The aim of the documentary film project (principal investigator Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė; researchers Natalija Arlauskaitė, Zane Balčus, Audrius Dambrauskas, Narius Kairys, and Mantė Valiūnaitė) is to examine Lithuanian documentary cinema and documentary films screened in Lithuania from the margins of the national cinema and cinematic narrative canon.
Rather than focusing on major names and dominant directions – such as poetic documentary cinema – the project investigates specialized forms of documentary and documentary filmmaking, including ethnographic documentaries and newsreels. The focus shifts from the center of national film schools to filmmakers who crossed the boundaries of national cinematographies. The research also considers not only films preserved in archives but also those that have not survived yet were seen by audiences, as well as projects conceived by various institutions but never realized. Such an approach makes it possible to reconsider the history of Lithuanian documentary cinema, the premises of its construction, and the diverse forms of documentary representation and documentary poetics that are important not only for national but also for international film studies.
