News

On September 16, at the Branch of the University of Białystok in Vilnius, as part of the 32nd International Poetry Festival “May on the Vilnia” under the theme “Poles of Many Cultures”, several special events took place:

• screening of the film Chameleon and a discussion about the creativity of Polish youth in Lithuania

• poetry slam

• panel “Identity and Pop Culture” (in Lithuanian) with Bartosz Połoński and Rimantas Kmita

• opening of Ieva Aleksandrovič’s exhibition Chrysalis with DJ music

For over three decades, “May on the Vilnia” has been bringing together artists and audiences from all over the world. This year, the festival is especially open to intergenerational dialogue and youth activity – from poetry and film, through visual arts, to music.

Screening of the film “Chameleon” + discussion

The Poetry Festival “May on the Vilnia” invited participants to a unique event – the screening of the short film Chameleon (winner of the main prize at the “Aurora” Student Film Festival 2025), combined with a discussion about the growing creativity of Polish Lithuanians.

The meeting was led by Maria Żukowska – art critic and historian – who guided the audience through the world of young artists from the Vilnius region. Together, they reflected on how the young generation expresses its identity in literature, film, and music, and how their unique artistic voice is being formed.

Participants in the discussion:

• Aurora Degesytė – director of Chameleon, winner of the main prize at the National Student Film Festival “Aurora”, young creator of film programs at Meno avilys, social activist, and high school senior at John Paul II Gymnasium in Vilnius.

• Bartek Urbanowicz – musician, photographer, student at the Warsaw Film School, and reporter for TVP Vilnius.

This meeting was a special opportunity to see how film and music tell the story of identity, culture, and contemporary life of Poles in Lithuania.

Poetry Slam

An open call for participants was announced! “Do you have the fire of words inside you? Do your poems want to leave the page and sound on stage?” – with these words, the festival encouraged people to join the first Polish-language poetry slam in Vilnius.

The event, co-organized with the Branch of the University of Białystok in Vilnius, was a highly emotional competition of poets, in which the audience decided the winners. The duels took place live – participants could recite, improvise, rap, or even sing. Only one rule applied: the power of voice, gesture, and imagination replaced instruments, costumes, and props.

The slam was hosted by Bożena Bednarek (Szukamy Polski Association), a long-time organizer of slams in Białystok and editor of the website Poeci w sieci. The jury included: poet and festival organizer Romuald Mieczkowski, Vice-Dean of the UwB Branch in Vilnius Dr. Małgorzata Wenclik, and Director of TVP Vilnius Joanna Warecha.

Prizes funded by festival partners awaited the winners – the champion and runner-up.

The event inaugurated the youth poetry project of the UwB Branch in Vilnius, which will grow into a series of literary meetings promoting young talents and building a common space for word creators.

Panel “Identity and Pop Culture”

The 32nd Poetry Festival “May on the Vilnia” also invited audiences to a special discussion on the role of pop culture in shaping identity. The conversation was held in Lithuanian as a local accent of the festival.

The panel featured:

• Bartosz Połoński – Polish-Lithuanian writer, screenwriter, programmer, creator of interactive short films and video games. Author of the novel Robczik. A Vilnius Novel, regarded as one of the most important works of contemporary Polish literature in Lithuania.

• Rimantas Kmita – writer and literary scholar, author of the bestselling novel Pietinia kronikas. This coming-of-age story of the 1990s, written in the vivid local Šiauliai dialect, gained cult status, entered school curricula, and was adapted for theater and film.

Both works – Robczik and Pietinia kronikas – depict the realities of youth at the turn of the millennium, combining individual experiences with social and cultural transformation. The discussion covered, among other things:

• the adolescence of the “independence generation” in the shadow of the “wild 1990s” with its music, language, and imagination

• the city as a carrier of subcultural identities – Šiauliai for Lithuanians versus Vilnius for Polish Lithuanians

• the importance of spoken language, local dialects, and sociolects in literature

The meeting was moderated by Kamila Zujevič, Vice-President of the Polish Writers’ Association in Lithuania.

Exhibition “Chrysalis” by Ieva Aleksandrovič

The day ended with the opening of Ieva Aleksandrovič’s art exhibition “Chrysalis”, accompanied by DJ music. The event created a space for free dialogue between the arts – from visual to sound – and became a symbolic conclusion of the festival’s meetings in Vilnius.