Listening to forbidden BBC broadcasts,  a member of the Hitler Youth realises that his leader is not a saviour of the nation at all but a fraud. The young man is determined to make the most crucial decision of his life when his best friend is sent to a concentration camp. Thus begins the new American mini-series Truth and Conviction, which has just finished filming in Kaunas. 

Truth and Conviction is a four-part mini-series directed and written by Matt Whitaker. The plot reveals the complex relationship between a talented young resistance fighter against Hitler and the Gestapo agent pursuing him. Both are convinced of the justice of their struggle. Both have to face the consequences of their convictions. The series’s timeline began two decades ago when Whitaker interviewed Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, the last surviving member of a resistance group formed in Hamburg in 1941. The series was filmed in Vilnius earlier this year, and this summer, the work moved to the cinematic city of Kaunas.

Photos by L. Šalna

Those residents of Kaunas who are constantly on the hunt for scoop could see film crews in more than one picturesque place this summer. Scenes for the series were filmed at the Lithuanian Bank palace, the Nemunas river embankment near Vytautas Church, the Art Deco Museum, Kaunas State Musical Theatre, the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Gediminas and A. Mapu streets, and the Ninth Fort of Kaunas Fortress. 

“As the director told me, the locations chosen in Kaunas best fit his vision. Matt Whitaker was particularly impressed by the historical authenticity of the Njnth Fort and its dungeons. He called the fort “a unique location”,” says Aurelijus Silkinis, the series’ Kaunas location manager.

Truth and Conviction is not the first opportunity for Kaunas to help recreate some of the most important events of the 20th century. The Tokyo Trial, in which the National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art was transformed into a post-war courtroom in Japan, was filmed in Kaunas; The city became occupied Paris in the BBC’s documentary Rise of the Nazis. In Chernobyl, the interiors and exteriors of Kaunas were chosen to depict Moscow.

Lineta Mišeikytė, the new project’s Lithuanian producer, is convinced that Kaunas is an ideal choice for filming such a theme, as it has many authentic, well-preserved buildings and interiors from the interwar era. “It’s always lovely to return to Kaunas, as this is where every filmmaker finds great locations to tell his story. This is also the case this time for Matt Whitaker, who for a long time was looking for the right locations to create his story based on true events,” says the film professional, who has worked on numerous global projects in Lithuania, such as the Chornobyl and Stranger Things series and the film Defiance. 

Truth and Conviction is produced by Kaleidoscope Pictures. The production services of the film are provided in Lithuania by the film production company UAB Baltijos filmų paslaugos.