Lithuanian animator and illustrator Matas Pakutinskas is currently pursuing an MA in Animation at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, having previously graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. His latest film, Little October, screened in the Student Competition at Animafest Zagreb, after premiering at Lithuania’s BLON Animation and Games Film Festival, where it received the Best Lithuanian Animation Short Award. Set in the Soviet-occupied country, the film follows two young pioneers – or “Little Octobers”, as Pakutiskas calls them – who are chosen to serve on the legendary “Red Wall”, only to have their expectations shattered upon arrival. We sat down with Pakutinskas after the screening to discuss the historical inspirations behind the film and the ideas that lie beneath its story.