitrich-Kolobok
Released: March 14, 1986
Type: Movie
The former director of a large deli Pavel Shorokhov, having returned from prison and not received the expected reception from his wife, who forbade him to see his son, temporarily settles with Kotov, the owner of the lists of participants in the unaccounted goods movement system. Kotov, who is near death, transfers lists to Shorokhov and thereby puts him at risk from former accomplices. But Shorokhov breaks the pledge circle...
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He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Title: He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Character: Self
Released: February 22, 1986
Type: Movie
A film collage tracing the story of the lives, loves, and deaths within the artistic community surrounding Jonas Mekas.
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The Limit of Truth
Title: The Limit of Truth
Character: Ožoginas
Released: February 4, 1986
Type: Movie
Tele play about scientists.
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Cry of a Dolphin
Title: Cry of a Dolphin
Character: Bar-Mattay, professor, psychologist (voiced by Yuri Chekulaev)
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
The crew of the new American strategic missile submarine "Archelon" is struck by an unknown virus. The command must decide on removing the submarine from combat duty and sending the crew to quarantine.
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I'm Sorry
Title: I'm Sorry
Character: Guest from Vilnius
Released: December 5, 1982
Type: Movie
Pranas, now a celebrity singer, returns to his homeland from a big city. He is greeted at the airport and driven to his native village by a childhood friend Jonas, who works there as a doctor.
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Medaus mėnuo Amerikoje
Title: Medaus mėnuo Amerikoje
Released: November 1, 1982
Type: Movie
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A Child's World
Title: A Child's World
Character: Mikhail Rasporkin
Released: March 21, 1982
Type: Movie
A middle-aged jeweler is falling in love with a glorious woman. She, raising a son alone, is in no hurry to reciprocate a fan.
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Nicolo Paganini
Title: Nicolo Paganini
Released: January 2, 1982
Type: Movie
Biopic about Niccolo Paganini. He receives training from his father in early childhood. The best teachers of Parma are unable to give him more, so Paganini turns to a daily 15 hours of rigorous self-training. He makes sensational concert tours in Vienna, Paris, London and many other cities of Europe. He is always playing from memory, wearing black, and his stage appearance supports the rumors of his supernatural abilities. He is a wealthy man, but gambling and reckless spending forces him to pawn his violin. He is given a Guarneri violin by a wealthy listener to keep. He later gives this violin to the city if Genoa. The Paganini's violin is played by Leonid Kogan in this film.
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Fact
Title: Fact
Character: Colonel Titel
Released: June 4, 1981
Type: Movie
Facts is a dramatization of a massacre in a Lithuanian village during World War II when Nazis rounded up over 100 men, women, and children accused of partisan activity and then torched the houses in which they were held. Using Russian interrogations of a few survivors, the testimony of villagers, and some of the Germans responsible for the killing, the film gradually reconstructs the event and its context.
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Andrius
Title: Andrius
Character: Rauplėnas
Released: December 29, 1980
Type: Movie
A young boy Andrius learns a magic words which open a door to another world.
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Territory
Title: Territory
Character: Chinkov
Released: December 1, 1979
Type: Movie
Discovery of gold by a group of tough people in the far Northeast of Russia.
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Unseeded Rye Blossom
Title: Unseeded Rye Blossom
Character: Antanas Petrušonis
Released: November 1, 1979
Type: Movie
A man who abandoned his wife and son 20 years ago is forced to deal with the consequences.
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The Centaurs
Title: The Centaurs
Character: The President
Released: January 29, 1979
Type: Movie
The story takes place in an unnamed Latin Country.
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The Adventures of Prince Florisel
Title: The Adventures of Prince Florisel
Character: Ник Николс, "Председатель"
Released: January 1, 1979
Type: Movie
A mostly comical tale of all-powerful and wealthy Bavarian prince adventures that started when prince was seeking to deal with the boredom. Joining the Club of Suicide society, he uncovered the mastermind criminal behind it, and vowed to get rid of him by any means necessary, following deaths of several servants when dreaded president of club makes dashing escape. During that point, story changes into nearly second movie, as prince has to uncover yet another crime.
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Identification Marks None
Title: Identification Marks None
Character: Harting
Released: January 1, 1979
Type: Movie
Drama about Feliks Dzerzhinsky's life
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Where have you been, Odysseus?
Title: Where have you been, Odysseus?
