The 14th edition of the Baltic Pitching Forum (BPF, running 6 - 9 October) has wrapped in Vilnius, celebrating emerging filmmaking talent from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, alongside this year's guest country, Italy. Twelve short film projects were presented to international industry professionals, with participants also attending seminars, lectures, discussions and training sessions. The winners were announced during an awards ceremony held at the Italian Embassy in Vilnius on 8 October.

Two projects emerged as the edition's most decorated works: the Lithuanian mixed-media animation Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am, directed by Gintarė Valevičiūtė-Brazauskienė and produced by Justė Beniušytė, and the Latvian fiction short Seeing John Malkovich, helmed by Ildze Felsberga and produced by Zane Gulbe, each collecting three accolades.

The invitation to the 2027 European Short Film Co-Production Forum Euro Connection, organised as part of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, went to the Lithuanian animated project Meat Jelly, directed by Emilė Maigytė and produced by Marija Lenkutytė-Bartoševič and Agnė Adomėnė. Described as an ode to self-acceptance and love, the project impressed the selection panel with its distinctive visual approach, humour and exploration of emancipation from established norms.

For the first time, two projects were selected to participate in the 2027 ShorTO Film Market. The aforementioned Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am received the You Only Pitch Twice Award, with the panel highlighting its extensive archival research, layered storytelling and reflections on individual acts of resistance, memory and the relationship with the past.

Meanwhile, the Estonian hand-painted animation Blue Tower, directed by Mari Koff and staged by Sergo Kibus and Kadriann Kibus, earned an invitation to ShorTO's Think Outside the Keyframe session. The panel recognised the project's creative potential and expressed its willingness to support the team at an early stage of development.

Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am also secured the Producers' Jury MEDIA Award, initiated by the Creative Europe MEDIA Desks in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Italy, and accompanied by a €1,000 cash prize. The jury praised the project's hybrid form, its grounding in a real story and its ability to translate extensive research into a complex cinematic narrative. The film completed its hat-trick by winning the Up Records Sound Post-Production Award, which provides services worth €2,000. Sound post-production supervisor Saulius Urbanavičius highlighted the project's treatment of memory, hope and the fragile boundary between remembering and forgetting.

The Producers' Jury also bestowed a Special Mention upon the Italian short-film project Creature!, directed by Irene Dionisio and produced by Emanuele Segre, Alessandro Bernard and Valentina Velardi. The jury singled out the project's artistic approach and visual qualities, particularly its exploration of empathy, difference, death and the discovery of life from a child's perspective.

Another major winner was the Latvian fiction project Seeing John Malkovich, a surrealist comedy imagining the upheaval caused by the arrival of a Hollywood star in a small Eastern European capital. The project received the Riga IFF Award, granting access to the SHORT RIGA Test Screenings in either 2027 or 2028, depending on the project’s development schedule. SHORT RIGA manager Lauma Kaudzīte commended Felsberga's distinctive artistic voice, the project's playful exploration of the boundaries between reality and fiction, and the support provided by an experienced production company.

Seeing John Malkovich was also the inaugural recipient of the Baltic Talent Digital Strategy Award, introduced this year by Baltic Talents Agency. The prize consists of a consultancy session aimed at strengthening the project's digital presence ahead of its festival launch, including electronic press kit development, social-media strategy and market positioning. Agency founders Simona Inta and Viktorija Cook explained that the film resonated with their reflections on the tendency to place international celebrities on a pedestal while overlooking the potential of home-grown talent.

Completing its three-award haul, Seeing John Malkovich picked up the Baltic Film Student Choice Award, presented by students from Lithuania's National Film School KIMO, the Latvian Academy of Culture and Estonia's Baltic Film and Media School. The students applauded the project's refreshing genre approach, the enthusiasm of its creative team and its humorous reflections on coming from a small country.

The Euro Connection and ShorTO Film Market awards were decided upon by an international panel comprising Anne-Laure Guégan (Need Productions, Belgium), Elena Ciofalo (ShorTO Film Market, Italy), Eva Schweizer (SRF, 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, Latvia) and Enrica Capra (Graffiti, Italy).

Here is the full list of this year's winning projects:

Invitation to Euro Connection 2027
Meat Jelly – Emilė Maigytė (Lithuania)
Producers: Marija Lenkutytė-Bartoševič, Agnė Adomėnė

Invitation to ShorTO Film Market 2027 – You Only Pitch Twice
Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am – Gintarė Valevičiūtė-Brazauskienė (Lithuania) 
Producer: Justė Beniušytė

Invitation to ShorTO Film Market 2027 – Think Outside the Keyframe
Blue Tower – Mari Koff (Estonia) 
Producers: Sergo Kibus, Kadriann Kibus

Producers' Jury MEDIA Award (€1,000)
Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am – Gintarė Valevičiūtė-Brazauskienė

Producers' Jury Special Mention
Creature! – Irene Dionisio (Italy) 
Producers: Emanuele Segre, Alessandro Bernard, Valentina Velardi

Riga IFF Award (SHORT RIGA Test Screenings)
Seeing John Malkovich – Ildze Felsberga (Latvia) 
Producer: Zane Gulbe

Up Records Sound Post-Production Award (€2,000 in services)
Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am – Gintarė Valevičiūtė-Brazauskienė

Baltic Talent Digital Strategy Award
Seeing John Malkovich – Ildze Felsberga

Baltic Film Student Choice Award
Seeing John Malkovich – Ildze Felsberga