On a beautiful summer day, while the women and children wait for their turn, Hillar and Jaak secretly connect with each other through the ritual of whisking in the smoke sauna. In a society where the stories of the forefathers are ever present, the two men explore their more sensitive sides.
Stellar Film is a production company based in Tallinn, Estonia. It was established in 2015 by the producer Evelin Penttilä. The company currently employs 4 women full-time: 2 producers and 2 assistants.
Stellar is producing original content as well as collaborating on international productions – we are experienced co-producers and users of the FilmEstonia cash rebate measure. Stellar Film is also a member of the Estonian Film Industry Cluster and one of the founders of Tallinn Film Wonderland. We at Stellar like working with films that are mixing dynamic original ideas with a clear artistic and commercial core, blending genres and delivery platforms. We aim to bring Estonian talent to the world, but also to participate in intriguing international films.
Anna Hints and Tushar Prakash have creatively collaborated since 2019. Together they have written two short fiction scripts, Weight of Light (pitched at BPF 2021 and won the Baltic Producers’ Award) and Sauna Day. Together with Hendrik Mägar and Qutaiba Barhamji, they edited Anna‘s feature-length debut documentary, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, which is currently in post-production and is a recipient of the prestigious Sundance Institute post-production grant. Anna is deeply rooted in the distinct culture of South-East Estonia, however, for 6 years her second home has been India. Tushar, a graduate of the Polish National Film School in Łódź, is originally from Delhi, but has been living in Estonia since 2020. The expanded cinema project, Kissing Your Tongue, (in post-production) was the couple’s first creative collaboration.
Johanna Maria Paulson graduated in 2017 from Baltic Film, Media and Arts School in Film Arts curriculum, specializing in film production and works as a film producer, a script editor and a production manager. She has produced six short films, one short documentary, acted as a production manager on numerous domestic and international projects and has recently started the development of her first feature film RISE OF THE WATER FOX (dir. Carlos E. Lesmes). Her most recent project as a production manager is a TV-series THE INVINCIBLES by Moskito Television, her first feature film as a junior producer (THE SLEEPING BEAST, dir. Jaak Kilmi) was released in April 2022 and short film DEAR PASSENGERS (dir. Madli Lääne) premiered at Palm Springs International Film Festival in June 2022. For the past five years she has been working at Stellar Film, an acknowledged Estonian film production company. Johanna is a member of Estonian Filmmakers Union and a board member of Estonian Screenwriters’ Guild.
As football crashes into the kitchen window, a man transforms into a football referee. As a referee, he will try to control the menacing teenage dogs. ‘Offside’ is a tango between domination and companionship set on an imaginary football field between the decaying apartment buildings.
AAA Creative, BOP! Animation. AAA Creative is an Estonian-based production company, which focuses on projects that are bold, fresh, and lined with dark humour. Currently on the festival circuit with the Oscar-qualifying Sierra (2022). AAA’s new projects include the trippy virtual cat adventure Miisufy (2023) and Offside (2024), which puts a surreal spin on the football scene.
Sander Joon is an Estonian animation director. His films Velodrool (2015), Moulinet (2017), and Sounds Good (2018) have travelled to festivals such as Annecy, DOK Leipzig, Ottawa, Go Short, Stuttgart, Fredrikstad, Kaboom, and GLAS. Besides films, he has animated a music video for Tommy Cash, participated in a popular commercial for Rick and Morty, and has been a VJ at numerous events. Sander is also teaching traditional animation at the Estonian Academy of Arts. His latest film, the Oscar-qualifying Sierra (2022), is now travelling film festivals around the world.
Aurelia Aasa has years of experience in communication and film journalism. She has worked at the Estonian Film Institute as the international distribution coordinator. In 2019, she was named the Film Journalist of the Year by the Estonian Association of Film Journalists. With AAA, she focuses on projects that are bold, fresh, and lined with dark humour.
