Naujininkai, Vilnius

25 March 2025 – 27 November 2025

Creative practitioner: film director and educator Tomas Smulkis

Curators: Milda Laužikaitė, Saulė Norkutė

6 teachers and 13 students (aged 14-16) from a Russian-speaking school.

Naujininkai is a Vilnius district with 30 030 inhabitants. Originally it was called “The new world” (in Polish, Russian languages), but while transforming into the Lithuanian version “Naujininkai” lost its meaning. It is regarded as one of the unsafest districts in Vilnius.

It has traditionally been inhabited by lower economic class citizens from lingual and cultural minorities groups: Russian, Roma. The school students belonging to Russian speaking and Roma minorities experience social exclusion and prejudice against them.

In recent years, due to gentrification and geopolitical challenges the demographic of the district is changing. However the newcomers from higher class and Lithuanian speaking families are not choosing district schools where teaching language is Russian and which are mainly attended by lingual minorities. School students rarely leave the district, which is related to the feeling (during visits to the city) different due to their poor national language skills and their distinct behaviours.

To examine how encouraging creative self-expression through creating short video stories can help cultivate relationships and a sense of belonging.

Improve confidence and the ability to express oneself.

Improve relationships with people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds.

Foster a positive experience of belonging to a group of peers and teachers.

During eight intensive creative sessions, 13 students from different classes, together with six teachers, went through a shared creative process led by creative practitioner Tomas, a film director and educator. For both the teachers and the students, the process of filmmaking and production was new. The teachers, just like the students, took on the role of learners.

By exploring their surroundings and their relationship with place and people, the participants moved through the stages of the filmmaking process: from exploring film genres and practising filming exercises, which clarified their choices of filming techniques and framing, to scriptwriting and editing.

The films were presented to the school community, with participants sharing what they captured and conveyed through their films.

During the reflection phase, the students interviewed one another. Using questions they created themselves, they discussed the process they had gone through and articulated what they had learned, how they felt during the process, what was done and why, and what new possibilities this learning process may open up for the future.

Students reported that during the project they learned new ways to express their thoughts and ideas, discussed what is important to them, and developed greater confidence and skills in self-expression.

Students reported that during the project they improved their relationships with people from diverse backgrounds and had positive experiences of belonging to a group of peers and teachers.

Students reported that during the project they felt their voice mattered and that they could have a positive impact on their surroundings.

Students gained confidence in speaking and presenting in Lithuanian.

Teachers learned new methods and teaching approaches and applied them in practice.