Mikkel Hørlyck wins The Circle of Life prize at Vilnius Photojournalism Festival

The 16th VILNIUS PHOTO CIRCLE – International photojournalism festival was held over two days on November 18th and 19th. Søren Pagter, who had been part of the festival jury, participated in the event and Mikkel Hørlyck won The Circle of Life Prize based on his long term story: Jørgen, a Mystery.

Mikkel Hørlyck won The Circle of Life Prize at Vilnius Photo Festival for his story: “Jørgen, a Mystery” Mikkel met his protagonist, Jørgen, during a second term assignment back in 2016 and continued to follow and photograph him till Jørgen’s death in 2021. Mikkel wasn’t able to participate in the Vilnius Photo Festival, so he sent a video saying thank you for the Circle of Life Prize. Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX

Lithuanian photographers listening to the talks during the Vilnius Photo Festival. During the festival there were presentations by the photographers Toby Binder (Germany), Fausto Podavini (Italy) and Evgeniy Maloletka (Ukraine). Bruce Strong from Syracuse Univeristy and Søren Pagter from DMJX gave talks about photojournalism and story telling.
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX

Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka showed his strong and important documentation of the Russian attack at Mariupol during his presentation at Vilnius Photo Festival. Evgeniy Maloletka received an honorable mention and a small grant based on his work in Ukraine.
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX

During the festival, the participants visited an extraordinary outdoor exhibition at Vilnius Railway Station. The exhibition shows 24 pictures from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and is placed where transit trains running from Moscow to Kaliningrad Region and back stop. The aim of the exhibition is to give information to the Russian citizens who are in transit at Vilnius Railway Station. Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX

At the evening screenings, two DMJX video documentaries were shown: “Swan Music Radio” (picture) by Kim Frost and Anders Holst Pedersen and “I’m afraid of Dying” by Emilie Lærke Henriksen and Marius Christensen. Due to a lack of time, a third DMJX video documentary, “A good day never returns badly” by Rune Øe and Christian Falck Wolff wasn’t shown as planned. Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX

Søren Pagter gave port folio reviews to a group of Lithuanian photographers as part of the festival. In the picture it’s Benas Gerdžiūnas receiving feedback on his pictures.
Photo: Jonas Staselis

All the nominated projects are exhibited at The Cathedral Square in the center of Vilnius.
Photo: Alfredas Pliadis