Borderline – Where The World Ends

One hour drive from Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, everyone has to pass a strict border control, when leaving the “Free West” towards Belarus, “the last dictatorship in Europe”. Crossing this border is a time consuming and almost absurd performance. However, there are people who are confronted with this border on a daily basis, where the border literally cuts through their backyard. What used to be a daily routine of paying a visit to relatives or friends, going to church or to the cemetery now became a complicated process involving crosspoint schedules, visa and other complicated bureaucratic procedures. A great example of forgotten ‘European outskirts’, the paradox of the free Schengen region which here is dividing communities, families and lives.