One month earlier, a local commission approved by the American Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences picked The Jump, a documentary by Giedrė Žičkytė, as Lithuania’s Oscar nominee.

The Academy has accepted The Jump’s candidacy for the best documentary nomination, allowing Lithuania to pick another film for the best foreign-language film category.

Isaac, the debut film by Jurgis Matulevičius, was already nominated in the European Discovery category and is a contender for the FIPRESCI Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics at the European Film Awards 2020.

Isaac is based on a novella by Antanas Škėma and tells the story of Andrius Gluosnis, who kills a Jew named Isaac during the gruesome massacre of Lietūkis garage in 1941 in Kaunas. The film talks about the relationship between two friends, influenced by the Holocaust, war cruelty and past trauma, and their love for one woman already during the Soviet period in Lithuania. The screenplay of the film was written by the director Jurgis Matulevičius together with his colleague Saulė Bliuvaitė and philosopher Nerijus Mileris. The cast of the film includes Dainius Gavenonis, Aleksas Kazanavičius, Severija Janušauskaitė.

Isaac was produced by the Lithuanian company Film Jam. It was supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre.

Production Information:

Film Jam
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Credits:
Director: Jurgis Matulevičius
Screenwriters: Jurgis Matulevičius Nerijus Milerius, Saulė Bliuvaitė.  
Dop: Narvydas Naujalis  
Editing: Jurgis Matulevičius, Saule Bliuvaite, Gintare Sokelyte
Production Design: Paulius Anicas
Costume Design: Agne Matuleviciute
Make-Up & Hair: Juste Butke
Original Score: Domas Strupinskas, Agne Matuleviciute
Sound: Wojciech Mielimaka
Visual Effects: Aleksandras Polevojus, Simonas Korsakas
Cast: Aleksas Kazanavičius, Severija Janušauskaitė, Dainius Gavenonis, Martynas Nedzinskas