Federico, a 5-year-old Colombian boy, moves to a new country where he feels out of place at his new pre-school and home, but does not know how to express it. Language and cultural barriers prevent him from not only connecting with his peers but also figuring out where the pre-school’s toilet is. The story unfolds through Federico’s perspective, as he overcomes his struggles to navigate and understand the new world around him.
FatCat Films is a production house dedicated to bringing socially relevant and compelling human stories to life, by drawing inspiration from its team of international filmmakers. FatCat aims to provide contemporary and quality content that feels personal and resonates with international audiences. FatCat is currently developing the feature film I’d Rather Kill Myself, which received screenplay funds from the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, and a short film, El Baño, which is in pre-production.
Ragne Mandri and Sushant Bhat started collaborating 2 years ago during the Erasmus Mundus Master’s programme Kinoeyes. The Estonian director, Ragne, has directed 7 short films and 2 prime-time television series. The first season of Pillow Club won Best TV Series of the Year in Estonia. Her latest film, Found You, premiered at Black Nights Film Festival and is now on its festival run (Lulea Film Festival’s Best Film and FECEA Brazil Best Actress). Sushant Bhat is an award-winning director with 4+ years of experience as AD. His film Pritha won Best Director and Best Short Film at the Indo French IFF and How to Tame a Wild Elephant recently premiered at Huesca International Film Festival.
Estonian-based producer Nevena Semova has produced 4 short films and a VR theatre performance in the 2 years she has spent in the Baltics. Nevena recently completed her Master’s in Film Production at the Erasmus Mundus programme Kinoeyes, following a successful run as a development producer at Studio Zmei, where she secured funding for two animation projects. With a degree in Communications from the Netherlands, Nevena has worked at the European Commission in Brussels, for a number of NGOs, and international organizations. Her films have been to festivals across Europe, such as In the Palace, Prifest, and Farcume. Nevena is now working on projects in Estonia, ranging from documentaries to fiction.
In the near future, in a dystopian world, limousine driver Arthur transports various passengers around the center of Riga. His every move is watched by the limousine’s artificial intelligence, MO. The relationship between Arthur and MO is seemingly friendly and playful, but there is a feeling in the air that Arthur is careful not to provoke MO. However, the evening is intense and Arthur has several conflict situations with MO, so that night Arthur decides to use jokes to overwhelm the limousine’s artificial intelligence, so he can avoid activating the emotion control device.
White Picture is a film production company based in Riga, Latvia. The company was founded by Alise Gelze – she has been active as a film producer since 2006 and has produced both features and short films, which have premiered at festivals like Cannes, Berlinale, Rotterdam IFF, Karlovy Vary IFF, Busan IFF, etc. She has co-produced films with countries like France, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Russia, to name a few.
Tīna Zariņa is an upcoming film director and has completed her studies in the directing department at the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture. Tina’s short films have gained recognition at local and European film festivals. She is currently engaged in music video production. Tina has also studied analog photography and contemporary photography.
Alise Ģelze has been active as a film producer since 2006 and has produced both features and short films, which have been premiered at festivals like Cannes, Berlinale, Rotterdam IFF, Karlovy Vary IFF, Busan IFF, etc. She has co-produced films with countries like France, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Russia, to name a few. She has received the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia diploma of recognition for professional achievements in film production. Alise Ģelze is a member of the European Film Academy and the Latvian Film Producers Association and is a graduate of EAVE and ACE Producers.
In the years after World War Two, the house of a young woman gets invaded by five soldiers who were travelling home through the rural parts of the country. After many years of war, the men lost their humanity and during one of the nights, they decide to take advantage of the woman. By gathering all her inner power and will, she confronts them through her inner darkness and takes a stand against the violence, saving the only light left in her, to nourish and grow it. Taking in the darkness within her and all the previous trauma she has faced in her life, she is able to find strength in the darkness and with its help save the light and hope inside of her.
