29th Baltic Sea Docs concludes with eight awards

The 29th edition of Baltic Sea Docs concluded in Riga on 7 September, after a week of workshops, seminars, pitching sessions, and screenings. The co-production pitching forum featured 26 documentary projects from the Baltic Sea region, Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus, serving as a vital platform for creative documentary filmmakers to refine their projects and present them to leading industry professionals.

“Baltic Sea Docs is preparing to enter its thirtieth year as a strong industry player in the region, as demonstrated by this year’s event. A core value of the forum is the preparatory workshop, where project teams work closely with experienced tutors, creating not only a space for discussion, but also a productive and supportive environment. Collaborations with other industry platforms and partners also play a crucial role, situating Baltic Sea Docs within a strong professional network and providing awards that give projects the means to continue their development,” comments Zane Balčus, Baltic Sea Docs manager.

Following the pitching sessions and one-to-one meetings on 4-5 September, eight awards were handed to selected projects.

Award recipients at Baltic Sea Docs 2025:    

Baltic Sea Docs Award (a consultancy session with an industry expert in the field of the project’s choice) – Missing in Action (dirs. Kateryna Holovko, Marharyta Melnychuk; prods. Aliona Kachkan, Eugene Rachkovsky, TABOR), a film about Natalia who’s search for her missing brother leads her from grief to renewal, finding purpose in supporting others.     

BBposthouse Award (post-production services in value of 3 000 EUR) – Threads of My Ancestors (dir. Carlos E. Lesmes; prod. Merili Laur, Tin Can), a personal experiment in imagination where a mother and son confront silence, grief, and the search for roots.    

DOK.fest München Award (accreditation at the festival and DOK.forum) – Operation Champion (dir. Mariam Nikolaishvili; prod. Irina Gelashvili, Radium Films), a portrait of Gvantsa, a wheelchair fencing champion whose devotion to her sport comes at great personal cost, exposing the fragile line between sacrifice and exploitation.

East Doc Platform Award (accreditation and access to one-on-one meetings at the next edition of the East Doc Platform) – Kind of Adults (dirs. Peter Akar, Rita Balogh; prods. Rita Balogh, Gül Togay, Other Films), a raw, immersive coming-of-age documentary co-created with charismatic Gen Z teens over five turbulent years.    

IDFA and Baltic Sea Docs Collaboration Award for Baltic filmmakers (accreditation and guidance for a director and a producer at the next edition of IDFA) – The Perfect (dir. Laura Liventaal; prod. Hõbe Ilus, Sui), a story of three ballerinas from different generations tackling the theme of self-control.        

Movies That Matter Award (accreditation at the next edition of Movies That Matter) – Women and War, (dirs. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski; prod. Maciej Kubicki, Telemark), a film following three Ukrainian women undergoing therapy for war trauma.

Sheffield DocFest Award (accreditation at the next edition of Sheffield Doc Fest) – Creaturama – Epic of the Animals (dir., prod. Juha Suonpää, Swamphead), a film immersing viewers in the forest through extensive trail camera footage, giving visual agency to animals;

TV3 Group Award (screening of the film on one of the TV3 Group’s channels and on TV3 Play) – Creaturama – Epic of the Animals (dir., prod. Juha Suonpää, Swamphead).

Alongside the pitching sessions, the forum hosted a seminar on “Factual Content for Young Audiences – Challenges and Opportunities”, organised by Baltic Creative Europe MEDIA Desks with Association Avantis. Speakers from Germany, Ireland, and the US shared experiences in making documentaries for young viewers, using social media to reach them, and working with youth across platforms.

The Baltic Sea Docs film programme also ran in parallel with the industry events, showcasing a variety of international documentaries to local audiences in Riga, across Latvia, and online. The programme highlights included the opening film Divia by Dmytro Hreshko, pitched at Baltic Sea Docs in 2023, as well as screenings of 9-Month Contract (first international pitch at BSD in 2021), My Dear Theo, Writing Hawa, Helsinki Effect, and more.

More information about the projects and the full programme can be found on the Baltic Sea Docs website: http://balticseadocs.lv/.

Baltic Sea Docs is organized by the National Film Centre of Latvia, with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and Creative Europe MEDIA programme.