PÖFF: DICE-CHING-O-MAT

PÖFF30 | Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival | 6-22 november 2026 | Cinema Artis

Imagine Yasujirō Ozu meeting Christopher Nolan, with a gentle Lithuanian touch. Vilis, a 55-year-old professor of Asian studies, wakes inside a giant lift-like Cube filled with an old television and cryptic riddles. One of them is ridiculously simple: “Who are you?” As the Cube spins, Vilis chooses between red and green doors. A wrong choice sends him straight back to the Cube, while the right one opens into a familiar scene – a bar in Vilnius or a summer house by the sea – where someone is waiting for him. Vilis has spent so much of his life working that he has grown distant from his wife and three children, confusing their names and even forgetting their health problems. His translation of the ancient Chinese “Book of Changes”, the “I Ching”, has gone largely unread. Divided into philosophical chapters, this strange game of hide-and-seek leads him through moments from the life he has been too busy to notice. As in his previous film “Songs for a Fox”, which premiered in PÖFF’s Official Selection, Kristijonas Vildžiūnas uses practical effects to create a sense of curiosity and wonder, leaving viewers wondering how it was all done.

Edvinas Pukšta