Arūnas Žebriūnas

Arūnas Žebriūnas (1930-2013) was a Lithuanian screenwriter and director. The son of a military officer, he graduated in architecture from the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 1955 before joining the state-run Lithuanian Film Studio. He made his directorial debut in 1959, directing a chapter in the anthology film The Living Heroes. He is best known for his contributions to Soviet children’s cinema, including the award-winningThe Girl and the Echo (1964) and The Beauty (1969). In 1999, he directed his final film, Lietuvos prisikėlimas, together with Aloyzas Jančoras – a documentary about the history of Lithuanian independence movement Sąjūdis, of which Žebriūnas himself was a member. In 2010 he was awarded a lifetime achievement prize at the Lithuanian Film Awards.