My film “Before They Meet” is a look into the complex relationship between the Lithuanian and Russian nations. While preparing for this film, back in 2017, I visited most of the border zone separating Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast. I was really shocked how disconnected the two neighbour territories are – people speak of having crossed the border 10 or 15 years ago, though they live right next to it. The fact that I have discovered two ornithological stations working on a joint project was more of an accident, rather than a rule. And yet, in the execution of this project, there was everything that describes the relationship between the two countries: the suspicion, the fear, the rivalry, and even some poetry that comes to life with birds freely passing from one side to another.