Vytautas Žalakevičius

Vytautas Žalakevičius (1930-1996) was a Soviet-Lithuanian director and screenwriter. After studying mathematics and engineering, he moved to Moscow to attend the prestigious VGIK film school in 1951. He first gained renown with his 1956 film Adam Wants to Be a Man, starring future Lithuanian screen icon Donatas Banionis. Banionis reunited with Žalakevičius for his most famous film, Nobody Wanted to Die (1965), which won both actor and director a State Prize. His 1973 film That Sweet Word: Liberty! won the Golden Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival. From 1974 to 1980, Žalakevičius was a staff director at Mosfilm. However, his Moscow period was less productive, so he returned to Lithuania. In the post-Soviet era, Žalakevičius devoted himself to establishing an independent Lithuanian film industry.