Exhausting daily pre-Olympic routine of the best swimmer of Lithuania, her harsh life story and unexpected personal challenges \u2013 swimming fans will be able to see all that in the documentary film \u201cR\u016bta\u201d which will tell the story of the Olympic champion R\u016bta Meilutyt\u0117.<\/p>\n
Unseen, unheard, unknown<\/strong><\/p>\n Cinematographer Ronaldas Buo\u017eis and photographer Rokas Darulis presented a trailer of the story about R\u016bta Meilutyt\u0117 this month. It\u2019s less than two weeks already till their film will disclose the unseen side of the young Olympic champion from Lithuania.<\/p>\n Viewers will get to know how R. Meilutyt\u0117 prepared for the 2016 Summer Olympics and will witness stories told by the swimmer herself and her family members. The film will tell the story of her childhood, the path to the Olympic gold medal in London and other unknown details of her life.<\/p>\n \u201cWe seeked to tell the overall story about R\u016bta, not only to document her preparation for Rio. She is very inspiring and has an extraordinary personality. Her work ethics and persistence could be an example for each of us, \u2013 said R. Darulis. \u2013 Also, in order to objectively judge her performance in the last Olympic games, a broader story of her should be known. We hope that we revealed it successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n Started before Rio<\/strong><\/p>\n Two guys behind the camera started their work during the summer of 2016, when the best swimmer of Lithuania has been preparing for Rio Olympics. According to the filmmakers, the idea for the film came quite spontaneously, when they both lived in London.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were contemplating about creating a movie together. R\u016bta was preparing for the Olympics during that time. She is our mutual friend, and we thought that it would be interesting to capture her preparation, \u2013 told R. Darulis. \u2013 It was very interesting to show, what is going on during the peak of R\u016bta\u2019s career. We presented the idea to her and she instantly agreed. We didn\u2019t know that it will take us almost two years, but now we see that it was worth it. We are happy to reach the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n Team of two started to capture R\u016bta\u2019s daily life at her home, in the swimming pool and in the gym, at Plymouth, United Kingdom. R. Buo\u017eis and R. Darulis had to bear the grueling tempo of preparation for the Olympics. They had to meet the Lithuania\u2019s swimming star at 5 am each morning in the swimming pool and to document two swimming trainings there and, after a break \u2013 a workout at the gym in the evening.<\/p>\n Later filmmakers accompanied R\u016bta in her last training camp before the Olympics, in Tenerife, Spain. Lastly, more than one year after that they met her again, in the European short course championship, in Copenhagen. Between the competitions R. Buo\u017eis and R. Darulis documented R\u016bta\u2019s life in Lithuania. Some of the scenes were filmed in Kaunas, Vilnius and Nida.<\/p>\n O<\/strong>n the Olympic rhythm<\/strong><\/p>\n A regime of an athlete and other circumstances forced the film creators to work without a scenario. However, it wasn\u2019t an invincible obstacle for them to consistently tell the story of R\u016bta. Team wasn\u2019t able to forsee how R. Meilutyt\u0117 will perform in the Olympics, nor they could dictate what personality of her will see their audience. On the other hand, new storylines opened new opportunities for the film creators.<\/p>\n \u201cAdapting to the constant changing was one of the biggest challenges. When an athlete is still active, it is hard to predict or plan the plot of movie. So, with every change in R\u016bta\u2019s life, story of the film changed as well. We continued our shoots and developed new directions of the narrative\u201d, \u2013 that is how R. Buo\u017eis summarized almost two years of capturing R. Meilutyt\u0117\u2019s life.<\/p>\n The champion of the 2012 Summer Olympics is in the middle of the preparation for Tokyo Olympic games at the moment. Both storytellers know even the finest details of her routine. The filmmaker duo captured more than 30 hours of video material. Their work is soon to become open for the public eye, as the documentary film \u201cR\u016bta\u201d hits the screens on the 2nd of March, 2018 in Lithuania.<\/p>\n Film production was supported by Lithuanian film centre.<\/p>\n