Pre-war Lithuanian films handed over to the archive
In March of this year, Paul Johann Ostvald, who lives in Kaunas, handed over three of his preserved 16mm films from 1938–1940 to the Lithuanian Central State Archive.
This is unique film material created by Julius Miežlaiškis, a famous pre-war aviator, photographer, and cinematographer. Symbolically, 2025 has been declared the Year of the ANBO and the Year of Lithuanian Aviation Developers, marking the 100th anniversary of the construction of the first ANBO aircraft. The film footage captures Lithuanian aviators, the consolidation of the Šventoji harbour, the visit of a Lithuanian government delegation to Vilnius companies after Lithuania regained the Vilnius region, and the commemoration of the 16th of February in Vilnius in 1940.
The films handed over will add new, previously unseen historical footage to the archive's collection of Miežlaiškis' films. We are grateful to the Lithuanian Aviation Museum for contributing to the transfer of these unique pre-war Lithuanian film materials to the Archive.
The transferred, digitized, and described material is now available on the LCVA-managed IS E-kinas website at www.e-kinas.lt. E-kinas is LCVA's virtual archive of film, sound, and photography, where more than 207,000 items of audiovisual heritage can be found in one place.