RENOVATION

On the brink of the next decade in her life, 29-year-old Ilona (Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė) moves into a charming flat in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, with her boyfriend, Matas (Šarūnas Zenkevičius). The new abode marks a turning point for Ilona; now that her relationship is getting serious, the young journalist is eager to settle down — or is she? Unexpectedly, the apartment building is undergoing a massive, noisy renovation project that disrupts Ilona’s careful plans. She soon befriends Oleg, a Ukrainian construction worker who not only sparks her poetic creativity but also provides a kind of connection she is missing with Matas. As the building’s Soviet-era exterior is renewed, Ilona’s idyllic life begins to fracture, making her question how she truly wants to live. Led by an understated yet sensitive performance by Jakštaitė, Gabrielė Urbonaitė’s feature debut is a compelling portrait of millennial ennui blended with the uniquely Eastern European struggle between Western modernity and post-Soviet intergenerational trauma. Set mostly within the flat and the surrounding buildings, the film’s visual palette deftly captures Ilona’s mental state, with tight, nigh-claustrophobic shots and gorgeous, grainy 16mm footage shot by Vytautas Katkus (whose own directorial debut, THE VISITOR, also screens in the Showcase). –Javier Chavez

Official Selection, 2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. DIR/SCR Gabrielė Urbonaitė; PROD Uljana Kim. Lithuania/Latvia/Belgium, 2025, color, 90 min. In Lithuanian and English with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Run Time: 90 Minutes

Opening Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Genre: Drama

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