Performers
Director Giedrė Žickytė
Description
“A Goodnight Kiss” / “Irena”
Director Giedrė Žickytė
Producers: Giedrė Žickytė, Pille Rünk, Ilma Nausėdaitė
87 min | 2025 | Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria
The film by director Giedrė Žickytė is a moving tribute to the outstanding Lithuanian cultural figure Irena Veisaitė. A scholar of literature and theatre, Veisaitė has been described as a humanist of great heart and broad vision, whose lectures, writings, and way of life were guided by the principle that the essence of being human is the capacity to love and to forgive. As a Jewish woman who personally experienced the major tragedies of the 20th century—the Second World War and the Holocaust, as well as the German and Soviet occupations—she devoted her entire creative life to healing societal trauma and resolving conflicts between people and cultures, becoming an inspiration to many.
As the last wife of the legendary film director Grigori Kromanov, she also had close ties to Estonia and its cultural landscape. She worked as the second director on Kromanov’s cult film Hotel of the Dead Mountaineer (1979), and a collection she edited, Director Grigori Kromanov: Memories, Articles, Letters, Diaries (1995), has been published in Estonian.
Irena felt a deep affection for Estonia and had many close friends here. Until the end of her life, she cherished her friendship with Arvo and Nora Pärt, whom she met in the 1970s through Grigori Kromanov. For a short time, the Pärts and the Kromanovs even shared a home in the Pärts’ Mustamäe apartment. It was during this period, in 1976, that Arvo Pärt wrote down his first piano piece in tintinnabuli style and named it after Irena’s daughter Alina—as a gesture of consolation to a mother and daughter whom life had separated.
With this screening on February 7, 2026, we also mark the 50th anniversary of Arvo Pärt’s composition “Für Alina”.
NB! Following the screening, there will be a discussion with the film’s director, Giedrė Žickytė, and Kristina Kõrver from the Arvo Pärt Centre. The discussion will be held in English.
Pricing
Tickets 12/8 EUR
Tickets will not be refunded or swapped for other events.
Arvo Pärt Centre • Kellasalu tee 3, 76702 Laulasmaa, Harju, Estonia
