Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries, established in 1997 in Denmark, will be hosted in Rīga for the 17th year where the forum for documentary industry professionals has been complemented with a public film program.
“We are very happy to see that over the 25 years Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries has retained its position as an important and necessary event for film professionals from the Baltic Sea region, Eastern Europe and beyond. It has been a springboard for many filmmakers in the past, and it continues to be such a platform. Films from recent editions have enjoyed great festival runs – like “The Earth is Blue as an Orange” by Iryna Tsilyk, “Courage” by Aliaksei Paluyan, or Antonia Kilian’s “The Other Side of the River” and many others. Even though this anniversary edition will be held in a hybrid form with just a few onsite participants, we will make every effort to have as productive an event as possible, and we do hope that next year we will be able to welcome everyone in Riga again,” said project manager of the forum Zane Balčus.
18 film project representatives from 17 countries will first participate at a three day workshop aimed at enhancing the participants' presentations prior to the upcoming pitching sessions.
The pitching sessions on 8-9 September will take place online, with representatives from the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) present at the Baltic Sea Docs studio in Rīga.
The industry event programme will also feature a seminar on film distribution while the traditional methods are blocked, focusing on how and why this hurts documentaries. The seminar, organised by the Creative Media Office of Latvia, will be led by Gitte Hansen on 7 September.
For the fifth year, Baltic Sea Docs will partner with Artdocfest, a festival and industry platform for independent filmmakers. A selection of 10 film projects will be presented at the Artdocfest pitching session on 8 September.
In parallel to industry events, Baltic Sea Docs will present a film programme of international documentaries to the wider public.
The Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries is organised by the National Film Centre of Latvia and supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, State Culture Capital Foundation and Riga City Council. More information about the selected film projects and the event is available on the forum homepage.
We take a closer look at the documentaries selected to be screened at this year's Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries (@BalticSeaDocs), as well as the special anniversary film selection. https://t.co/45NjF1ehmb
— Cineuropa (@Cineuropa) August 25, 2021
