Twenty-six documentary film projects have been selected for the 29th edition of Baltic Sea Docs, the prominent co-production and co-financing forum set to take place in Riga, Latvia, from 31 August to 5 September 2025. This year’s lineup includes 22 projects currently in development or production, alongside four works in post-production, which will be presented in the “Coming Soon” section.
The selected projects reflect a diverse range of themes and cinematic approaches, from explorations of intergenerational trauma and personal loss to hybrid forms and experimental storytelling. Projects such as Face It Without Fear by Svitlana Lishchynska tackle the psychological aftermath of war, while A Guide to Grief by Ivars Zviedris offers a deeply personal account of mourning. Other selections experiment with authorship and narrative perspective, including the animal-led documentary Creaturama – Epic of the Animals and the Gen Z self-portrait Kind of Adults.
Two projects were invited through partnerships with other European documentary industry platforms. Operation Champion (Radium Films, Georgia) was awarded the Baltic Sea Docs Award at this year’s East Doc Platform, while The Wars We Play (Carousel Films, Germany/Ukraine) received recognition at DOK.forum München.
The pitching sessions for Baltic Sea Docs 2025 will take place on 4–5 September, following a preparatory workshop for the selected teams. The workshop will be led by international industry experts, including Tue Steen Müller, Mikael Opstrup, Salomé Jashi, Mia Halme, Darya Bassel, and Phil Jandaly.
In parallel to the industry programme, a curated selection of recent creative documentaries will screen publicly in Riga and several regional towns between 2–7 September.
Baltic Sea Docs 2025 – Selected Projects:
- A Guide To Grief | Latvia – Director: Ivars Zviedris
- Brake for Gold | Poland – Director: Adelina Borets
- Bride of the Invisible | Lithuania, Poland – Director: Audrius Stonys
- Creaturama – Epic of the Animals | Finland, Estonia – Director: Juha Suonpää
- Cuba. Deprivation | Latvia – Director: Staņislavs Tokalovs
- DNA of the Nation | Ukraine, Lithuania – Director: Ivan Sautkin
- Elīna Garanča: The Symphony of Life | Latvia, Germany, Austria – Director: Signe Birkova
- Face It Without Fear | Sweden, Ukraine – Director: Svitlana Lishchynska
- Garden of Anna | Latvia, India – Director: Kristīne Briede
- Kind of Adults | Hungary – Directors: Peter Akar, Rita Balogh
- Maria Is On TV | Lithuania – Directors: Viktorija Mickutė, Ieva Balsiūnaitė
- Missing in Action (wt) | Ukraine, Norway – Directors: Kateryna Holovko, Marharyta Melnychuk
- Olimbi – Mother Courage | Croatia – Director: Karlo Mlinar
- Operation Champion | Georgia – Director: Mariam Nikolaishvili
- Rapland | Finland – Director: Miina Alajärvi
- RepairMan | Lithuania – Director: Marija Stonytė
- Rita | Lithuania – Director: Gailė Garnelytė
- The Perfect | Estonia, Finland – Director: Laura Liventaal
- The Roads of Forgotten Dreams | Estonia, Germany – Director: Joosep Matjus
- The Wars We Play | Germany, Ukraine – Directors: Anton Yaremchuk, João Pedro Prado
- Threads of My Ancestors | Estonia – Director: Carlos Lesmes
- Women and War | Poland, Germany, Ukraine – Directors: Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski
Coming Soon – Post-Production Projects from Previous BSD Editions:
- In the Winds of the Icefields | Estonia – Director: Mihkel Oksmann
- My Family and Other Clowns | Estonia – Directors: Heilika Pikkov, Liina Särkinen
- Požerskis: In Focus | Lithuania – Director: Joris Skudra
- Shut the Fuck Up! | Ukraine – Director: Taisiia Kutuzova
More details about the 2025 selection are available on the official website:
www.balticseadocs.lv/industry/selected-projects-2025
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