The Harringtons, registered in the foster care system, decide to take in a little girl, Grace, after a sudden call from the Child Safety Services. The biological mother and her boyfriend were unfit to raise Grace because of drug addiction and mental diseases they suffer from. Grace adapts quickly to become a part of the new family. Yet, the Child Safety Department, driven by the desire to reunite children with their parents, decides to send her live with the biological father, whom she has not seen in years.
Kadri is an enthusiastic, hard-working, critical and creative Estonian, whose studies and work experience in the field of Journalism and Communication have guided her to the film industry. Her personal experience motivates her to capture the reality of marginalised groups and show it to the world in her short documentaries. Last year, Kadri visited more than 20 countries in Europe and Asia to film the stories of different social initiatives that are making an effort to solve problems in their local communities. She is working on a short film project Broken Souls with her colleague Mirjam Ruut to problematize the child care systems in the Baltics and abroad.
Contacts:
kadri.org.001@gmail.com
+372 5648 9584
Mirjam is a 23-year-old from Tartu, Estonia, fascinated by theatre and acting since a young age. This led her to pursue her studies of Drama, Film, Radio and TV Production in England. During her studies, she found her passion for film with its endless ways of telling stories and she decided to focus solely on it so she could become a creative producer to bring beautiful stories onto the screen.
Contacts:
mirjamruut@gmail.com
+372 534 53002
A large part of the Earth, the Dark East, becomes unliveable after a climate catastrophe: abandoned buildings, roads, railways and bridges stretch for thousands of square kilometres. Former army pilot, Emir (45) organises trips to the Dark East for the wealthiest of the new world to earn a living. During one of these trips, Emir and the young, enthusiastic Marty (26), discover that the Dark East is not as unliveable as everyone thinks.
Urmas Nimetu is an Estonian writer, director and cinematographer, who worked on 15 short films; among them the award-winning No Fishing and Snatcher of Old Men. Most of his fiction works take the audience to magic realities, dreams or fairy tales, where illusions are awakened with the elegant use of CGI, stop motion and editing tricks.
Contacts:
urmas@plankflm.ee
+372 524 4705
Peeter Urbla is a graduate of Tartu University as a History and Linguistics specialist to enrol later in courses of film directing and script-writing at the Moscow Cinema Committee. Since 1992, he has been working for Exitfilm Studio as director, producer and general manager. He has produced and co-produced 13 short films and documentaries and 7 feature films, among them: Mausoleum, The Butterfly Man, The Master-painter and The Blended Colours.
Contacts:
peeter@exitflm.ee
+372 524 4705
Peemot and Azazzello and the Road to Eternity is a surreal post-apocalyptical comedy about two worlds: material and immaterial. It tells the story of two female criminals, Peemot and Azazzello, who live in a poor industrial city, where everyone is selfishly struggling for survival and crimes committed by women are the norm. Yet, they dream obsessively about a paradise island, where life is wonderful and believe that only money can buy them entrance. Amidst the city stands a mysterious castle, where time, money and position do not mater. The creatures that dwell inside exist in another reality. One day, two of the creatures are cast outside as a punishment, to get back in, they hire Peemot and Azazzello. The task turns out to be more complicated than the women imagined, so they end up working on a plan to avoid getting stuck in eternity.
Before entering the world of film art, Katariina studied Sociology (BA) and Philosophy (MA). After working in the not-for-profit sector and volunteering in Ethiopia, she finished her studies in the Baltic Film and Media School (Estonia) in Script Writing (MA). She worked in student films as a writer, co-writer, script editor, assistant director and production assistant. Peemot and Azazzello is Katariina’s first film as a director. Besides working in the film sector, she covers cultural news and writes reviews for Estonian publications.
Contacts:
katariina.rebane@gmail.com
+372 523 8992
Helen Lõhmus is an Estonian producer, production & interior designer and production manager providing for domestic
and international productions in TV and film. She started her TV career in 2004 working on shows like Pride of Estonia and Better than the Neighbour. Later, she worked on international projects, such as Reality Star (Estonia, USA, France), Wine Mansion (Estonia, France), besides music videos and commercials. In 2010, she was the production manager and art director for Russian Walt Disney Company drama After School. Recently Lõhmus was a producer and art director for a Lao-Estonia-France co-production Dearest Sister, a producer for the Estonian-Russian co-production Dream Fish, and co-producer for the Japanese-Latvian-Estonian supernatural comedy Magic Kimono.
