Private Project

PILIS

The land surveyor K. is called to a mysterious village floating in the ocean. Here, unusual laws apply: the villagers are under the vampiric influence of a group of rulers in the nearby castle. To understand his mission, K. tries to reach the castle and contact his superior named Klamm. But it seems impossible to gain access to the spheres of power. K. attaches himself to Frieda, Klamm's mistress, who is deeply involved in the castle's web. Frieda seems to be K.'s way into the center of power. She, on the other hand, sees in K. a way out, a salvation for which it may already be too late. But are those feelings she expresses to K. genuine? Or merely symptoms of an insatiable lust for incorporation into the village's eternal cycle, of a vampiric bloodlust that afflicts anyone who comes too close to the castle's circles? K.'s obsession with the castle grows as he fights his way through a thicket of fear and the bureaucracy that the castle lords have imposed on the village. In the labyrinth of the 20th century, K wanders, looking for an answer, for redemption, for freedom and his true self. The pull of the castle narratively steers the film towards the collapse of the Soviet Union, towards the historic Lithuanian Bloody Sunday in 1991.

PILIS is a visually powerful fairy-tale parable of 20th century Soviet rule. The stylized, feverishly colorful set, the psychedelic costumes and the monstrous soundtrack create a poetic film that uncovers the structures behind power and makes them tangible. At the same time, PILIS is a melancholic love story, a trip through the trauma of people living in oppression. It is a mystic tale about the loneliness of the human, living amidst a society where everyone knows that something is odd, but there is no way to talk about it or to create a public sphere for this truth. The phantom of despotism is not a ghost of the past, but a vampiric threat to current democracy.

PILIS is a coproduction between Berlin-based film and theater collective CIAONOW and Lithuanian ensemble. The film is funded by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and is the second feature film by young director Nikolas Darnstädt. In this adaptation of Kafka's novel THE CASTLE, the international team deals with the wounds that the Soviet dictatorship tore into the Baltic states. As a surreal vampire film, PILIS examines this period, now more relevant than ever due to the current war in Europe.

  • NIKOLAS DARNSTÄDT
    Director
    PALMEN, ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ
  • NIKOLAS DARNSTÄDT
    Writer
    PALMEN, ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ
  • NIKOLAS DARNSTÄDT
    Producer
    PALMEN, ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ
  • ALINA ALESHCHENKO
    Producer
    ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ
  • AURIMAS ŽVINYS
    Producer
  • MONIKA ŠALTYTĖ
    Key Cast
    "K., the Land Surveyor"
    NAISIAI SUMMER (Naisiu vasara)
  • GINTARĖ RAMOŠKAITĖ
    Key Cast
    "Frieda"
    Vedybos, skyrybos ir barsukas
  • VILIJA PALECKAITĖ
    Key Cast
    "The landlady"
    NAISIAI SUMMER (Naisiu vasara)
  • AURIMAS ŽVINYS
    Key Cast
    "Superintendent"
    Oorlogswinter, Emigrantai, NAISIAI SUMMER (Naisiu vasara)
  • MONIKA GEŠTAUTAITĖ-ČIŽAUSKIENĖ
    Key Cast
    "Olga"
  • ROMANAS DUDNIKAS
    Key Cast
    "The landlord"
    NAISIAI SUMMER (Naisiu vasara)
  • OLIVER ROSSOL
    Director of Photography
    GREEN IS AN INHUMAN COLOUR
  • DANIELA ZORROZUA
    Set and Costume Designer
    Robinson Crusoe, Das muss man erst mal aussprechen können
  • LUKAS DARNSTÄDT
    Composer
    PALMEN, ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ
  • PAULIUS TRIJONIS
    Sound Designer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Mystery, Novel Adaptation, Drama
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 42 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 18, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    100,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Lithuania
  • Country of Filming:
    Lithuania
  • Language:
    Lithuanian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - NIKOLAS DARNSTÄDT

Nikolas Darnstädt works as a Theatre and film director in Berlin. His works are characterised by their wild fantasy, their expressive style of play and visually stunning moments. He studied theatre-directing at HfS Ernst Busch. Since 2015, he has been producing film projects with his independent company "Ciao Now", starting with the 8-part anti-soap PALMEN in which Darnstädt adapted Schiller’s THE ROBBERS. 2020, his first feature film, sci-fi-drama ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ had its world premiere at Hofer Filmtage. The development of his new feature film "Point Of No Return" is funded by Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg.

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Director Statement

I want to make the Invisible visible. I want to open my eyes to the Unknown. I want my film to show how the world could be. How the world feels, sometimes, when we are all alone. What stands between us when we leave each other. What we experience when we dream. I don't believe in this so-called reality we are supposed to be living in. I believe in what we don't see. With PILIS we have created a counter-world. We were dreaming with our eyes open. And we saw: a floating kafkaesque vampire world. A colorful world, whose artificiality reveals how constructed our so-called reality is. Because if we perceive our present as human-constructed, then we ourselves can also construct it, shape it. In PILIS, we use stylisation to give audience a way of emancipating themselves from realism-consumers into subjects, those who can change the circumstances of their lives with their imagination. Just as in our dreams, where we can suddenly fly or do things we would otherwise not dare to do. Our dream has turned into a poetic film. A film about Lithuania's past in oppression and Lithuania's future in uncertainty. But also a film about secrets. A film about people who are alone and looking for each other. And I am grateful for this beautiful time, this dream dreamed together with so many people. I will never forget it. I'm deeply in love with every wonderful soul that helped me create this unusual work of art.