2012-2013 Winners

Marius Vaitkevičius is in the eleventh grade at Gabija Gymnasium in his native town Mažeikiai in Lithuania. Having been interested in filmmaking since he was just nine-years-old, Marius was on the lookout for interesting film contests and projects when he came across the World of 7 Billion PSA contest online. He decided to enter and focus on food security because he felt he had the most ideas on that particular topic. And while he was somewhat aware of population growth, he admits it was “not too much” but learned quite a bit through the filmmaking process. He says “Before making the video, I had totally no idea that SO many people in the world don’t eat enough. Also, I was surprised when I found out that there is enough food for all of us but not everyone has access to it.”

In his 16 years, Marius has made a variety of videos – from silly films via webcam, to simple stop-motion videos, to more professional projects that he’s been able to sell. His interest in computer graphics led him to the idea for this film; he thought creating the animated info-graphics would be a fun challenge. The most difficult part of the contest for Marius was fitting all of his ideas into such a short amount of time.

When not working with film and computer graphics, Marius is interested in human rights and promoting them both in local ways and by larger means. This year he took part in the Day of Silence which was to take a stand against school bullying, especially among the LGBT community. The photo included here was taken at that event. As for the prize money, for now it’s just going into his bank account for the future – a smart move for this emerging media star.