In Lithuanian Movies, the landscape often speaks before the characters do. Wind, pine, and water shape the mood as much as dialogue. That sense of place can be tender, but it’s rarely soft. From the aching wartime poetry of Feelings to the dry political dread of Nova Lituania, the tradition favors moral pressure over easy catharsis. Small nations carry big weather. Older classics connect to Baltic films traditions, while newer works sharpen the focus on identity, intimacy, and survival under systems. Even when the stories are funny, the humor is edged with consequence. The Jump shows how a single choice can ripple across decades.
This guide is built to help you choose films from Lithuania by mood, era, and comfort level. Each entry gives you a quick snapshot—year, director, genre, tone, suitability, and an IMDb score—before a spoiler-light eight-sentence read on what it feels like to watch. Use this as your map. If you’re new to the country’s screen culture, start with the more accessible modern dramas and the crowd-pleasing period adventure, then move backward into the classics. If you’re a cinephile, the list also points to the slower, more atmospheric works that reward patience. You can also double-bill by setting: village folklore, coastal wartime quiet, or city anxiety. The ordering climbs by rating so the top feels like a finale rather than a scramble. Pick a title, press play, and let the place do the talking.
How we picked Lithuanian Movies
We looked for Lithuanian cinema that represents different eras, from Soviet-period classics to modern festival discoveries and crowd-pleasing hits. Selections balance realism, folklore, satire, and documentary storytelling, while noting intensity so readers can choose comfortably. Only titles with an IMDb rating of 6.5/10 or higher were considered, and the ranking climbs from the lowest qualifying score at #24 to the highest at #1. All IMDb ratings in this article were verified on 22 January 2026. Rewatch value and craft—performance, editing, sound, and visual language—were the final tie-breakers.
24. Ashes in the Snow (2018)
- Actors: Bel Powley, Jonah Hauer-King, Martin Wallström
- Director: Marius A. Markevičius
- Genre: war drama
- Tone: somber, resilient
- Suitable for: teens with parents, adults
- IMDb rating: 6.6/10
Deported from her home, a teenage artist is forced to grow up fast as her family is dragged into Stalin’s camps. The story stays close to Lina’s sketchbook perspective, so dread and hope land in the same frame. It’s a film about memory, survival, and the quiet ways people keep dignity alive. Small gestures do the heavy lifting. The pace is steady and the violence is mostly implied, but the emotional pressure builds scene by scene. Cold landscapes and cramped interiors create a constant sense of constraint. As an accessible gateway into Lithuanian Movies, it connects personal coming-of-age to Baltic history without turning into a lecture. Best for viewers who want historical drama with heart, and families with older teens ready for serious themes.
23. Nova Lituania (2019)
- Actors: Aleksas Kazanavičius, Vaidotas Martinaitis, Valentinas Masalskis
- Director: Karolis Kaupinis
- Genre: historical drama
- Tone: wry, tense
- Suitable for: adults, film students
- IMDb rating: 6.6/10
In late-1930s Kaunas, a professor pitches a radical plan: build an overseas “backup” nation before catastrophe arrives. The premise plays like political satire until the tension curdles into dread. Under the jokes sits a sharp meditation on small countries living in the shadow of empires. It’s disarmingly funny at first. Black-and-white photography keeps faces and rooms stark, as if the future has already drained the color out of life. Conversations snap with academic precision, then suddenly feel personal and bruised. It earns its place by capturing paranoia as a civic mood rather than a single villain’s plot. Watch it when you’re in the mood for talky, idea-driven drama that still lands emotionally.
