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BALTIC PITCHING FORUM 2024

La 12ma edizione del Baltic Pitching Forum si conclude in bellezza

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- I talenti provenienti dai Paesi Baltici e dalla Croazia hanno brillato all'evento con sede a Vilnius, mentre i migliori cortometraggi hanno ottenuto i più importanti premi del settore

La 12ma edizione del Baltic Pitching Forum si conclude in bellezza
Greta Akcijonaitė (a sinistra) ed Elžbieta Latėnaitė con il loro premio per Madonna Terible (© Tautvydas Stukas)

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The 12th edition of the Baltic Pitching Forum (BPF, 8-11 October) welcomed a number of Baltic and Croatian filmmaking talents to Vilnius.

Pitching 12 projects to key industry players – as well as taking part in a series of talks, lectures and training sessions – the participants benefited from an event that continues to be regarded as one of the most important industry showcases in the Baltic region.

All of the projects were pitched in front of two panels of international film experts, who handed out the prizes at a ceremony held on 10 October. Madonna Terrible (Lithuania), helmed by actress and activist Elžbieta Latėnaitė, and staged by Greta Garbo FilmsGreta Akcijonaitė, was awarded a spot at the 2025 European Short Film Co-Production Forum Euro Connection, which is part of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. “The award goes to a bold project, promising to explore a complex internal process of detachment through changing perceptions and perspectives. It’s supported by a strong creative team that will undoubtedly benefit from this platform to meet potential partners and bring this powerful story to the screen,” reads the BPF panel statement.

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The dramedy in early development draws inspiration from the actress and activist’s personal path to apostasy. It follows a 30-year-old transgender woman living in Vilnius, who decides to officially part ways with the Catholic Church, and to do so, she travels back to her countryside village where she will meet a priest who has known her since she was a child.

Martynas NorvaišasSuez (Lithuania), produced by Con Artist’s Ieva Černiauskaitė, received an invitation to the 2024 ShorTO Film Market and its pitching session, "You Only Pitch Twice". The BPF panel stated: “This is a project in which the capacity of short-form cinema to synthesise is enhanced, maximising the potential of the medium of language. Getting straight to the point, the author draws a line that connects global and intimate, personal discomfort. A clear theme, aimed at everyone. It reminds us that we are simultaneously part of society and alone.”

Norvaišas was inspired by the 2021 Suez Canal obstruction, during which the container ship Ever Given halted 12% of worldwide trade and prompted universal chaos. The hybrid short is made up of two parts that never interact with one another; one is made up of archival footage and instructional videos, whilst the other follows Lukas, a crane operator who goes through an existential crisis.

Next, the Baltic Producers Jury MEDIA Award (accompanied by a €1,000 cash prize) went to the animated project It Is (Not) Yours, directed by Carlos Santiago Ordoñez and produced by Edina Csüllög. The Baltic Producers Jury praised the project’s “simplicity and honesty in addressing the topic, the clarity of its narrative, its very special approach to sound design, as well as the unexpected co-production between Colombia and Estonia”. It Is (Not) Yours snagged the Baltic Film Students’ Mention, instigated by the National Film School of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture, and the Baltic Film, Media and Arts School of Tallinn University.

The dialogue-free, hand-drawn short tells “a very simple story, about a mother and son, and their suffocating relationship”, the originality and honesty of which resonated with Csüllög when she first saw Ordoñez’s pitch at the CEE Animation Forum last year.

The Baltic Producers Jury also handed out a Special Mention to Alesja Suzdaltseva’s Saivo (Norway/Estonia), produced by 20/20 Pictures’ Magnus Kristiansen and Münchhausen FilmsMadis Tüür.

This year, the BPF introduced the Up Records Sound Post-Production Award, a brand-new prize courtesy of the titular Vilnius-based studio. This accolade, consisting of post-production services worth €2,000, went to Katariina Aule’s Breadsong (Estonia), produced by Nafta’s Andreas Kask. Saulius Urbanavičius, of Up Records, said the choice “was driven by the originality of the story and the potential of its sound design”.