Released: September 13, 1978
Type: Movie
A story of a Soviet spy working in France during WWII.
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Armed and Very Dangerous
Title: Armed and Very Dangerous
Character: Gabriel Conroy
Released: January 9, 1978
Type: Movie
America’s Wild West of the last third of the 19th century. Thousands of people rushed here in pursuit of enrichment. Among them was Gabriel Conroy, a man absolutely helpless in the world of business. When fountains of oil started gushing on his plot of land, the local moneybags Peter Damphy decided to appropriate the land, and succeeded in it by blackmailing Conroy’s wife and his former mistress Julie... Based upon stories by Francis Bret Harte.
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Cash Collector's Bag
Title: Cash Collector's Bag
Character: Aleksey Tulyakov
Released: December 1, 1977
Type: Movie
Two cash collectors are found burned with their car but the bag is missing. Two detectives - Aleksandr Sanin and Aleksey Tulyakov are investigating the crime.
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Mama, I’m Alive
Title: Mama, I’m Alive
Character: Mauris
Released: February 24, 1977
Type: Movie
In a Russian POW camp, four Germans determined to end WWII agree to pose as Red Army soldiers. Are they patriots or traitors, heroes or opportunists? Although they go to the frontlines, their new Russian comrades are initially unsure whether to trust them. Three of them then accept a mission behind German lines, but they are unprepared to fire upon their countrymen and it ends up costing the life of a Russian soldier. In the meantime, the fourth man has fallen in love with Russian radio operator Svetlana. After being criticized by the other Russians, he too agrees to participate in the mission..
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Title: The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce
Character: Ferdinand Luce - left-wing journalist
Released: February 7, 1977
Type: TV
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The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce
Title: The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce
Released: February 7, 1977
Type: Movie
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Beethoven – Tage aus einem Leben
Title: Beethoven – Tage aus einem Leben
Character: Ludwig van Beethoven
Released: October 14, 1976
Type: Movie
Vienna, 1813-1819: Beethoven (played by Donatas Banionis) is at the peak of his fame. Orchestras all over the world play his music, but he lives modestly and is dependent upon private patrons. Nagged by his patronizing brothers, spied upon by officials for his republican beliefs and faced by his progressive hearing loss, the composer becomes more and more isolated. Seeman’s poetic film explores the joys, heartbreak and artistic spirit of the great composer as he works on his Ninth Symphony.
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Escape of Mr. McKinley
Title: Escape of Mr. McKinley
Character: мистер Мак-Кинли
Released: December 15, 1975
Type: Movie
A man decides to escape into the future by the way of hibernation. When he wakes up, feeling lucky that the experiment worked out well, the staff of the hibernation company politely walks him to the outside were he finds a post atomic war desert… He wakes up! Thank God it was just a dream! Or was it?
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Discovery
Title: Discovery
Character: Сергей Матвеевич Юрышев (академик)
Released: June 22, 1973
Type: Movie
This story is told by academician S. Yuryshev, Director of the Institute of applied biochemistry. The events in it are developing in 20 years during the Civil war, when he sent a geologist searching for copper in the coal mines of the merchant Stasova, and in the 70s, when the head of the Institute. His thoughts and actions as if he reconciles his past, revolutionary romanticism 20-h his life's work was the discovery of a new chemical element. He believes in getting it even when the explosion in the laboratory takes the life of his closest friend and colleague, when his grown-up adopted son, becoming also a chemist, suffered during the experiments. Believe when testing on military ground again fail…
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The Commander of the Lucky 'Pike'
Title: The Commander of the Lucky 'Pike'
Character: Viktor Sherknis
Released: April 29, 1973
Type: Movie
1942, Polar region. The Germans are preparing to capture Murmansk. The submarine Sch-721 is considered lucky, and its captain Aleksei Strogov has the ability to extricate himself from the most difficult situations. He also develops tactics for a periscope-free torpedo attack, despite the skepticism of colleagues and management. And now, when the Happy "Pike" had to take on board the crew of another Soviet submarine, and she was on the seabed with almost no oxygen, Aleksei manages to save people and perform the operation, paying for it with his life...
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Капитан Джек
Title: Капитан Джек
Character: Митя
Released: April 2, 1972
Type: Movie
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Solaris
Title: Solaris
Character: Kris Kelvin
Released: March 20, 1972
Type: Movie
A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.
