Human Rights Monitoring Institute

Last Friday, journalist and director Audrius Lelkaitis has received a prestigious Vytautas Gedgaudas award by the Lithuanian Journalists’ Union and the National Association of Journalist Creators for his documentary “Vilnius Ghetto 2009”. The documentary was produced by HRMI within the project Closer Look at Multiple Discrimination, funded by the EU Progress programme.

Through personal stories of individuals, belonging to a Roma ethnic group, the documentary offers a compelling report about contemporary Vilnius Roma community. A touching story of a young girl who is seriously ill and abandoned by all, problems of young mothers hopelessly looking for jobs, and adventures of children who - in the capital city - have to walk several kilometres in snow to reach the nearest bus stop make a viewer to wonder this is possible in the EU Member State at the beginning of the 21st century.

The premiere of the documentary at the annual human rights film festival “Ad Hoc: Inconvenient Cinema” at the end of 2009, and free-of charge viewings in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys attracted large audiences and heated post-screening discussions.