Contacts:
katariina.rebane@gmail.com
+372 523 8992
Astapovo is a creative vision of the last days of the great Russian writer and public figure Lev Tolstoy, whose life ended in solitude and disease in the middle of nowhere. Due to his health condition, he was forced to stop his trip and get off the train at Astapovo Station, which became the last stop of his life. A person, whose life is a testimony of man’s genius and popularity, faces the inevitable. Based on Tolstoy’s book A Confession.
Egils is an artist and graphic designer, a graduate of the Latvian Academy of Arts. He happens to love video games, Machinima animation, motion graphics and creating drawing robots. His previous animation, The Ship (10 min) received Jury Award at San Jose Next Generation Machinima Contest and Best of the Festival, Best Direction and Best Independent Film Award at New York Machinima Film Festival in 2008.
Contacts:
mednioz@gmail.com
+371 292 79091
Marta Bite is a producer of documentary and animated films, producer of Latvian National Film Award and film educator for children and youth. Studied at the University of Latvia, Heinrich Heine University in Germany and the European Film College in Denmark. Marta programmed International Riga Film Forum Arsenals and worked as assistant producer at Ego Media production company. Participant of EAVE, ESoDoc, 4 Corners and Ex Oriente Film. Since 2016, she works as an independent producer.
Contacts:
martabite@yahoo.com
+371 294 04443
Introduction to Epilogue is a colourful, allegorical animation for children and adults about the journey through different life stages searching for the meaning of life. The main character’s life is transforming from the moment he is born until his death – from stars to stars. He understands that death and birth are essential components of life’s cycle. That life will always last lifetime and it will always end in death. And the end will always be a new beginning.
Indra Sproge is an artist, who became a script writer to make sure that her characters knew what to do. In order to teach beetles and zebras move and act, Indra became a director and an animator. Indra has produces 373 paintings, created 117 sculptures, has written 155 poems, 17 fairy tales and 35897 sms to finally understand that her true passion is to live in animation. So far, Indra has directed 33 minutes of animations (Awesome Beetles Colors, Function of Money and a compilation of 55 animations Teach me, Rhinobear!) and is still reaching out to infinity with her awesome team at the infinityBOX animation studio.
Contacts:
indra@sproge.lv
+371 264 21808
Janis Zarzeckis is a plastic surgeon married to an artist. In order to take his wife to the sky, he has become a pilot. He believes in her talent so much that he has become a producer for her animations and has flown home with a Crystal from the Annecy International Animation Festival.
Contacts:
janis@zarzeckis.lv
+371 292 22614
For the first time we reveal that behind the greatest Latvian cultural phenomenon, the Song and Dance Festival, hides a secret fertility ritual of national scale. For 140 years, Latvian amateur singers and dancers meet on the open-air stage of the Song Festival not only to sing and dance, but also to indulge in mass procreation, significantly increasing Latvian population and saving the nation from extinction in hard times. The film follows the history and demographical impact of the so-called “naughty concerts” from their inclusion in the festival’s programme in the 1920s to prohibition during Soviet occupation and underground rebirth that aided the restoration of Latvian independence. Generations upon generations of Latvians have been born thanks to the ritual!
Aivars Madris is a young upcoming filmmaker with a deep interest and knowledge in film genres and their particularities. He also has a great sense of humour. His insightful film reviews for a number of Latvian online magazines have caught the eye of many readers. Aivars is currently an Audiovisual Media Arts student at the RISEBA, University of Business, Arts and Technology. He already has a degree in Philology and is a curator at the Museum of Latvian Literature and Music, where he often works with visual archives. The Ritual attempts to talk about a taboo subject and introduce some Latvian traditions in a humorous way; the idea was one of the Baltic Pine Films short film script competition winners.
