Sweden joins as guest country as 12 projects presented at 9th Baltic Pitching Forum in October
The 9th BALTIC PITCHING FORUM (BPF), one of the leading film industry events in the Batlic region, will take place in Vilnius between October 7th-9th 2021. The BPF will invite selected participants as well as industry professionals from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, alongside guest country Sweden, to the Lithuanian capital with a view to showcasing the best filmmaking talents emanating from these countries. It will mark the return of the event to a live format after last year’s all digital event.
The selected participants will receive personal consultation of their screenplays and take part in a pitching masterclass as well as lectures on film sales and communication. They will also pitch their projects to a panel of industry experts, who will confer a number of awards on selected projects.
The BPF 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 Torino Short Film Market 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 Baltic Producers MEDIA Award – 1000 EUR cash prize.
Estonia will be represented by the animation Schrödinger (dir. Sergei Kibus, prod. Kadriann Kibus) and the fiction projects of two BPF alumni – Buddy Horror (dir. Oskar Lehemaa) and Weight of Light (dir. Anna Hints, prod. Evelin Penttilä and Johanna Maria Paulson).
From Latvia there will be a BPF alumni animation project in A Thread (dir. Kristina Tverdohleba, prod. Thom Palmen), and fiction project A Crack (dir. Ieva Norvele, prod. Aija Bērziņa) and Big Loop – Small Loop (dir. Žanete Skarule, producer Alise Rogule) which was developed during the Baltic Shorts Residency.
Lithuania will be represented by fiction films Isolation (dir. Ieva Veiverytė, prod. Justė Michailinaitė), Reminiscence (dir. Kristijonas Dirsė, prod. Liucina Mackialo) and animation Champion (dir. Tomas Mitkus, prod. Vaida Nedzinskaitė- Mitkė).
Guest country Sweden will present three short fiction projects: 22 Hours (dir. Peter Altman, prod. Viktor Axberg), Anise Underground (dir. John Paul Bichard, prod. Felicia Bichard) and Yellow Grass (dir. and prod. Linn Markussen).
While the 9th BPF will be a live event, last year’s virtual format opened up more opportunities for people to attend. As such, part of the program, including pitching sessions, will be available to industry professionals around the world. More information on the panellists and lectures will be available in mid-September.
Please go to https://bpf.lt/ for more information on the Baltic Pitching Forum