“Jaunystės Vilnius,” or “Vilnius of Youth,” tells the story of a city in a rural Polish province during the period between the two world wars which had its own rhythms of daily life and which has been completely forgotten in contemporary legends. The filmmakers have attempted to bring to lost Yiddish-speaking Vilne to today’s viewers.

Newspaper pages in five languages and archival footage tell the story of Vilnius in the period from 1925 to 1939 as residents of the city from that time remember their schools, their crushes, their dates and their families. They do so through the medium of their native Yiddish language. Strange details from that landscape emerge, such as the only Jewish girl on her street who ate bread with butter everyday, arousing jealousy…

Directed by Vaidotas Reivytis

Screenplay and scenes by Jonas Morkus

The filmmakers have also made four documentary films in a series called Saulėlydis Lietuvoje [Sunset in Lithuania] about the history of Lithuanian Jews.