Forma Pro Films is one of the leading production companies in the Baltic region at the moment, working and partnering with such studios and platforms as Paramount, Netflix, Quibi, and Disney – with more than 10 feature films in production in their experience.
Kristina graduated from the University of Roehmapton, London with a BA in Film studies. She came to Latvia and started working as a film PA and worked her way into the AD department, working as 2nd and 1st AD, depending on the project size. She participated in the MIDPOINT HBO programme for TV show writing. Kristina wrote and directed her first short film in August 2021.
Svetlana is a film professional who has worked in the industry for over 10 years as a 1st AD and producer on many film and TV productions. In the last several years, she has been working as a producer on projects such as While You Were Breeding by Disney, Petrov’s Flu by Kirill Serebrennikov, The Good Neighbor by Stephan Rick, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Luke Kleintank. Svetlana Punte is also the LED Unit Riga studio managing director, who oversees the studio’s daily operations and business, works with the CEO, COO, and CRO of the LED Unit Holding AG, coordinating and liaising work across teams, from Management to Engineering.
A story of young, awkward love in Soviet Latvia. While doing summer labor with his classmates on a collective farm, 15-year-old city boy Karlis falls in love with Aija, one of the girls peeling vegetables at the local canteen. Together with his pals, Karlis arranges a secret get-together with the canteen girls in the local dormitory in hopes of getting drunk and making love. Swindling booze from the sweaty local labor force and turning up the cassette players, the boys create a night that will be a coming-of-age for Karlis whose encounter with Aija will be anything but what he expects.
Trickster Pictures is an international creative studio based in Riga, Latvia and founded in 2022. Our carefully selected projects focus on the development of young, brave, and diverse voices in author-driven fiction and documentary film, creating cinematic experiences that resonate beyond national borders. In 2022, we will premiere the films Neon Spring by Matīss Kaža and Sisters by Linda Olte.
Amanda Grīnberga (b. 1999) is an upcoming Latvian writer and director. She studied communication science at the University of Latvia before starting her studies in film directing at the Latvian Academy of Culture, where she is currently a 2nd year student. In 2022, Grinberga will finish her debut documentary, The Sixth Generation. Baranki will be her first short film produced by a professional production company and with an international cast and crew.
Dārta Krāsone (2001) is an aspiring young producer and a film industry professional who has worked in the industry for four years. Currently, she is in her 3rd year of a BA degree in audiovisual arts and philosophy at the Sorbonne Paris 1 University. She has worked on several national and international films over the years as the director’s, actors’, and production assistant, with such directors as Matīss Kaža and Rainer Sarnet.
Four exhausted women, who don’t know each other accidentally meet at the SPA center. There they get into uncomfortable situations, which happens to be the first step to face their personal problems.
Artišokai was founded in 2017 as an open collaboration of interdisciplinary working artists. Artišokai produced 4 short documentaries that won 5 awards and travelled to more than 50 film festivals, such as Hamburg Short IFF, Ji.hlava IDFF, Tirana IFF, Bosphorus IFF, Kolkata IFF, Vilnius IFF, Beijing Short IFF, etc.
Ieva Šakalytė (b. 1991) gained an MA degree in Film Directing from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2016. Now she works in the film and TV industries as a freelancer, actively participating in workshops, artist residencies, and film industry events. Her latest short fiction film, Becoming Animal, (2021) was screened at the Minimalen Short Film Festival 2021, Filmfest Dresden – Open Air programme 2021, and many more.
Akvilė Žilionytė is a graduate of Eurodoc 2015, ESoDoc 2020, and holds a BA in Literature and an MA in Film Directing. Since 2015 she has been working with film production and exhibitions, closely engaged with prominent Lithuanian contemporary artists. She is also currently producing her first feature documentary after a string of successful short doc films.
The story is about a prison warden in a dystopian city who has broken his instrument. Without him, as he thinks, the whole city will come crashing down. He steals another instrument from the prison, but this does not help to stop the city from collapsing.