Contacts:
madris87@gmail.com
+371 261 56281
Sergei Serpuhov is a well-established producer who entered the film industry 16 years ago at a junior level and worked his way up while living in the UK. He has gained hands-on experience working on commercials, music videos, documentaries, TV shows, live broadcasts, TV and feature films. After returning to native Latvia, Sergei started his own company, Baltic Pine Films. As an active member of the Service Producers’ Association of Latvia, he works closely with state institutions to raise Latvia’s profile to attract more co-productions and service projects. In 2015–2016, Sergei participated in MAIA Emerging Producers workshop and EAVE Marketing and Producers workshop. In 2016, BPF launched a short film script competition to discover and support new talent.
Contacts:
sergei@balticfilms.com
+371 267 25658
The puppet animation film Elena is a story about choice and its haunting consequences. A young mother, Elena, loses her son after giving in to the satisfaction of her own needs. Plagued by guilt, she tries to get to terms with the consequences of her choice by physically harming herself. It is a journey of a young woman towards forgiveness and reconciliation.
Birutė Sodeikaitė is a puppet animation director, puppet and scenography artist, animator, an alumni of The Arts University Bournemouth, UK. She practiced animation at some of the greatest puppet animation studios in Europe (Aardman, UK, Nukuflm, Estonia, Se-Ma-For, Poland). Her debut film, a short puppet animation Last Stop Is The Moon, a Polish-Lithuanian co-production, was awarded at Krakow Film Festival 2017, in the works-in-progress section with an Animated in Poland award. The film will premiere this autumn.
Contacts:
birute.sodeikaite@gmail.com
+370 625 48468
Founder and producer of the production company ART SHOT, Agnė Adomėnė, focuses on developing, producing and co-producing short artistic animated films. In 2016, ART SHOT production Nuopuolis, Eng. Ragnarok (Short puppet animation directed by Urtė Oetinger and Johan Oetinger, Lithuanian-Danish co-production) was awarded by Lithuanian Film Academy as The Best Lithuanian Animation Film of the year. In 2015, she became one of the founders and board members of the Lithuanian Animation Association.
Contacts:
agne@artshot.lt
+370 620 88522
A delicate woman is transported to a Palace surrounded by great beauty, a mixture of Purgatory and Paradise. She enters a room that radiates peace and harmony, where virginal women are lying in beds, giving their menstrual blood through tubes connected to their vaginas. The blood is transported to a contiguous room full of men from The War. The atmosphere is chaotic and hellish. But the blood that is injected into their veins gives them a new opportunity to live. Suddenly, a man awakens from the suffering and leaves the room to meet his rescuer. Followed by other couples, they throw themselves into an infinite water in a magical and sensual dance. The water dyes red while they kiss, as if they were inside the womb of Mother Nature. A new consciousness is born between women and men. The story about the everlasting circle of life.
With a broad experience of working in more than thirty films as first assistant director, his creativity as a director has been improved in the staging of over twenty plays, the direction of second units and of several short films. His work as a producer has been consolidated with the founding of Creandus Films production company and the projects it has taken on. His professional career during the last fifteen years guarantees his craftsmanship, talent and leadership skills. His goal is to create honest and ambitious stories, as well as cinematographic experiences that bring together the desire to thrill and entertain, understanding film as a combination of art and industry.
Contacts:
frankie@fpdfilms.com
+34 680 444 879
Dagnė Puodžiūnaitė was born and raised in Vilnius. In 2011, she started to work as a producer, AD, location manager since 2011. Now based in Vilnius, but working on both local and international projects.
Contacts:
dagne.puodziunaite@gmail.com
+370 623 87187
After graduating as a biologist, Fausta, a young successful woman gets a job in a remote bird banding station. Hesitating, she accepts the offer and gives up a romantic relationship with her boyfriend and life in a big city for challenge and uncertainty. The new life, new people, pure nature and all the obstacles she faces open her mind up and show her the meaning and joy of life.
Miglė Križinauskaitė-Bernotienė (1987) is an audiovisual artist and an animation and documentary filmmaker, currently based in Utena (Lithuania). She is also the founder of Cinema house TAURAPILIS, a movie theatre at Utena. Before Now (2016), her debut documentary film, is hitting the festival circuit. Currently, she is developing The Nest, her newest short fiction.
Contacts:
migle@kinonamai.lt
+370 695 07279
