Manzana's Restaurant

These are the personal stories that were left in shadow of grief for Soviet crimes and euphoria for the fight for freedom. In these testimonies everything counts, not only words, but also silences. Can we recognize it as our common memory? I'm not trying to create a political-historical portrait of Soviet-Lithuania, because the micro climate of the last decade of Soviet Union is too electrified with misleading tensions. What I believe is that by presenting an authentic and individual experience, one can see a cross-section of that time, that doesn't push any kind of conclusion. Because there cannot be any conclusion under these circumstances. —Maxi Dejoie A young freedom fighter and a KGB operative both grew up during the Soviet era. Today they describe what made them choose their different directions. After many years of waiting for her husband to return from a psychiatric hospital-prison, a dissident's wife tries to fill the enormous vacuum in his memory. A writer for the underground press who was sentenced to seven years in exile meets his former interrogator. A collector of antiques goes to a hotel in the center of Vilnius where he was once arrested, and afterwards disappeared for nine months, looking for answers to unanswered questions. 'When we Talk about the KGB' consists of seven heart-rending life stories, pointing to the lingering guilt over Soviet crimes, and the euphoria over the victory of freedom. —Just a monent (lt)