MB “Tylus kinas” animation studio has been open since 2015. Providing production service for educational films, ads and apps development.
Antanas Skučas has been working in the field of animation since 2005. His debut film, Childhood Diary, received an award of the Lithuanian Film Academy in 2009. He has produced several films, such as The War of Mushrooms, An Unfinished Story, and others. In 2015, he founded the film production company Tylus kinas. In addition to his creative activities, he teaches students at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.
Juste Michailinaite is an emerging Lithuanian producer. She has tried her hand in different positions in the film industry. Now she is working on several new projects as well as in the marketing of theatrical distribution of the films.
Three characters live their childhood times during the Second World War. They experience the brutality and beauty of life while travelling through different places and times. The stories of the characters create a colourful collage where imagination wins against the tragic reality.
Established in Vilnius in 2001 by the Lithuanian producer Rasa Miškinytė, ERA FILM is known for producing award-winning international documentary films, having made more than 20 films with France, Germany, Poland, and Ireland, with broadcasters such as NHK Japan and many others. Recently, ERA FILM entered a new era with an additional focus on animation, animadocs, and transmedia projects. Its hybrid animation film, Katu Katu (2021), received the Domingo Award at the FAUNA Tepoztlán Animal Festival, Mexico, and the Most Innovative Short Award at 𝐍𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐦 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥. Licenced by Creative Scotland in 2022.
Miglė Satkauskaitė holds a BA in Film from the Middlesex University London. As an exchange student, she spent a year at FAMU in Prague. She has taught filmmaking in Afghanistan. In 2016, Miglė worked at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva as an AV producer. Currently, Miglė is working as a freelance director and writer.
Giedrė Narušytė Boots is a scenographer and animation director. In 1995, she graduated in Scenography at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania, and moved to Belgium, where she studied at the KASK School of Arts Ghent, and got her Master’s degree as an audiovisual artist in animation film. She directed five short animated films and all of them found their way to the festivals.
Rasa Miškinytė is a graduate of the European Film College, Denmark. She received a Master’s degree in Audiovisual Arts, Film & Theatre Department, from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. She is the owner of the production company ERA FILM. Rasa produced the animated documentary The Bug Trainer in co-production with Poland, Japan, the Netherlands, and Finland, which was screened and awarded at numerous festivals. Her latest documentary, Exemplary Behaviour, was co-produced with Bulgaria, Slovenia, and in association with Italy. Its world premiere at DOK Leipzig in 2019 brought several awards: The Golden Dove in the International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film at the 62nd DOK Leipzig, the Prize of the Interreligious Jury, and the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize.
For the first time in ten years Felipe meets his old friend Rasmus at the local running track to run intervals: 10 rounds of 400-meter repeats with a two-minute break between each interval. Felipe starts out trailing back Rasmus but catches up as Rasmus enthusiastically teaches him his running tricks. They almost seem to get into the old flow. But when they begin to exchange ideas about life during one of the breaks, Felipe cannot help but feel like with both of them on different sides of the transition from youth to adulthood their friendship might have lost its foundation.
Kasper Quintanilla is a director, writer and editor based in Oslo, Norway. He graduated from European Film College in 2012 and earned a BA at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2015. Since then, he has written, directed and/or edited several music videos, drama series, and entertainment shows. His latest short film, We Are Not Here (2021), was screened all over the world, including the Norwegian Short Film Festival, Cardiff Mini Film Festival and The Psychedelic Film and Music Festival in New York.
Franziska Schminke (1993) is a filmmaker from Kassel, Germany based in Norway. With a BA in media studies, she began working as a writer, producer and director for industrial clients. In 2019 she moved to Norway to study film at Volda University College, from which she graduated in 2022 with her short documentary INGO.
