At the initiative of film director Arūnas Matelis, a creative group of camera operators captured the birth of 29 babies in 2004. Every few years, they would revisit some of the heroes, and in 2023, the brightest and most unique among them were selected to testify about their first stage of existence. 

Until now, material has been collected, occasional meetings with the growing children have taken place and filming has been done gradually. At the moment the shooting is almost done and the editing stage will start soon.

“The initial recordings were about observation and getting to know them. We remain observers, trying to get as close as possible to our heroes and merge with their daily lives. Moreover, our heroes have come of age and can now critically assess and reflect on their own experiences, so their own thoughts will be very interesting. It will also be interesting to observe their relationships with their parents, a generation born in a completely different era, who are bringing their fears and uncertainties from that time. Have they managed to avoid such influence or are they now helping their parents get rid of Soviet-era ‘ghosts’?”, Eimantas Belickas told FNE.

The film is produced by Arunas Matelis and Algimante Mateliene through the award winning Lithuanian documentary studio Nominum. Ramune Rakauskaite is the executive producer.

The total budget of approximately 120,000 EUR is partly (75%) supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre and the Lithuanian public television LRT. The Ministry of Culture financed the archival work, while Studio Nominum provided financing for the rest of the process.

"When we started this project, the main idea went beyond simply perpetuating newborns; it aimed for much more ambitious goals: marking the anniversary of the new European Union, continuing this documentary cycle by documenting the fate of children born on the same day until the end of their lives. The idea of documenting the newborns of the new Europe attracted unprecedented international attention, with one foreign magazine calling it an unimaginable ‘real Truman Show’, Arūnas Matelis told FNE.

International coproducers are welcome to join the project.

Production Information:

Producer:
Studio Nominum (Lithuania)
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Credits:
Director: Eimantas Belickas
Screenwriters: Arunas Matelis, Ramune Rakauskaite, Algimante Mateliene, after an idea by Arunas Matelis
DOP: Algirdas Vaičaitis