22. Miracle (2017)
- Actors: Eglė Mikulionytė, Vyto Ruginis, Andrius Bialobžeskis
- Director: Eglė Vertelytė
- Genre: comedy drama
- Tone: dryly funny, bittersweet
- Suitable for: teens, adults
- IMDb rating: 7.0/10
A broke pig farmer in the early 1990s hears that America is just a few hustle-steps away, and he decides to take them. His schemes collide with village routines, local pride, and the messy freedom of a new era. Beneath the laughs, the film studies how faith, capitalism, and community negotiate space after the Soviet collapse. The humor is bone-dry. The pacing moves like a con, with setups and payoffs that feel earned rather than cute. Even the warm moments keep a skeptical edge, which makes the sentiment hit harder. Among Lithuanian Movies, it stands out for finding comedy in economic whiplash without mocking the people living through it. Best for viewers who like character-driven satire and don’t mind a bittersweet aftertaste.
21. Isaac (2019)
- Actors: Aleksas Kazanavičius, Dainius Gavenonis, Gintaras Jonytis
- Director: Jurgis Matulevičius
- Genre: drama
- Tone: haunting, reflective
- Suitable for: adults
- IMDb rating: 7.0/10
Decades after wartime violence, a man returns to the place where a single terrible choice still echoes. The film treats guilt as something physical, lodged in rooms, streets, and the pauses between words. It’s less about courtroom truth than the slow corrosion of denial. Silence is the point. Long takes and restrained performances keep the tension internal, where it hurts most. There are no easy absolutions, and the moral lines stay deliberately jagged. It belongs on this list for confronting historical trauma with patience and psychological precision. Best for adults who can handle heavy subject matter and want drama that lingers.
20. Slow (2023)
- Actors: Greta Grinevičiūtė, Kęstutis Cicėnas, Pijus Ganusauskas
- Director: Marija Kavtaradze
- Genre: romantic drama
- Tone: tender, intimate
- Suitable for: adults, mature teens
- IMDb rating: 7.0/10
A dancer and a sign-language interpreter meet through a workshop and discover a closeness that doesn’t follow familiar rules. As they fall in, they also have to renegotiate what intimacy means when desire and expectation don’t match. The film is gently radical in how it honors consent, boundaries, and emotional honesty. It never rushes. Movement and stillness alternate like breathing, giving each scene room to register. The tone is tender, with occasional flashes of frustration that feel true to life. In Lithuanian Movies, it’s a modern love story built from touch, translation, and patience rather than grand gestures. Best for viewers in a quiet mood, especially couples who like thoughtful relationship dramas.
19. The Corridor (1995)
- Actors: Katerina Golubeva, Alex Descas, Igor Csernyevics
- Director: Šarūnas Bartas
- Genre: art-house drama
- Tone: hypnotic, spare
- Suitable for: adults, cinephiles
- IMDb rating: 7.1/10
A handful of people drift through a shabby apartment building, talking, smoking, waiting, and watching each other. Plot is minimal, but the atmosphere is dense, like a city exhaling after an argument. The film turns corridors, stairwells, and doorways into emotional checkpoints. It’s pure mood. Long shots and offhand conversations create the feeling that life is happening just out of frame. You don’t “solve” it so much as inhabit it for a while. It makes the list for its influence on Baltic art cinema and its fearless commitment to an unhurried gaze. Best for cinephiles who enjoy ambiguity and can surrender to texture over story.
18. The Gambler (2013)
- Actors: Vytautas Kaniušonis, Oona Mekas, Rimas Blockis
- Director: Ignas Jonynas
- Genre: crime drama
- Tone: edgy, propulsive
- Suitable for: adults
- IMDb rating: 7.1/10
A brilliant paramedic with a gambling addiction tries to control chaos by making his own rules. When a high-stakes hostage situation erupts, his obsession with probability becomes both weapon and weakness. The film explores compulsion, pride, and the thin line between heroism and self-destruction. Everything feels wired. Editing keeps the pressure high, but it still leaves space for moral uncertainty. The performance at the center makes risk look seductive and miserable at the same time. As Lithuanian Movies go, it’s a slick, urban thriller that refuses to romanticize addiction. Best for adults who want intensity, sharp craft, and a protagonist who’s hard to root for.
