31/03/2022 - Focusing on a collaboration between a Russian ornithological station and its Lithuanian counterpart across a heavily armoured border, Vytautas Puidokas’ documentary couldn’t be more topical

Can bird watching bring different populations together, break down borders and put an end to wars? No, not at all, but a sparrow can act as a fitting metaphor for all that. At least it can in the mind of Lithuanian director Vytautas Puidokas, who has signed his name to the documentary Before They Meet, which has been selected for the Bergamo Film Meeting’s Close-Up section.

Indeed, the film tells the story of a possible levelling of differences and collaboration between two peoples who have every reason to hate one another. It’s a story which couldn’t possibly be more topical at this particular moment of Russia invading the Ukraine. One historical aberration which came about after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was the creation of the Russian enclave Kaliningrad Oblast, a piece of land on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania, known for being the birthplace of Immanuel Kant back when it was called Prussia. The poetic side is that this region boasts beautiful natural surrounds, and birds and other animals cross this area freely, despite the heavily guarded borders separating Kaliningrad Oblast from its European neighbours. On either side of the divide sit ornithological stations which study the migration of millions of birds: Rybachy is the name of the Russian one, Ventės Ragas its Lithuanian equivalent. Today, both ornithological stations are making a first attempt to break down borders by way of a communal research project involving the installation of antennas in order to track these birds.

Advancing slowly without twists or turns, the film opens a window onto an ornithologist’s work, which mainly consists of “labelling” thousands of small birds by fitting a ring around one of their legs in order to study their movements. The strict surveillance carried out by the border guards and the equally unyielding border bureaucracy which makes it hard for these scientists to move from one side to the other contrast perfectly with the tourists on both sides of the divide who watch them through binoculars and, in a brilliant show of Baltic humour, the jokes about Russian battalions and armed fleets ready to attack made on Lithuanian ground. As explained by a text within the documentary, a Russian survey from 2019 listed Lithuania as one of the 5 most hostile countries, while a report by the Lithuanian security services that same year describes Russia as the biggest threat to national security. Meanwhile, Puidokas films Lithuanian TV as it broadcasts the impressive military parade held on 9 May in Moscow, commemorating the defeat of Nazism, with Vladimir Putin flexing his muscles atop the very same tanks which are now mired in mud outside Kiev. But then there are the ambiguous discussions over the barbed wire wall which Lithuania claims it needs to defend itself from “aggressive Russia” and for which it asked the EU for 100 million euros in order to build, but which is actually aimed at preventing illegal migrants from crossing the border…

Before They Meet homes in on migratory birds, but it alludes to human migrants and, in some respects, anticipates modern-day debates: is it right to isolate and punish the culture of a country whose bosses are responsible for an atrocious war? Or should science and culture remain a free zone, kept entirely separate from political and economic sanctions, and dialogue remain open, distinguishing a government’s wicked acts from the people who must suffer them?

Before They Meet is co-produced by Belgium, Lithuania, Croatia and Norway by way of Kinoteka, Relation04 Media, In Script and Off World. International distribution is entrusted to 3BoxMedia.

(Translated from Italian)