Baltic Pitching Forum announces winners for 14th edition

Largest short film industry in the Baltics recognises outstanding projects from Baltic countries and Italy

Welcoming filmmaking talents from the countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - alongside guest country Italy - the 14th edition of the Baltic Pitching Forum (BPF) saw filmmakers come to Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius to pitch 12 projects to key industry figures, alongside participating in a series of seminars, talks, lectures, and training sessions. 

The pitches culminated in the BPF Awards held in the opulent surroundings of the Italian Embassy in Vilnius on Thursday evening

Lithuanian animation Meat Jelly (dir. Emilė Maigytė, prod. Marija Lenkutytė-Bartoševič, Agnė Adomėnė)  was awarded a place at the European Short Film Co-production Forum “Euro Connection” 2027, which is part of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. The film is an ode to self-acceptance and love of which the BPF Panel said:

“With sharp visual inspiration and liberating humour, this animation project takes us on a self-reflective journey of emancipation from the norm.”

For the first time not one, but two projects received an invitation to the ShorTO Film Market 2027 and its sessions – Lithuanian mixed-media animation Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am (dir. Gintarė Valevičiūtė-Brazauskienė, prod. Justė Beniušytė and Estonian hand-painted animation Blue Tower (dir. Mari Koff, prod. Sergo Kibus, Kadriann Kibus). The BPF Panel said of the films: 

“The “You Only Pitch Twice” award goes to Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am for its layered story based on an extensive archival research which reminds us about the importance of singular acts of Resistance in the wider Story and of building a meaningful relationship with the past and the memories. Exceptionally another project – Blue Tower – is receiving an award for ShorTO, going to the Think Outside the Keyframe session. A compelling animation project with a long journey in front of it for which we want to be among the first who believed in it, providing the floor for the first steps of your path.”

Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am also won the Producers’ Jury MEDIA Award, initiated by the Creative Europe MEDIA Desks in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Italy, and accompanied by a €1000 cash prize. The Producers’ Jury said: 

“This prize recognises the well-thought-out hybrid form that naturally emerges from the real story and the extensive research that mirrors its multi-layered complexity. We want to encourage the creative vision and the team behind it to continue the mission of the character whose story they are telling, and to inspire action through love.”

The Jury also gave a special mention to the Italian short film project Creature! (dir. Irene Dionisio, prods. Emanuele Segre, Alessandro Bernard, Valentina Velardi). According to the jury, this mention was for: 

“It’s strong artistic approach and visual quality, which reflect the director's visionary talent. Through a subtle dramatic approach, the important topics of empathy and openness towards difference unfold through the eyes of a child discovering both death and the miracle of life.”

Introduced last year, the Riga IFF Award grants one project the invitation to the SHORT RIGA Test Screenings event in 2027 or 2028, depending on the project’s timeline. The award was given to Latvian fiction short film project Seeing John Malkovich (dir. Ildze Felsberga, prod. Zane Gulbe), a surrealistic comedy that looks at what happens to a small East European capital when a major Hollywood star comes to town. As Lauma Kaudzīte, manager of SHORT RIGA, said: “We are pleased to present the award to a promising project by a talented emerging director with a distinctive artistic voice and an original vision. Its playful and self-reflexive approach, exploring the blurred boundaries between reality, fiction and cinematic perception, promises a compelling meta-cinematic experience. The project is further strengthened by the support of an experienced and established production company, providing a solid foundation for the director’s vision to be brought to the screen.” 

For the third year in a row, one project received the Up Records Sound Post-Production Award – established by the Vilnius-based Up Records studio. This prize offers the winners post-production services worth €2000. The award went to Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am. Saulius Urbanavičius, the sound post-production supervisor at Up Records, said:

 “The film’s exploration of memory, hope and fragile line between remembering and forgetting feels especially relevant today, offering a wonderful opportunity for sound to become an essential part of the story.”

This year, the Baltic Pitching Forum introduced a new prize – the Baltic Talent Digital Strategy award, initiated by Baltic Talents Agency. The winner receives a consultancy session with Baltic Talents Agency to sharpen its digital presence ahead of its festival launch, covering EPK development, social media strategy, and positioning materials for the market and press. The inaugural winner of the award is Seeing John Malkovich (dir. Ildze Felsberga, prod. Zane Gulbe). According to Simona Inta and Viktorija Cook, founders of the Baltic Talent Agency:

“We chose to give our award to the project that felt closest to what we often talk about between ourselves, and that partly inspired us to create our agency. Here in the Baltics, we still carry a bit of a stigma that someone famous is better than us, that they are from another world. We crave to see and touch the legend. But we forget that we are becoming the legends ourselves.”

The Baltic Film Student Choice Award, initiated by students from the National Film School KIMO (Lithuania), Latvian Academy of Culture and the Baltic Film and Media School (Estonia) who attended the BPF, also saw Seeing John Malkovich triumphant. The students said of their decision:

“The genre of the chosen project is a breath of fresh air. Us students saw the honest passion of the creators that was radiating throughout the room. The project reflects on the feeling of what it's like being from a small country and it really makes you want to seek John Malkovich yourself.”

The winners of the Euro Connection and ShorTO Film Market prizes were selected by the BPF Panel members: Anne-Laure Guégan (Need Productions, Belgium), Elena Ciofalo (ShorTO Film Market, Italy), Eva Schweizer (SRF TV, Switzerland), Olivier Berlemont (oriGine Films, France), Sari Volanen (Yle, Finland), Simone Bardoni (Lights On, Italy), Stine Wangler (Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg, Germany), Vanya Rainova (Portokal, Bulgaria), and Laurent Crouzeix (Euro Connection, France).

This year’s Producers Jury consisted of Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė (Just a Moment, Lithuania), Maie Rosmann (Estonia), Antra Cilinska (Juris Podnieks Studio) and Enrica Capra (Graffiti, Italy).

Baltic Pitching Forum is organized by the Lithuanian Short Film Agency “Lithuanian Shorts”. The event is partly financed by the Lithuanian Film Centre, Vilnius City Municipality, Audiovisual Works Copyright Association “AVAKA” and Baltisches Haus. Associated partners: Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS, Riga IFF, Latvian Short Film Agency and PÖFF Shorts (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival). Partners – Creative Europe MEDIA Desks in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Italy, Italian Short Film Center, Estonian Film Institute, Embassy of Italy in Lithuania, ShorTO Film Market, European Short Film Co-production Forum Euro Connection, UP Records, Baltic Talent Agency, National Film School KIMO, Latvian Academy of Culture, Baltic Film and Media School, Vilnius Film Office and National Gallery of Art.