Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #56. Au Crépuscule – Sharunas Bartas

Published on January 2, 2020

Au Crépuscule (Dusk)

Lithuania’s Sharunas Bartas will have his tenth feature ready for presentation in 2020. Au Crépuscule (Dusk) was financed by Film Center Serbia/Serbia’s Biberche Productions, Lithuania’s Studija Kinema and France’s KinoElektron. His Frost (2017) DP Eitvydas Doskus, who also lensed Bartas’ yet-to-be-released documentary Watermarker (Acqua Alta) featuring Toni Servillo, is on hand for the project, which stars Alina Zaliukaite-Ramanauskiene, Marius Povilas Elijas Martynenko, Arvydas Dapsys and Vita Siauciunaite. Bartas picked up some awards out of the Berlin Forum with his 1991 debut Three Days and competed in Venice with his 2000 title Freedom. Cannes has featured Bartas the most to date, with his 1996 film Few of Us and 1997 film A Casa programmed in Un Certain Regard, while 2017’s Frost, featuring Vanessa Paradis, played Director’s Fortnight.

Gist: Co-written by Ausra Giedraityte, an actress making her screenwriting debut, the latest from Bartas is a period piece set in 1948, about a 19-year-old who joins a group of partisans resisting Soviet occupation.

Release Date/Prediction: Shot in December of 2018, this larger scale Bartas production will most likely see him return to Cannes 2020 (but based on the length of the post-production period, Berlin shouldn’t be ruled out).

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.