Works in Progress, which presents films in production or post-production looking for sales agents or festivals for international premieres, presents 17 projects in three categories: Baltic Event Works in Progress, International Works in Progress and Just Film Works in Progress. The selected projects include first features by Student Academy Award winners and a European Film Award winner and new titles by established directors.
All projects will be screened during Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event on 21-22 November in the cinemas of the Coca-Cola Plaza.
Marge Liiske, head of Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, described this year’s selection as very strong, exciting, and diverse, with a record number of submissions making the selection process more competitive than ever. 'We have slightly fewer projects from the Baltics this year, as many international co-productions faced delays due to longer financing periods, but we hope to see those catching up next year,' she noted. Across all categories, we decided to select fewer projects this year, allowing us to give each one double the presentation time compared to previous years. This change ensures that sales agents and festival programmers gain a deeper understanding of each film’s visual style and tone.”
International Works in Progress
The International Works in Progress selection features seven film projects, including four debuts. Among them is the Greek social drama Late Shift by Stefanos Tsivopoulos, a Greek film director, screenwriter, and video artist with over 30 short and medium-length films made across various countries. Wolves, a Swiss social drama, marks the first feature by Jonas Ulrich, whose short film People on Saturday (2020) won the Golden Leopard at the 73rd Locarno Film Festival and was shortlisted for the European Film Award 2020. The German thriller, reflecting on the festival’s Focus Country, Interior is the debut feature from Pascal Schuh, whose bachelor’s film Auf Platte was a finalist at the 2022 Student Academy Awards. Rounding out the slate of debuts is Aquarium by Tornike Bziava, an actor-director-writer from this year’s spotlight country, Georgia, known for his award-winning short films.
The showcase also presents the German road movie Balance by Björn Schürmann, which tells a very heartfelt story of an estranged father and daughter who take an unexpected journey together. The Panama-Spain-Uruguay co-production Papers, directed by award-winning Arturo Montenegro, takes audiences to the heart of the Panama Papers scandal that shook the world.
Baltic Event Works in Progress
This year's Baltic Event Works in Progress showcase presents four powerful social dramas that touch on the common theme of societal expectations and reveal the paradoxical reality of our times - are we allowed to live freely, regardless of age, time and place?
Our Erika, a co-production of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, is the first feature film by German Golub, winner of the Student Academy Award in the International Short Film category for My Dear Corpses. The story is inspired by the life of young Estonian track cyclist Erika Salumäe, who became a 1988 Olympic gold medallist and "light of the nation". Another co-production, Call me Calendar (Latvia, Lithuania), is a tragicomedy based on the bestselling Latvian debut novel. The film is directed by acclaimed director Juris Poškus and produced by Madara Melberga, whose interest lies in stories balancing on the edge and her favourite theme - the dilemma.
The programme also includes two titles from Lithuania.