Breadsong also scooped the Radiator IP Sales Distribution Award, which includes consultancy and guidance for filmmakers. Radiator founder Ben Vandendaele praised the way the project “masterfully weaves an eerie atmosphere with a profound commentary on the human condition”. Set in a remote village in the 19th century, the film unfurls the haunting tale of a family that discovers that, after consuming a loaf of mouldy bread, the children begin to channel a radio transmission from the distant future.

The winners of the Euro Connection and ShorTO Film Market prizes were selected by the BPF panel members – namely, Alessandro Giorgio (ShorTO Film Market), Laurent Crouzeix (Euro Connection, Clermont-Ferrand ISFF and Short Film Market), Wouter Jansen (sales agent at Square Eyes), Sadhbh Murphy (distributor at Network Ireland Television), Gábor Osváth (producer at Boddah), Ben Vandendaele and Sari Volanen (commissioning editor at YLE). This year’s Baltic Producers Jury consisted of Elina Litvinova (Three Brothers, Estonia), Līga Gaisa (Air Productions, Latvia) and Rūta Jekentaitė (Baltic Productions, Lithuania).

Meanwhile, Croatia was celebrated as the guest country. BPF head Rimantė Daugėlatė noted that the nation has produced some remarkable shorts in recent years, pointing out that shorts from both Lithuania and Croatia were competing in the Official Short Film Competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. She expressed hope that, in addition to exchanging knowledge and ideas, highlighting another country with a relatively small population, like the Baltic states, would demonstrate that even regions with fewer resources still possess a wealth of talent and produce films with international appeal.

While similar in scale to the other Baltic projects, two of the Croatian shorts - Sara Alavanić’s Boiling Frog (staged by Lucija Perić for Zagreb’s Academy of Dramatic Arts) and Paula Skelin’s Endless Summer (produced by Draško Ivezić for Adriatic Animation) - tell even darker tales and have both raised more than 50% of their budgets. Alavanić’s 20-minute drama revolves around Kiki, “who is trying to recollect the memories of a summer he spent with his estranged friends, Nina and Nathan, a summer he can’t forget because by the end of it, Nina commits suicide and Nathan abruptly leaves, never to be seen again.” On stage, Skelin presented her 2D, eight-minute animated short. The film doesn’t include any dialogue and follows Maja, a young sound designer who visits her grandmother on an island. Maja seems to be focusing on her work, but when she brings a hearing aid to her grandmother, this awakens her subconscious world and strengthens their bond.

The third Croatian project, Daria Stilin’s Just One Thing (produced by Maja Gros for ATL MEDIA), was decidedly more light-hearted. It follows Lara, who takes her stubborn grandfather to the city for a medical check-up, hoping to land a job offer. While she’s in an interview, he disappears, embarking on a wild adventure to complete his bucket list. Initially frustrated, Lara eventually discovers the meaningful reason behind his actions, and together they gain something more valuable than expected.

The 2025 edition of the BPF will run from 7-10 October next year. The forum is organised by Lithuanian Shorts, funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. The initiative is backed by the Lithuanian Film Centre, the Audiovisual Works Copyright Association AVAKA and the Vilnius Municipality. Associated partners include the Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS, the Riga International Film Festival and PÖFF Shorts. Other partners are the Creative Europe – MEDIA Desks in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Croatia, the Italian Short Film Centre, the Zagreb Film Festival and the Vilnius Film Office.

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

Invitation to Euro Connection
Madonna Terrible – Elžbieta Latėnaitė (Lithuania)
Producer: Greta Akcijonaitė – Greta Garbo Films

Invitation to ShorTO Film Market
Suez - Martynas Norvaišas (Lithuania)
Producer: Ieva Černiauskaitė – Con Artist

Baltic Producers MEDIA Award
It Is (Not) Yours - Carlos Santiago Ordoñez (Estonia/Colombia)
Producer: Edina Csüllög
Baltic Producers Jury Special Mention
Saivo - Alesja Suzdaltseva (Norway/Estonia)
Producers: Magnus Kristiansen - 20/20 Pictures (Norway), Madis Tüür - Münchhausen Films (Estonia)

Baltic Film Students Mention
It Is (Not) Yours - Carlos Santiago Ordoñez

Up Records Sound Post-Production Award
Breadsong - Katariina Aule (Estonia)
Producer: Andreas Kask - Nafta

Radiator IP Sales Distribution Award
Breadsong - Katariina Aule

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