A total of 26 projects were presented at this year’s Baltic Sea Docs, which ran from 6-11 September in Riga. Following the announcement of the winners (see the news), we provide a detailed breakdown of all of the award-winning projects.

ARTE European Talent Development Award and Movies that Matter Award
Two of Us – Jūratė Samulionytė (Lithuania)
Producers: Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė, Danielė Kunčinaitė (Just a moment)
Two of Us follows Vitalius, a journalist, and Albinas, a choir tenor, who have lived as lovers for more than half a century while presenting themselves publicly as father and son. Having met in Soviet Lithuania, when same-sex relationships were criminalised, the couple spent decades hiding their relationship from family and society. Now, as Lithuania continues to lack legal recognition for same-sex partnerships, Vitalius seeks to have his relationship with Albinas officially acknowledged following a recent Constitutional Court decision that has opened a path through the courts. At the same time, Albinas’s dementia and deteriorating eyesight make their time together increasingly fragile. Directed by Jūratė Samulionytė, the documentary explores acceptance, recognition and the struggle to live openly after a lifetime of concealment. Currently in development, the project has received support from the Lithuanian Film Centre, and is seeking further financing and international partners ahead of its planned 2028 release.

The Shepherd’s Son by Nurlan Hasanli

Baltic Sea Docs Award
The Shepherd’s Son – Nurlan Hasanli (Azerbaijan)
Producer: Turkan Huseyn (Ultra Production)
The Shepherd’s Son follows 14-year-old Ali, who drops out of school against the wishes of his father, Taleh, as he wants to join his dad in a centuries-old nomadic shepherd lifestyle. While Ali is drawn to the family tradition, Taleh hopes his son will pursue a different future, as climate change and the growing control of herds by businessmen threaten the shepherds’ traditional way of life and push them towards wage labour. Hoping the hardships will change his son’s mind, Taleh takes Ali on a 200-kilometre seasonal migration to the Greater Caucasus, where the pair face increasingly harsh conditions and their fears begin to blur with reality. Directed by Nurlan Hasanli, whose previous work includes the short documentaries Men & Reptiles and Looking for Home, the film explores the generational tensions surrounding a disappearing way of life and asks whether nomadic shepherding can survive in a changing environment. Currently in development, the project has secured support from the Cinema Agency of Azerbaijan and in-kind support from Rental Azerbaijan, and is planned for release in 2028.

Going Underground by Armands Začs

BBPostHouse Award
Going Underground – Armands Začs (Latvia/Estonia/Finland)
Producers: Dārta Vijgrieze, Gints Grūbe (Mistrus Media)
Co-producers: Allfilm, Making Movies
Going Underground follows 26-year-old Veronika, a civil-defence architect in Latvia whose work inspecting bomb shelters amid growing fears of a potential Russian invasion begins to take a toll on her mental health. As she discovers that many officially designated shelters are unfit for prolonged occupation, Veronika finds herself caught between her professional commitment and the increasingly personal nature of the threat, while considering whether to continue her work or leave for Portugal to study city planning. Directed by Armands Začs (Youth Eternal, To Be Continued. Teenhood), the documentary takes Veronika from Latvia to Finland and Ukraine, contrasting Riga’s limited civil-defence infrastructure with Finland’s extensive shelter network and the lived reality of war in Ukraine. The film also explores the underground spaces that have long fascinated Veronika, which have transformed from places of escape into symbols of an uncertain future. Currently in late development, the project has secured support from the National Film Centre of Latvia, Creative Europe – MEDIA, the Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation and the Film Centre Serbia Award at WEMW, and is now seeking further financing and partners ahead of its planned 2028 release.

