Partner – Lojoteka
Location – Throughout Lithuania
Since 2025
The National Student Film Festival “Aurora” was the first event of its kind in Lithuania, designed to celebrate and elevate the voices of young filmmakers. Launched for the first time in 2025, the festival brought together over 700 participants, including students, teachers, artists, and media professionals from across the country, with strong representation from Russian and Polish–speaking communities.
During the two-day festival, audiences watched 38 student-produced short films presented in two competitive progammes: Discoveries and Cultural Connections. The films explored themes of identity, inclusion, and contemporary social challenges. In addition to film screenings, the festival programme featured hands-on workshops in animation, sound design, screenwriting, and photography, as well as networking events and panel discussions on various aspects of the film industry.
Aurora was more than a film festival – it was an educational and social initiative. The festival’s outreach included visits to schools in linguistically diverse communities and workshops in Šalčininkai and Didžiasalis. These activities encouraged young people to express themselves through filmmaking, develop media literacy and critical thinking skills and build connections through cultural participation. More than 90% of participants reported improved critical thinking skills and increased self-confidence following the project. The festival demonstrated that young people’s stories matter and that cinema is a powerful tool for dialogue, discovery, and social change.
During the project:
Almost 700 participants (students, teachers, film professionals, and community members) took part in the festival activities, half of which were from linguistically diverse regions of Lithuania
280 students participated in workshops on film–making in Šalčininkai and Didžiasalis and other towns
The festival received more than 200 film submissions, including fiction, animation, documentary films, and music videos.
A total of 38 short films were selected and competed in two festival competition programmes – “Cultural Connections” and “Discoveries”