Meet the Filmmakers of the 2025 NY Baltic Film Festival

Filmmaker talks and Q&As have now been announced for the 8th Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America! The festival returns this year with in-person showings of the best new and critically-acclaimed Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian films in NYC from November 5-9, with 11 screening sessions — including five narrative features, three documentaries, one TV series, and a selection of short films — as well as a selection of virtual film screenings. Screenings comprise a range of North American, New York, and U.S. premieres, and all evening sessions are followed by a reception.  

We are proud to bring many of the filmmakers to New York for Q&As after premieres. The festival will kick off with an Opening Night Celebration on Wednesday, November 5 at 6:30 PM featuring the North American Premiere of The Exalted (Cildenie, dir. Juris Kursietis, Latvia/Estonia/Greece, 2024). Lead actor Juris Žagars will present a film talk on his exquisite thriller exploring the boundaries of loyalty and greed, following an internationally renowned organist navigating a crumbling reputation while her partner Andris (Žagars), a successful CEO, is suspected of corruption. Žagars will also be present for a Q&A at a second screening of The Exalted on Thursday, November 6 at 6 PM. 
 

On Saturday, November 8 at 7:30 PM, Meel Peliale will be present for a screening and film Q&A on his “disarming” youth-centered comedy-drama Rolling Papers (Pikad Paberid, Estonia, 2024), which explores an unconventional relationship that develops between an aimless store clerk and a free-spirited wanderer and has been selected as Estonia’s contender for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards. On Sunday, November 9 at 7 PM, the closing night will feature a screening of Vytautas Katkus' feature film debut The Visitor (Svečias, Lithuania/Norway/Sweden, 2025), which centers on a Lithuanian expat in Norway (Darius Šilėnas) as he journeys back to his sleepy homeland to wrap up a life left behind — and can't quite let it go. Praised as “an appealingly offbeat debut” (Guy Lodge, Variety) and “a cinematic meditation on solitude” (Georg Szalai, THR), and winner of Best Director at the 2025 Karlovy Vary Film Festival, The Visitor offers an unhurried, gentle journey through the strange comforts of nostalgia and the meaning of home.

On Thursday, November 6 at 8:15 PM, director Moonika Siimets will be present for a screening and film Q&A on her an absurdist, genre-blending comedic anthology The Black Hole (Must Auk, Estonia/Finland, 2024), which follows three interconnected stories in a suburban Estonian apartment complex, where residents encounter aliens and fantastical beings while grappling with everyday struggles like abuse, loneliness, and economic hardship.

On Friday, November 7 at 6 PM, Latvian producer Dita Cimermane will also be present for a screening of the first four episodes of The Mutiny (Dumpis, dir. Andrejs Ēķis, Latvia, 2024), a gripping historical drama following a Soviet officer's struggle against the authorities in 1975 Riga that leads to a mutiny on the warship Storozhevoy. 

On Saturday, November 8 at 1 PM, director Vytautas Puidokas will be present for a screening of Murmuring Hearts (Murmančios Širdys, Lithuania/France/Norway, 2024), his powerful, tender documentary following a group of recovering addicts as they take on the responsibility of parenting a troubled 14-year-old boy at a desolate rehab in Latvia's countryside. At 3:15 PM, film director Margit Lillak will be present for the screening and a Q&A on Becoming Roosi (Varastatud tulevik, Estonia/Germany, 2025), a deep, funny and provocative documentary centering on an Estonian girl navigating adolescence and climate crisis; the film talk will also feature remarks by Roosi Mai Järviste, the subject of the documentary. And at 5:15 PM, lead actor Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė and editor Armands Začs will be present for a screening of Renovation (Renovacija, Lithuania/Latvia/Belgium, 2025), the feature following 29-year-old perfectionist Ilona as she faces mounting pressure to feel successful and settled by age 30, navigating relationships new and old around her newly-purchased apartment in Vilnius.

On Sunday, November 9 at 2 PM, director Armands Začs will be present for the North American premiere of his documentary To Be Continued: Teenhood (Turpinājums: Pieaugšana, Latvia, 2024), the long-awaited follow-up to To Be Continued, where he and co-director Ivars Seleckis reunite with the five children featured in the original documentary—now 14 years old and forging unique paths toward adulthood. And at 4:15 PM, we will present a screening Baltic Short Films, featuring two shorts from each Baltic country (six films total).

In-person screenings and events will take place at Scandinavia House in New York (58 Park Ave, 10016). A virtual screening program will take place from November 10-16; stay tuned for details on virtual films. For program announcements, please subscribe to the festival newsletter at balticfilmfestival.com and Scandinavia House newsletter at scandinaviahouse.org. For more immediate updates, follow NYBFF on Instagram and Facebook.
 

For press information, including hi-res images and interview requests, please contact Lori Fredrickson, ASF Director of Communications, and Digital, at lori@amscan.org or 212-847-9727.