Present-day Vilnius, Lithuania. Ilona, a perfectionist 29-year-old, feels the pressure to be settled and successful by the time she turns 30. At this turning point in her life, she begins to question how she truly wants to live. She moves into a seemingly perfect apartment with her boyfriend Matas, with whom things are getting serious. But as the building’s renovation begins, it’s not just cracks in the walls that are revealed, and Ilona’s inner doubts also start to surface.

She strikes up an unexpected friendship with Oleg, a Ukrainian construction worker. After spontaneously telling him she’s a poet, she actually begins to write poetry. Their connection deepens her uncertainty: does she really want to settle down and start a family?

The main cast consists of Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė, Šarūnas Zenkevičius and Roman Lutskyi.

"The idea for the film came to me one afternoon about seven years ago, after watching Kieslowki’s Camera Buff. I was living and studying in the U.S. at the time, and seeing a setting so similar to my hometown Vilnius, Lithuania, made me nostalgic for home. The key components of the story came to me instantly: a woman in a relationship with a man, her life seems fine on the surface, but deep down she’s discontent, and she meets a construction worker with whom she develops a special connection", Gabrielė Urbonaitė said in the statement.

"I wanted to explore these serious themes with humour and light, as balance is important for me both in life and in cinema. I’m fascinated by how human existence unfolds in everyday life, in small, often overlooked moments. This connects to the decision to film in mostly one location, a Soviet-era apartment building under renovation, which becomes a natural metaphor for Ilona’s internal transformation. To highlight the poetry in everyday ordinary moments, I chose to shoot on 16mm film, capturing the intimate dynamics with warmth and tactility", Urbonaitė also said.

Renovation was produced by Uljana Kim through Lithuanian Studio Uljana Kim and coproduced by Alise Rogule and Dominiks Jarmakovičs through Latvian Mima Films and Kristian Van der Heyden through Belgian Harald House.

The project was supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre, the National Film Centre of Latvia and the Lithuanian National Broadcaster (LRT).

The principal photography took place in Vilnius from May to October 2024.

The next screenings in Karlovy Vary are on 9, 10 and 11 July 2025.

World sales agent is TBA.

The 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is held 4 – 12 July 2025.

Gabrielė Urbonaitė (born in 1993, Vilnius) is a writer, director and editor. She has directed several short films, including The Swimmer, which won the National Lithuanian Film Award Silver Crane. She participated in Berlinale Talents, Talent Camp Odense, and Reykjavik Talent Lab, and was named Mountainfilm Emerging Filmmaker in 2020. She holds a BFA in Film from Emerson College and an MFA in Screenwriting & Directing from Columbia University.

Production Information:

Producer:
Studio Uljana Kim (Lithuania)
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Coproducers:
Mima Films (Latvia)
Harald House (Belgium)

Credits:
Director: Gabrielė Urbonaitė
Screenplay: Gabrielė Urbonaitė
DoP: Vytautas Katkus
Music: Edvards Broders
Sound: Iveta Macevičit
Editor: Armands Začs
Art director: Sigita Jonaitytė
Cast: Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė, Šarūnas Zenkevičius, Roman Lutskyi