17. Fireheart: The Legend of Tadas Blinda (2011)
- Actors: Mantas Jankavičius, Agnė Ditkovskytė, Tatyana Liutayeva
- Director: Donatas Ulvydas
- Genre: adventure drama
- Tone: swashbuckling, romantic
- Suitable for: teens, adults
- IMDb rating: 7.1/10
A folk-hero outlaw rides into frame as peasants push back against imperial authority and local cruelty. Romance, revolt, and swagger share the screen, giving the story the scale of a campfire legend. Underneath the adventure, it’s about justice and the stories nations tell themselves to survive. It’s big and fun. Action scenes are staged for momentum, while quieter beats let the myth feel human. The tone stays crowd-pleasing without turning the hero into a cartoon. It deserves a spot among Lithuanian Movies for blending period spectacle with a distinctly local sense of rebellion. Best for families with teens who want historical adventure with a romantic streak.
16. Poetas (2022)
- Actors: Donatas Želvys, Dainius Gavenonis, Indrė Patkauskaitė
- Director: Vytautas V. Landsbergis; Giedrius Tamoševičius
- Genre: historical drama
- Tone: suspenseful, morally thorny
- Suitable for: adults
- IMDb rating: 7.2/10
A man becomes a celebrated writer by serving an occupying system, and his success comes with a price. Instead of a simple villain, the film builds suspense out of compromise and fear. It asks what collaboration looks like in daily life, not just in headlines. Everyone is watching. Performances keep the tension tight, with smiles that read like camouflage. The story moves in quiet steps toward moments that feel inevitable. It belongs here for dramatizing moral corrosion without turning history into a slogan. Best for adults who like political thrillers that work through character rather than action.
When the past tightens the frame: classics, war shadows, and moral tests
From here, the films start to look more directly at the pressure points of Soviet-era Lithuania and the long aftereffects of occupation. You’ll notice slower pacing, sharper ethical questions, and imagery that treats silence as dialogue. If you’re exploring Baltic films beyond this list, these titles make an excellent bridge into the region’s shared history and distinct voices. Consider a mini-marathon: one mythic or musical classic, one wartime drama, then a modern documentary for contrast.
15. Emilia (2017)
- Actors: Ieva Andrejevaitė, Gabriele Aničaitė, Saulius Čiučelis
- Director: Donatas Ulvydas
- Genre: historical drama
- Tone: fiery, hopeful
- Suitable for: teens, adults
- IMDb rating: 7.3/10
In 1970s Soviet Lithuania, a young actress risks her career to stage a truth the regime wants buried. Her private life and public choices collide, and the film treats art as a form of resistance. The story returns to questions of courage, complicity, and what “freedom” costs in real time. It’s stirring without being sugary. Scenes of rehearsal and censorship create tension that feels immediate, not historical. Even when it turns romantic, the political stakes keep humming underneath. Within Lithuanian Movies, it’s a crowd-ready historical drama that still respects nuance and doubt. Best for viewers who want inspiration with bite, and for teens learning how culture and politics intersect.
14. Zero (2006)
- Actors: Ramūnas Rudokas, Inga Jankauskaitė, Mindaugas Papinigis
- Director: Emilis Vėlyvis
- Genre: crime comedy
- Tone: raucous, kinetic
- Suitable for: adults
- IMDb rating: 7.3/10
A crew of small-time hustlers tries to outtalk, outdrink, and out-scam the trouble chasing them. The plot ricochets through crimes, betrayals, and jokes that land like punches. It’s a snapshot of post-Soviet bravado, where swagger hides insecurity. Loud is the strategy. The pacing is fast, the tone is crude, and the energy rarely dips. Under the laughs, the film hints at how quickly money can replace values. It makes the list for capturing a certain streetwise mood with real comic timing. Best for adults who can handle raunchy humor and want a crime caper that moves.