Sheffield DocFest Award
Lunatics – Saila Kivelä (Finland)
Producer: Ida Karoskoski (Wacky Tie Films)
Lunatics explores the parallel histories of humanity’s conquest of outer space and its limited understanding of the female body, through the personal experience of director Saila Kivelä. Having experienced severe premenstrual mood disorder (PMDD) since her first menstruation, Kivelä documents her search for answers while encountering a condition that remains poorly understood and under-researched. The film is narrated by the Moon, which serves as a scientific and poetic anchor as the story connects the lunar cycle with the rhythms of the human body, drawing visual parallels between egg cells and the Moon, ovulation and rocket launches, and the explosive ambitions of space exploration. Combining observational footage, archival material, home videos and essayistic narration, the documentary questions how humanity managed to reach the Moon in the 1960s while still knowing so little about the hormonal processes that shape human life. Directed by Kivelä (Just Animals), the movie is currently in development, supported by the Finnish Film Foundation, and is planned for release in 2029.

IDFA & Baltic Sea Docs Collaboration Award
Borderline – Ville Seppänen, Johan Huimerind (Estonia/Finland)
Producer: Johan Huimerind (Dokfilm)
Borderline is a road movie along Europe’s eastern frontier, following communities in Finland and Estonia as borders with Russia harden and once-connected regions grow increasingly isolated. Against a backdrop of economic decline, depopulation and rising geopolitical tensions, the film meets people who have spent generations living with uncertainty, including an Orthodox priest supporting grieving families, a mushroom healer conducting ceremonies in a smoke sauna, an esoteric policewoman and a former addict-turned-philosopher. As the journey moves deeper into the borderlands, everyday observation gives way to dreamlike experiences, with border patrols, abandoned villages, industrial wastelands, rituals and forest myths merging into an increasingly surreal reality. Directed by Finnish filmmaker and theatre-maker Ville Seppänen and Estonian filmmaker Johan Huimerind, the documentary explores how borders shape individual and collective lives, suggesting that those living on the margins may sometimes perceive the centre more clearly. Currently in mid-development, the Finnish-Estonian co-production has secured development support from the Estonian Film Institute and the Estonian Cultural Endowment, and is planned for release in 2029.

East Doc Platform Award
35 Letters – Zuzanna Solakiewicz (Poland)
Producer: Maria Krauss (Plesnar & Krauss Films)
35 Letters begins with the discovery of 35 unanswered letters sent in the mid-1990s by teenage girls from small Polish towns to a modelling agency, each expressing a dream of being noticed and changing their lives. Three decades later, director Zuzanna Solakiewicz responds to the letters and sets out across Poland to find their authors, using returned envelopes, former neighbours and disappearing traces to piece together their stories. Now middle-aged women, the former teenagers confront the ambitions they once kept hidden, while their relationships with their own daughters reveal how dreams and expectations have changed between generations. Among them are Renata, who is fighting to revive her disco polo band; teacher Ilona, whose daughters have made the most of the opportunities she once dreamed of; and Monika, whose determination to see her daughter pursue ambitious goals echoes her own teenage courage. Combining contemporary observation with archive material, including local television and amateur recordings from 1994-1996, the documentary explores female ambition, motherhood and the changing meaning of success in post-socialist Poland. Directed by Solakiewicz (15 Corners of the World, The Guest), the project is currently in development and has secured support from the Polish Film Institute’s development and production funds, aiming for a 2028 release.

I See No Death by Yevhen Titarenko

TV3 Group Award
I See No Death – Yevhen Titarenko (Ukraine/Latvia)
Producers: Natalia Khazan (Braha Production Company), Guntis Trekteris (Ego Media)
I See No Death follows a new group of Ukrainian military drone pilots as they complete their training and begin their first missions, working from cold basements and dugouts where killing is reduced to pixels on a screen and war becomes a routine of shifts between the front line and relative safety. Yet the apparent distance from violence is repeatedly shattered when operators come face to face with their targets through the drone’s camera, or when artillery, collapsing buildings and other dangers turn a technical task into a matter of life and death. Alongside the pilots, the film observes Teresa, a private tutor in Kyiv who teaches physics, mathematics and electronics to teenagers, some of whom are already helping to assemble FPV drones for use at the front. Directed by Ukrainian filmmaker and war veteran Yevhen Titarenko (Eastern Front), the film explores how new technologies have transformed the experience of warfare, and blurred the boundaries between everyday life and the battlefield. Currently in early post-production, the project has secured support from the National Film Centre of Latvia, the European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films and ArtDocFest, and is planned for completion in 2026.