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Goya: Or the Hard Way to Enlightenment
Title: Goya: Or the Hard Way to Enlightenment
Character: Goya
Released: September 15, 1971
Type: Movie
As a painter in the court of King Carlos IV, Goya has attained wealth and reputation. He believes in King and Church, yet he is also a Spaniard who dearly loves his people. This contradiction presents him with a dilemma.
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Красный дипломат
Title: Красный дипломат
Character: Savva Morozov
Released: January 1, 1971
Type: Movie
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King Lear
Title: King Lear
Character: Albany
Released: December 15, 1970
Type: Movie
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.
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The Red Tent
Title: The Red Tent
Character: Adalberto Mariano
Released: December 23, 1969
Type: Movie
Torn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his 1928 failed Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.
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The Dead Season
Title: The Dead Season
Character: Konstantin Ladeinikov
Released: December 20, 1968
Type: Movie
Soviet spy Ladeynikov learns that in one of the pharmaceutical centers in a small resort town works a former German war criminal Dr. Hass, who is finishing the creation of a deadly chemical gas RH development of which he began during WW2 experimenting on war prisoners. Since Ladeynikov doesn't know Dr. Hass's appearance, Soviet intelligence recruits an actor, Ivan Savushkin, who during the war escaped from a prison camp where Hass was testing his gas. Together they must identify and stop him before he finishes and unleashes his weapon of mass destruction.
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Operation 'Trust'
Title: Operation 'Trust'
Character: Eduard Ottovich Staunits
Released: June 6, 1967
Type: Movie
A story about CHeKa operation against a foreign spies during the early years of Soviet Russia.
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Житие и вознесение Юрася Братчика
Title: Житие и вознесение Юрася Братчика
Released: February 1, 1967
Type: Movie
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The Little Prince
Title: The Little Prince
Character: Adult
Released: December 6, 1966
Type: Movie
Based on the classic novella, "Le petit prince", by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
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Beware of the Car!
Title: Beware of the Car!
Character: Priest
Released: May 22, 1966
Type: Movie
An insurance agent who moonlights as a carthief steals cars various crooks and never from the common people. He sells the stolen cars and gives the money to charity. His best friend, a cop, is assigned to bring in this modern robin hood.
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Nobody Wanted to Die
Title: Nobody Wanted to Die
Character: Vaitkus
Released: December 24, 1965
Type: Movie
The film is set in Lithuania after the Second World War. It shows dramatic events in a small Lithuanian farming community, where people are split between the Soviets and the "brothers in the woods", who are fighting to defend their land from the Soviets after the end of the Second World War.
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March, march! Tra-ta-ta!
Title: March, march! Tra-ta-ta!
Character: Major Varnalesa
Released: December 27, 1964
Type: Movie
Directed by Raimondas Vabalas, an eccentric and buffoonish tragicomedy and a satirical pamphlet, making fun of chauvinism and petty politicians.
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The Chronicle of One Day
Title: The Chronicle of One Day
Released: December 29, 1963
Type: Movie
An academic heads to Leningrad to attend the funeral of an old friend.
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Adam Wants to Be a Man
Title: Adam Wants to Be a Man
Character: Dausa
Released: March 6, 1960
Type: Movie
In a pre-WWII Lithuanian town, occupied with unemployed workers and crooks of various kinds, lives Adam, a naive young man with no job and a lot of dreams. His closest friend is the Captain, an old sea wolf with many tales to tell about Singapore, Hawaii and other equally exotic and sunny places. Inspired by his stories, Adam manages to get a job in an emigration bureau and starts saving for his ticket to leave abroad.
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Maryte
Title: Maryte
Character: Nephew of Petras
Released: January 1, 1947
Type: Movie
The poor Melnik family lives in Zarasai region. Elder Mary parents struggle to send Marry to school but they did this anyway. The horizons of the girl, who until then had learned only from the old grandfather Peter, are spreading there, she, as if seeing herself in her place, tells the class about the legendary hero of Lithuanian history Grazina. Deprivation prevents Maryte from graduating, so she starts working in a candy factory where she hears political inferences. 1940, Vilnius is returned to Lithuania. Maryte, her best friend Elena and a group of young people in national costumes get ready to walk to the capital. In the periphery, the Bolsheviks remember the land of the rich, distribute it to the poor, and Mary dreams of continuing her studies and becoming a doctor. The dream is interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.