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| How To Divorce During the War Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
The festival has also unveiled ten world premieres in its Critics’ Picks Competition and nine in its Rebels with a Cause section.
Edvinas Pukšta, curator of the Baltic Film Competition said: “This year’s selection demonstrates the strength of Baltic co-productions and the growing contribution of our filmmakers to international cinema. Baltic producers, actors, cinematographers and other film professionals are taking their experience beyond the region and becoming increasingly involved in ambitious international projects.”
The programme is equally varied in its themes and cinematic approaches, ranging from accessible, entertaining stories to more challenging works.
“There is no single way to define Baltic cinema, and this programme reflects that diversity,” adds Pukšta. “These films offer very different experiences, both in the stories they tell and in how they tell them. It is worth noting strong and visible support to Ukraine in this year’s Baltic films”
The Jury of Baltic Film Competition is led by producer Mariette Rissenbeek and includes Paul Gallagher, head of programme for Glasgow Film Theatre and Glasgow Film Festival and Ali Vatansever, an Istanbul-based filmmaker whose LifeLike won Best Director at PÖFF last year.
Speaking about this year's Critics' Picks selection, curator Nikolaj Nikitin, said: “From daring experimentation to Shakespearean family tragedies and deliciously absurd black humour, this year's selection celebrates cinema in all its diversity – geographically, artistically and emotionally.”
The jury of Critics’ Picks Competition includes Heike-Melba Fendel, a founder of talent and event agency Barbarella Entertainment, Jurgis Matulevičius, a Vilnius-based director, screenwriter and editor, and Hakim Zejjari, a film journalist, author, director and TV producer.
Finally, the Rebels With A Cause selection celebrates filmmakers who challenge cinematic conventions and is curated by Javier Garcia Puerto. Its jury comprises Jason Wood, executive director of public programmes and audiences at the BFI, Samuel Abrahams, a BAFTA and Webby-nominated writer and director, and Mireia Vilapuig, the Catalan actress, screenwriter, creator and visual artist based in Barcelona.
The festival runs from November 6 to 22.
The full selection is below:
Baltic Film Competition
• 3 Weeks Under the Sea (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania) – dir. Martin Kuba
• Amathia (Serbia, Estonia) – dir. Dean Radovanović
• Dice-Ching-O-Mat (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) – dir. Kristijonas Vildžiūnas
• Dirt In Your Face (Estonia, Latvia) – dir. Jaak Kilmi
• How to Divorce During the War (Lithuania, Luxembourg, Ireland, Czechia) – dir. Andrius Blaževičius
• Kingpins (Latvia) – dir. Kristiāns Riekstiņš
• Lex Julia (Finland, Poland, Estonia, Sweden) – dir. Laura Hyppönen
• Supporting Role (Georgia, Estonia, Türkiye, Switzerland, USA) – dir. Ana Urushadze
• The Bog (Latvia, Germany, Estonia) – dir. Reinis Kalviņš
• The Child (Latvia, Lithuania) – dir. Linda Olte
• The Flaw (Greece, Latvia) – dir. Theophilos Papastylianos
• Vesna (France, Lithuania, Estonia) – dir. Rostislav Kirpičenko
Critics’ Picks
• Apart (Cyprus, United Kingdom, Greece) – dir. Stelana Kliris
• IOU (China) – dir. Steven Zhang Zhonghua
• Jimoto Loop (Japan) – dir. Masaya Tsutsumi
• Kidney (India) – dir. Aakarsh Sansanwal, Agrim Sansanwal
• Mo Amor (Estonia) – dir. Eeva Mägi
• One Month (Bulgaria, Romania, Spain) – dir. Maya Vitkova-Kosev
• Rahma (Türkiye, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy) – dir. Faysal Soysal
• The Great Family (Mexico, Italy) – dir. Matías Meyer
• Until Dawn (Morocco) – dir. Mohamed Zineddaine, Rachida Saadi, Matilde Bonnes
• When I Existed (Uruguay, Spain) – dir. Alejandro Damiani, Martin Avdolov
Rebels With A Cause
• Aroma (Republic of Korea, USA, France) – dir. Xue Ma
• Arrow For a Stone Heart (Brazil) – dir. Luiza Calagian
• Beril_XXX (Türkiye) – dir. Can Evrenol
• Irreparable (Colombia) – dir. Klych López
• Lamb (Spain) – dir. Christian Checa, Sol Picó
• Night Vision (Belgium) – dir. Christopher Yates
• Pop Pop (USA) – dir. Dylan Stephen Levers
• Sounds of the Desert (Lithuania, Norway) – dir. Emilija Škarnulytė
• The Two Hornets (Slovakia) – dir. Dominik György