13. Feelings (1968)
- Actors: Regimantas Adomaitis, Juozas Budraitis, Regina Paliukaitytė
- Director: Algirdas Dausa; Almantas Grikevičius
- Genre: historical drama
- Tone: lyrical, aching
- Suitable for: adults, film students
- IMDb rating: 7.5/10
On the Curonian Spit during the final year of war, a family’s private wounds mirror the country’s larger fractures. Love, loyalty, and escape become tangled as the front lines shift and choices narrow. The film’s great strength is its empathy for people trapped between forces they cannot control. It aches beautifully. Wind, sand, and water turn the landscape into a moral weather report. The pacing is deliberate, and the emotions arrive in waves rather than fireworks. As a cornerstone of Lithuanian Movies, it shows how national history can be felt through intimate, everyday heartbreak. Best for viewers who appreciate classic cinema and don’t need tidy endings.
12. Zero 2 (2010)
- Actors: Ramūnas Rudokas, Andrius Paulavičius, Inga Jankauskaitė
- Director: Emilis Vėlyvis
- Genre: crime comedy
- Tone: loud, irreverent
- Suitable for: adults
- IMDb rating: 7.5/10
A familiar gang of schemers returns with bigger ambitions and even worse timing. The film doubles down on chaos, mixing criminal plots with jokes that refuse to behave. It’s about loyalty among friends who are constantly tempted to sell each other out. The energy is relentless. Scenes are built around escalation, so each problem spawns two new ones. Even when it’s messy, the momentum keeps you watching. It belongs here for being a defining local hit that turned street comedy into a national event. Best for adults looking for loud entertainment and not bothered by rough edges.
11. The Beauty (1969)
- Actors: Inga Mickytė, Lilija Žadeikytė, Arvydas Samukas
- Director: Arūnas Žebriūnas
- Genre: family drama
- Tone: gentle, bittersweet
- Suitable for: older kids with parents, adults
- IMDb rating: 7.7/10
A little girl crowned “the beauty” in neighborhood games learns how quickly kindness can curdle into cruelty. Her search for a rare flower becomes a way to protect imagination from a world that demands realism. The film explores childhood hierarchy, shame, and the fragile power of fantasy. It’s quietly devastating. Performances feel natural, and the camera stays close to faces and small reactions. The tone is gentle, but the emotional sting is real. Among Lithuanian Movies, it’s a classic that proves small stories can hit as hard as epics. Best for families who want thoughtful viewing and are ready to talk afterward.
10. Flight over Atlanta (1983)
- Actors: Remigijus Sabulis, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Regimantas Adomaitis
- Director: Raimondas Vabalas
- Genre: drama
- Tone: restless, melancholic
- Suitable for: adults
- IMDb rating: 7.7/10
A troubled man clings to a strange dream as his life slips through his hands. The film moves between memory and present tense, letting regret shape the rhythm. It’s about the stories people invent to survive disappointment. Nothing is simple. Scenes stretch just long enough to feel uncomfortable, then cut away before comfort returns. The mood is melancholic, but never self-pitying. It earns its place for capturing late-Soviet alienation in a voice that feels personal rather than propagandistic. Best for adults who like character studies and can follow a film that trusts subtext.
9. Nobody Wanted to Die (1965)
- Actors: Kazimieras Vitkus, Regimantas Adomaitis, Juozas Budraitis
- Director: Vytautas Žalakevičius
- Genre: war drama
- Tone: grim, morally complex
- Suitable for: adults
- IMDb rating: 7.7/10
In the tense aftermath of war, a family becomes the focal point of a bitter conflict between partisans and collaborators. Revenge is promised, but the film keeps asking what revenge costs once it enters a home. It’s a portrait of fear turning into policy, and policy turning into grief. Every glance matters. Staging and performances build pressure without relying on spectacle. The moral terrain is muddy, and that’s the point. As Lithuanian Movies go, few titles capture the trauma of internal conflict with this much gravity and complexity. Best for adults interested in history, and anyone ready for a serious, unsparing drama.
