Klaipėdos universitetas

The article presents the traditions and superstitions of film production workers in Lithuania in the mid-20th and the early 21st century. Based on field research data collected in 2020 and 2021, it turned out that most traditions are transferred or adopted from other countries’ film industries and their employees. The research data reveal what symbolic actions are performed on a film set to indicate the successful implementation of the project or part of it. The strengthening of social ties between film production workers is expressed through the tradition of gift-giving or other traditions formed in individual groups, whereas superstitions, which are common among film production workers, are mostly aimed at attracting success, dealing with fear or anxiety while working on a project, or avoiding anything you do not want to happen.

The object of this publication is the anecdotes about famous people and personages of the movies and literature. The research helped to identify the most popular personages and describe the images of them. It can be done conclusion that in the anecdotes which are told in Lithuanian the personages of movies and literature are more popular than the real famous people (politicians, sportsmen or pop stars). The images of personages are ambivalent, they can be shown in positive situations but more often these personages are negative: the features of the characters are drawn ironically; the results of their activities are estimated in the mocking and even scornful way.