Ayuub is a 16 year old Norwegian somali. He feels trapped between two cultures. All he wants to do is to be accepted by his friends from school and get the girl of his dreams. But when his brother moves away to study, Ayuub becomes “the man of the family”. When his mother asks him to go to the store, he feels, as the new man of the family, that he should take the car and drive to the store. And so he does. There he meets his friends, and Ayuub has to choose between which culture he should be part of.
Rollo Tomasi AS – we are a group of filmmakers who join forces on various film projects. Here, we blend humor, seriousness, art, action, love, fantasy, food, fashion, travel, entertainment and more. We create, develop and produce films.
There are a plethora of creative processes that exist in the intersection between fact and fiction. Our vast experience tells us that these processes give the best results.
Aurora is known for the Norwegian features Hoggeren and Natt til 17, the TV show Helt Perfekt, and season 3 of Ragnarok on Netflix. She directed It’s OK to Say No, which has been screened at various festivals in Scandinavia, including the Norwegian Short Film Festival and Nordisk Panorama.
Hamza Kader is an actor, writer, and director, known for his role as Liiban in the NRK TV-series 22. juli. As a filmmaker he is known for the short film Hvorfor er du svart?, which he co-directed, wrote, and starred in. The film won Gnistprisen in 2021 at the Norwegian Short Film Festival, and several other awards.
Simen Bang-Hansen (b. 1966) is a 3rd generation filmmaker. He has produced many ads, documentaries, TV-series, music videos and short films.
Thomas Lien has 30 years of experience from the film and television industry. He has worked with short films, feature films, documentaries and commercials, in photography, editing, directing and production. In 1995, he directed the short film Dypets Ensomhet. The film won a prize at Venice Film Festival and was well received around the world. In recent years, he has directed and produced 3 seasons of the documentary series Message in a Bottle, a documentary series for children, on NRK. He has also produced The Navigator (shown at the Tribeca Film Festival), Low Life (recently premiered) and Fuck you Mlungu (in post-production).
Odd Gunnar is a monosyllabic Norwegian farmer, weed grower, and misanthropist, who one day wakes to an earth devoid of human life. Slowly, he realizes that not paying attention to the news has its downsides. Earth is to be hit by an asteroid, and everyone has escaped to the moon. But, science is never exact. The asteroid does not to hit the Earth, but the moon. Luckily, Norway has an atomic rocket station nearby Odd Gunnar. Soon the world leaders are trying to contact and convince this proud and shy farmer, who hardly speaks English, that humanity is worth saving.
Kakofoni A/S genre short films that comment on contemporary society.
Carl Georg Rødsten has a background in Psychology before he did an MA at the London Film School. After that, he worked on several short films and other film projects. His graduation film, Botsgang (Penance), was nominated for Best Short at the HollyShorts film festival in LA in 2013. In 2019, he made a micro short film, Boble (Bubble), which was screened at the Canberra Film Festival in Canberra, Australia, and at the Sunday Shorts Film Festival in Lisbon, Portugal. In 2021, Carl Georg made a 6 episode animated mini-series about Edvard Munch for the Norwegian Gallery, F15. He won the Golden Chair for Best Norwegian Short Film at the Norwegian Short Film Festival in 2022. Currently, he is working on another short film with the producer Kai Andre Sunde, and on his first feature film with Andrew Graham at Graham Film.
Kai Andre Sunde has made two short films before, both of which have been accepted to festivals, both at home and abroad. The first one, Boble (2019), was screened at the Canberra Short Film Festival and Sunday Shorts in Lisbon, while the second film, Walaac (2021), was considered for The Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad, and won the Best Norwegian Short Film Award. His greatest strength is that he has managed to cultivate a unique and diverse staff, who sacrifice blood, sweat, and tears for art. These days, they are also working together on the film adaptation of a Dag Solstad novel (40 min). He is one of the great Norwegian contemporary authors and winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize, and it is therefore an honour to be allowed to film one of his works.
