5th Baltic Pitching Forum 2017

For the 5th time in Vilnius, Lithuania, on the 6th and 7th of October, the Baltic Pitching Forum took place, in which 9 short film projects from Baltic countries presented their ideas to the experts in front of the jury.

The Baltic Pitching Forum is a unique platform for opportunities of film directors and producers to submit their short film projects to attract active European producers, television producers, funders, festivals and distributors.

It is organized by the Lithuanian Short Film Agency "Lithuanian Shorts" in co-operation with the Riga International Film Festival (Latvia), the Riga International Film Festival 2ANNAS (Latvia), PÖFF Shorts (Estonia) and the Estonian ShortEst short film center.

The Baltic Pitching Forum is a two-day event. The first day of the forum is dedicated to pitching training. Headed by Gabriele Brunnemmeyer (Germany), former head of the journalist, MEDIA Antenna Berlin-Brandenburg, where she worked as an art consultant for the Moonstone International training initiative. She was a studio manager for workshops supported by MEDIA and a consultant for the Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film project and script. She coordinates the Incontri Film Conference in Italy and advises talent in Sarajevo, the Pitching Forum and Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem.

The goal of the second day is to introduce the selected projects to a group of 7 international experts - professionals from festivals, TVs, distribution, production and film customers. After the presentations, a meeting of invited film professionals and participants takes place.

This year's expert jury is Gunhild Enger (Norway), Marcin Luczaj (Poland), Aneta Ozorek (Poland), Julie Rousson (France), Wim Vanacker (France), Sari Volanen (Finland), Stine Wangler (Germany).

The main purpose of the forum is to promote interaction, cooperation and co-production between short film makers from the Baltic and the rest of Europe.

Projects of this year:

BROKEN SOULS, director Kadri Org, producer Mirjam Ruut

DARK SIDE OF THE EARTH | LANDSCAPED PARTY, directed by Urmas 'Nimetu' Reisberg, producer Peeter Urbla

PEEMOT AND AZAZZELLO AND THE ROAD TO ETERNITY | PEEMOT AND AZAZZELLO EHK TEE EAGAVIKK, directed by Katariina Rebane, producer Helen Lõhmus

ASTAPOVO director Egils Mednis, producer Marta Bite

INTRODUCTION TO EPILOGUE, directed by Indra Sproģe, producer Jānis Zaržeckis

THE RITUAL | RITUAL, directed by Aivars Madris, producer Sergejs Serpuhovs

ELENA, director Birutė Sodeikaitė, producer Agnė Adomėnė

PUMPING PERIOD, directed by Francesc Prat Dutren, producer Dagne Puodžiūnaitė

THE NEST | LIZDAS, director / producer Miglė Križinauskaitė-Bernotienė

This year, there are 3 prizes - two of the projects will have the opportunity to visit the Euro Connection, the mooring forum linked to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and the European National Short Film, part of Nisi Masa, and one will receive the newly created award - Lithuanian Producers MEDIA Award - what launched the Creative Europe Desk Lithuania MEDIA office.

AWARDS:

"Dark Side of Earth" (directed by Urmas Reisberg, producer Peeter Urbla, Estonia) opportunity to visit Euro Connection;

"Elena" (directed by Birutė Sodeikaitė, Prod. Agnė Adomėnė, Lithuania) received an invitation to European Short Pitch;

"The Ritual" (directed by Aivars Madris, Prod. Sergey Serpuhovs, Latvia) received a new award for the Lithuanian producer Media Award.

Five years of seemingly not long time, but for many of the graduates of the Baltic Forum, this has been an eventful event with both film projects and prizes. This year, a special foam graduate event took place, where they could meet 3 successful film projects and get acquainted with their stories: Latvian directors Lauris and Raitis Ābele, whose film Castratus the Boar, won the first Baltic Pitching Forum, won the Grand Prix at the Tampere Film Festival, as well as Estonian director Anna Hinters spoke on her presentation about the film Ice. And world-wide premiered Lithuanian director Laurin Bareish with The By The Pool, the winner of the 2015 Baltic Pitching Forum.

Celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Baltic Pitching Forum, we invited these graduates to come back to talk about their experiences.

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