Baltic Pitching Forum, the leading short film industry event in the Baltic region, has announced today the twelve projects that will make up its tenth edition.
The event, celebrating a decade of showcasing new talents, will take place in Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius between October 5th-8th 2022 with projects from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and guest country Norway. The forum will invite selected participants from the aforementioned countries to pitch their film projects to a number of international experts. This year’s forum will also provide open lectures that will explore short film production, co-production and sustainability.
“Celebrating ten years of the Baltic Pitching Forum allows us to look back and reflect on the growth of the forum and its effect in the industry in the Baltics and beyond. During this time, the Baltic Pitching Forum – which had no other events of its ilk in the Baltic countries – not only grew from being a small industry gathering but also took a position as one of the leading and most respected short film industry events in the region. Since 2013, it has gathered a broad community of film industry professionals and has been a successful springboard for more than 100 short film projects,” observed Rimantė Daugėlaitė, head of the Baltic Pitching Forum and the Lithuanian Short Film Agency.
Estonia will be represented by the animation Offside (dir. Sander Joon, prod. Aurelia Aasa), and the fiction projects Sauna Day (dir. Anna Hints and Tushar Prakash, prod. Johanna Maria Paulson) and The Toilet (dirs. Ragne Mandri, Sushant Bhat, prod. Nevena Semova).
There will be three fiction projects from Latvia: Baranki (dir. Amanda Grinberga, prod. Matiss Kaza), Limo (dir. Tīna Zariņa, prod. Alise Ģelze) and The House (dir. Kristina Martinuka, prod. Svetlana Punte).
Lithuania will be represented by the animation film Conductor (dir. and prod. Antanas Skučas), the hybrid format project Displaced Childhood (dir. Miglė Satkauskaitė, Giedrė Narušytė Boots, prod. Rasa Miškinytė) and the fiction film SPA (dir. Ieva Šakalytė, prod. Akvilė Žilionytė).
Guest country Norway will present three short fiction projects: Boys of Running (dir. Kasper Quintanilla, prod. Franziska Schminke), Growing Pains (dir. Hamza Kader, Aurora Nossen, prod. Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning) and Rocket to Freedom (dir. Carl Georg Rødsten, prod. Kai Andre Sunde).
More information on the selected projects can be found here.
Selection criteria for the projects included its potential for co-production, its relevance for international audiences and the experience of the production company.
In advance of the Baltic Pitching Forum, the selected participants and projects will receive personal consultation on their screenplays. During the event itself, the participants will take part in a pitching masterclass as well as a number of open lectures. They will also pitch their projects to a panel of industry experts, who will give feedback on the projects and confer a number of awards on selected projects.
The Baltic Pitching Forum Panel will award two short film projects from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with participant rights to the European Short Film Co-production Forum – Euro Connection, which is a part of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and the Talents and Shorts Film Market (TSFM) and its Pitching Session “You Only Pitch Twice.”
The Baltic Producers Jury, consisting of three experienced producers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will select the Best Short Film Project and award it with the Baltic Producers MEDIA Award – 1000 EUR in cash prize.
“The twelve selected projects represent themes such as the intersection of different cultures, identity, and its search, the influence of the past on people’s self-awareness, social norms and many other timely subjects. Every year, the Baltic Pitching Forum receives projects that react quickly to world events and respond to social reality and – as throughout its decade history – this year’s forum proves not only the vitality of the short film form but the skill and talent of the filmmakers making films.” Daugėlaitė commented.
The 10th Baltic Pitching Forum will be a live event although pitching sessions will be available online to industry professionals around the world. More information on the panelists and lectures will be revealed in mid-September.
The Baltic Pitching Forum is organized by the Lithuanian Short Film Agency “Lithuanian Shorts” in partnership with the Riga International Film Festival, the Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS, PÖFF Shorts (Tallinn International Film Festival Black Nights) and the Estonian Short Film Center ShortEst. “Lithuanian Shorts” is supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. Sponsors of the event: Lithuanian Film Centre, Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture, Audiovisual Works Copyright Association “AVAKA”, Vilnius City Municipality. Partners – Creative Europe Desk MEDIA Offices in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Norwegian Film Institute, Vilnius Film Office.
Photo credits: Baltic Pitching Forum.
