Vytautas Kernagis
Biography
Vytautas Kernagis (19 May 1951 – 15 March 2008) was a Lithuanian singer-songwriter ("bard") actor, director, and television announcer. He is considered to be a pioneer of Lithuanian sung poetry. Vytautas Kernagis was born to the family of actors Aleksandras Kernagis and Gražina Kernagienė. In 1973 he graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. In 1975 he enrolled in correspondence courses on stage directing at State Institute of Theatre Arts in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1980. He was a member of the pioneering Lithuanian big beat bands Aisčiai (1966–1968) and Rupūs miltai (1969–1972). Kernagis suffered from gastric cancer and died March 15, 2008. He was cremated and interred in the Antakalnis Cemetery in Vilnius.
Known For & Full Filmography7 Titles
Drama Series - 1994, 16 episodes • as Self - Host
Lithuanian national auditions for Eurovision contest
Movie - 1971, 2h 15m • as Benas
Arūnas, an 18 year old high-school graduate from the port town, is going through a crisis. He is stressed by the school routine. At home, his father bores Arūnas with his constant recollections about fighting in an antifascist guerrilla squad, while his mother unexpectedly turns back to her old dream of becoming an artist and decides to leave the house, taking her younger son Saulius with her. His father ends up in hospital, because of a grenade fragment lodged in his spine since the war. Arūnas is surrounded by the betrayal of friends.
Movie - 1986, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A music film created by bands Artele, Foje and Antis.
Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • as Girdvainis
A story of an impish devil who used to be an angel but got tired of singing Hosannah and so was condemned to live on earth. From his home in a windmill, he pursues love and happiness in a hilarious and sometimes tragic turmoil that affects the whole countryside.
Movie - 2021, 2h 15m • as Himself
Everyone in Lithuania knows Vytautas Kernagis – heard him singing, saw him on stage, or hosting TV shows. The public constantly saw Kernagis and thought they knew and understood him. But Kernagis was convinced that the artist must always remain somewhat mysterious. However, still living in the Soviet Union, he was among the first ones to buy a personal video camera in the mid-1980s and has documented his life on a VHS camera for more than ten years.
Movie - 1969, 2h 15m • as Gedas
This “naive” film, as the author himself calls it, is a kind of confession of a young man. Driven by an inexplicable impulse, high school graduates ran away from a formal museum tour.
Movie - 1982, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Pranas, now a celebrity singer, returns to his homeland from a big city. He is greeted at the airport and driven to his native village by a childhood friend Jonas, who works there as a doctor.