01/03/2023 - The Lithuanian filmmaker’s new feature follows two 60-year-old queer men who met while serving in the Soviet army in the 1980s and reconnect 30 years later

Jamie Day (left) and Bruce Ross in The Writer (© Jeff Weber)

After working on The Lawyer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2020), Romas Zabarauskas is now in production with the second film in his queer-focused trilogy, titled The Writer. The news was first reported by Screen International. We spoke to the Lithuanian filmmaker about his new endeavour and gained access to a new first-look image from the set.

Zabarauskas is known as one of the emerging and most inspiring voices of the new wave of Baltic filmmakers. His previous effort, The Lawyer, focused on a male, same-sex romantic relationship and was one of the very few fiction features about the LGBTQ+ refugee experience in Europe. World-premiered at London’s BFI Flare, it was sold to eight international distributors, dubbed into French and Portuguese, and screened by 33 festivals.

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In detail, The Writer follows the intimate story of two 60-year-old queer men reconnecting after 30 years. Kostas (Bruce Ross) and Dima (Jamie Day) met serving in the Soviet army in the 1980s, and Dima joined Kostas in moving from Russia to Lithuania. But after Lithuania gained its independence in the 1990s, Kostas left to study in New York, leaving Dima behind. Kostas, now an author, has published a book based on a fictionalised story of their separation. Upon reading it, Dima pays him a visit, eager to correct a few facts.

The script was penned by Zabarauskas along with Marc David Jacobs, Anastasia Sosonuva and Artūras Tereškinas. The technical crew includes DoP Narvydas Naujalis, production designer Giedrė Valeišaitė and costume designer Lukas Juodis.

Speaking to Cineuropa, Zabarauskas said, “I’m thrilled to be working on The Writer [+see also:
trailer
film profile], diving into some important conversations: personal and political ones. Filmmaking is hard, so I’m super grateful for the opportunities I have this year to craft stories so dear to me – and I can’t wait to share them with the world. I think The Writer certainly marks a new page in my career, and I’m curious to see the next chapter.

“The Brooklyn-based story focuses entirely on the two characters and their long-awaited reunion. Their conversations uncover a personal and historical past, bringing attention to the theme of conflict between society and an individual. How much freedom do we have to direct our own lives, and how are they affected by the social, political and cultural circumstances?”

The English-language production, budgeted at €350,000, is being filmed in New York (where exteriors have already been completed) and Vilnius (where studio shoots are set to take place). The Writer is being staged by Romas Zabarauskas for Lithuania’s Naratyvas, Glenn Elliott for Germany’s Artysta Management GmbH and Aidan Tumas for US-based Dead Heat Pictures LLC. The film is slated for delivery in early 2024.

The Writer will be followed by the third instalment in Zabarauskas’s queer-focused trilogy, titled The Activist. Slated for release in 2025, this week, the project received a €300,000 grant from the Lithuanian Film Centre, the country’s film agency. Starring Robertas Petraitis, it revolves around a young man infiltrating a radical neo-Nazi group in an effort to find the killer of his LGBTQ+ activist boyfriend.