Holy destructors (former Biodestructors), wins Best Director at IDFA
Just a few months after the EWA Network supported the Holy Destructors project with our award at the WEMW festival, the project changed its name and was completed and selected for the IDFA festival, where it has just won the Best Director prize.
Aistė Žegulytė said: "Thank you very much to the IDFA Film Festival, and a big thank you to the jury of this award. I am very excited, and I am proud to stand here from Lithuania. Thank you very much to my best film crew, for me it was like a present to work with all of you! Thank you to my film teachers, thank you very much to my family. Some of you may be watching me from heaven right now. And the most important thing I learned from the microfungi creating this film was - to be human, but less important with our problems, and more empathetic to this big, beautiful and sometimes surreal World. Thank you very much!"
SYNOPSIS
HOLY DESTRUCTORS delves deep into the invisible world of organisms that emerge during the decay of organic matter.Biodestructors are microfungi that existed millions of years before humans and will likely outlive us. Their presence transforms bodies into extraordinary energy that nourishes the soil and gives rise to new life in this endless cycle. By blending archival and new footage with shots of growing fungi, director Aistė Žegulytė takes viewers on an enigmatic journey through a microscope lens, where humans continue to fight against time by preserving images, bodies, and memories.
AISTĖ ŽEGULYTĖ, scriptwriter & director
Aistė Žegulytė studied photography and later film directing in Lithuania. During her Master’s studies,
she completed a traineeship at the Krzysztof Kieslowski Film School in Poland. Since graduation, she
has been teaching film workshops in schools with various cinema art projects. Her debut feature-length
documentary, Animus Animalis (2018), premiered in Leipzig, was successfully screened at numerous
international festivals. The film won 3 Silver Cranes at the National Film Awards for Best Sound, Best
Editing and Best Documentary.
In her films, she is exploring human relationship with nature of different forms, in all its variety and
complexity. Holy Destructors is her second feature-length film.
CREDITS
85 min
color / black and white
Spoken languages: Lithuanian, Spanish
Director: Aistė Žegulytė-Zapolska
Production: Uljana Kim for Studio Uljana Kim and Migla Butkute for Studio Uljana Kim
Co-production: Christophe Audeguis for To Be Continued, Lionel Guedj for To Be Continued, Dominique Marzotto for To Be Continued, Roberts Vinovskis for Studio Locomotive, Dominiks Jarmakovičs for Studio Locomotive
Executive producer: Galina Kim for Studio Uljana Kim
Cinematography: Vytautas Katkus
Editing: Danielius Kokanauskis
Sound Design: Ken Yasumoto
Music: Gediminas Jakubka
Screenplay: Aistė Žegulytė-Zapolska, Vėjūnė Tamuliūnaitė, Licia Eminenti
Screening copy: Studio Uljana Kim