8. The Excursionist (2013)
- Actors: Karolina Gruszka, Andrius Mamontovas, Vaidotas Martinaitis
- Director: Audrius Juzėnas
- Genre: historical drama
- Tone: suspenseful, emotional
- Suitable for: teens with parents, adults
- IMDb rating: 8.1/10
A young Jewish girl escapes a ghetto and sets off through hostile territory with only instinct and luck to guide her. Each encounter becomes a test of trust, identity, and endurance. The film balances suspense with empathy, never reducing survival to a simple thriller mechanic. It’s tense throughout. Period details and careful framing keep the danger tangible without turning it exploitative. Hope appears in brief, almost shocking flashes. It belongs here for making a widely known history feel immediate, specific, and emotionally legible. Best for viewers who want gripping historical storytelling and can handle wartime peril.
Halfway into the essentials: Lithuanian Movies that welcome newcomers
Up to this point, the list leans on accessible modern storytelling and big-emotion classics. If you want a city pulse, keep an eye on Vilnius backdrops where ambition and anxiety share the same streets. If you want truth with momentum, the next stretch brings Lithuanian documentaries that play with the tension of thrillers. Try grouping your picks by comfort level: intimate romance, sharp satire, then history when you’re ready.
7. Devil’s Bride (1974)
- Actors: Vaiva Mainelytė, Gediminas Girdvainis, Regimantas Adomaitis
- Director: Arūnas Žebriūnas
- Genre: musical fantasy
- Tone: playful, folkloric
- Suitable for: teens, adults
- IMDb rating: 8.2/10
A mischievous devil is banished to earth and promptly gets tangled in love, jealousy, and village life. Folklore and musical numbers swirl together, with humor that can turn wistful in a heartbeat. Under the fantasy, it’s about temptation, choice, and what love can redeem. It’s pure folk-pop. Songs and choreography keep the storytelling buoyant, even when the emotions sharpen. The countryside setting feels like a storybook that still contains real human messiness. In Lithuanian Movies, this is a signature blend of national myth and cinematic playfulness. Best for viewers who want something charmingly strange, and for households that enjoy musical storytelling.
6. Walnut Bread (1977)
- Actors: Algirdas Latėnas, Saulius Sipaitis, Leonid Obolensky
- Director: Arūnas Žebriūnas
- Genre: romance drama
- Tone: warm, nostalgic
- Suitable for: teens, adults
- IMDb rating: 8.2/10
Two neighboring families feud over a dead cow, and their stubbornness shapes the lives of the children growing up between them. Young love blooms anyway, turning everyday rural conflict into something quietly epic. The film is about memory, pride, and how communities pass down grievances like heirlooms. It feels sunlit. Scenes are simple but precise, with humor that comes from recognition rather than punchlines. The pace is relaxed, letting the nostalgia build without rushing to catharsis. It earns a place for capturing Lithuanian countryside life with warmth and wit. Best for viewers craving classic storytelling and gentle, human-scale drama.
5. Herkus Mantas (1972)
- Actors: Antanas Šurna, Eugenija Pleškytė, Algimantas Masiulis
- Director: Marijonas Giedrys
- Genre: historical epic
- Tone: stirring, solemn
- Suitable for: teens, adults
- IMDb rating: 8.2/10
A Prussian leader rises against the Teutonic Crusaders, and the film treats that resistance as both history and myth. Battles and speeches are staged with an earnest grandeur that suits the subject. At its core, it’s about identity under assault and the cost of becoming a symbol. It’s genuinely sweeping. The pacing favors solemn build-up over nonstop action, which makes key moments land heavier. Performances give the epic a human center rather than a postcard surface. It belongs here as one of the great historical anchors of the national canon. Best for viewers who want classic epic cinema and don’t mind a stately rhythm.
4. The Invisible Front (2014)
- Actors: Darius Udrys, Jonas Ohman, Domantas Juzenas
- Director: Jonas Ohman; Vincas Sruoginis
- Genre: documentary
- Tone: urgent, investigative
- Suitable for: teens with parents, adults
- IMDb rating: 8.2/10
Through interviews and archival material, the film traces Lithuanian resistance networks and the long shadow they cast. It moves with the urgency of a thriller, but the facts keep it grounded. The themes revolve around courage, betrayal, and the ethical burden of clandestine war. History gets personal fast. Editing is brisk, and revelations arrive in carefully paced waves. Content is serious, including violence and repression, handled without sensationalism. As Lithuanian Movies broaden beyond fiction, this documentary proves how gripping national history can be when told with clarity and nerve. Best for viewers who want real events, sharp storytelling, and context for the Baltic twentieth century.
3. The Jump (2020)
- Actors: Simas Kudirka, Genutė Kudirkienė, Bill Cole
- Director: Giedrė Žickytė
- Genre: documentary
- Tone: thrilling, humane
- Suitable for: teens with parents, adults
- IMDb rating: 8.3/10
A dramatic Cold War escape becomes the spine of a documentary that plays like a spy story. By following one man’s leap toward freedom, it shows how politics can hinge on a single human decision. The film explores propaganda, identity, and the afterlife of a headline. Twists keep coming. Archival footage and present-day reflection are stitched together with crisp, suspenseful momentum. Some sequences may feel intense, but the tone stays compassionate toward the people caught inside the machinery. It belongs among Lithuanian Movies because it turns national history into a universal story about risk and moral luck. Best for households with older teens and anyone who loves documentaries that feel cinematic.
2. The Other Dream Team (2012)
- Actors: Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Arvydas Sabonis, Rimas Kurtinaitis
- Director: Marius A. Markevičius
- Genre: documentary
- Tone: uplifting, rousing
- Suitable for: older kids with parents, adults
- IMDb rating: 8.3/10
A basketball team becomes a symbol of a country trying to reintroduce itself to the world. The film builds toward the Olympics with the pulse of a sports movie, but the stakes are cultural. It’s about identity, pride, and the strange power of uniforms and flags. You can feel the roar. Interviews and game footage blend into a narrative about momentum and belief. Even non-sports viewers will understand what’s at risk in every possession. It earns its spot for capturing the early-1990s turning point with joy rather than nostalgia alone. Best for mixed households that want an uplifting true story with real adrenaline.
1. Irklais per Atlanta (2024)
- Actors: Aurimas Valujavičius, Aurimas Valujavičius (Self), Aurimas Valujavičius (Archive)
- Director: Aurimas Valujavičius
- Genre: documentary
- Tone: inspiring, immersive
- Suitable for: teens, adults
- IMDb rating: 8.9/10
A lone rower pushes a tiny boat across an ocean, and the film stays with him through monotony, fear, and awe. Instead of manufactured drama, it lets weather and exhaustion provide the stakes. The themes are endurance, humility, and the mental games people play to keep moving. It’s astonishingly immersive. Sound and image make you feel the water’s rhythm, the silence, and the sudden violence of storms. The pacing respects the journey, so the final miles feel earned rather than edited into triumph. Among Lithuanian Movies, it’s a recent documentary that turns personal challenge into something quietly universal. Best for viewers in a reflective mood, especially anyone drawn to survival stories and real-world grit.
Conclusion: revisiting Lithuanian Movies
The best way to return to this list is by mood: start with the intimate modern films, then graduate to the classics when you want deeper historical weight. Lithuanian Movies reward repeat viewing because so much meaning sits in atmosphere—weather, silence, and what characters refuse to say. If you’re building a personal canon, keep a few “entry points” and a few “challenge picks” so the cinema stays inviting rather than dutiful.
To go deeper into Lithuanian cinema, browse the Library of Congress film and video collections for context on preservation and national film history. For a sense of how contemporary films travel through festivals and culture coverage, dip into Variety’s film section and follow the conversation outward.
Once you start noticing recurring textures—folk myth, moral ambiguity, and a love of understated performance—you’ll see why Vilnius stories and coastal dramas can sit comfortably in the same tradition. Treat this as a doorway into a Baltic New Wave of discovery: watch one classic, one modern drama, and one documentary, then repeat the pattern.
