Baltic Sea Docs

Baltic Sea Docs International co-production forum for documentary films, organized by National Film Centre of Latvia. Supported by CE MEDIA.

30th edition 6-13 September 2026

29th BALTIC SEA FORUM FOR DOCUMENTARIES 31 August-7 September 2025. Organized by the National Film Centre of Latvia. Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, Creative Europe MEDIA.

Introducing   PROJECTSCONCRETE GRASSLAND | Georgia, FranceGOING UNDERGROUND | Latvia, Estonia, FinlandRAVINE AND TOWER |...
11/08/2026

Introducing PROJECTS
CONCRETE GRASSLAND | Georgia, France
GOING UNDERGROUND | Latvia, Estonia, Finland
RAVINE AND TOWER | Ukraine, Lithuania

Going Underground | Latvia, Estonia, Finland
director Armands Začs | producers Dārta Vijgrieze, Gints Grube | production company Mistrus Media | co-production companies Allfilm, Making Movies Oy
In a time of growing geopolitical tension, “Going Underground” follows a young civil defense architect Veronika in Latvia whose work inspecting bomb shelters for a possible Russian invasion quietly feeds her own spiraling fear.

Ravine and Tower | Ukraine, Lithuania
director Oleksiy Radynski | producer Lyuba Knorozok | production company Kinotron Group | co-production company Studija Kinema
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Babyn Yar in Kyiv – the area of one of the worst N**i massacres of the Shoah – was subject to Soviet state-sanctioned oblivion for decades. Now, it is under Russian attack.

Concrete Grassland | Georgia, France
director Shorena Tevzadze | producers Elene Margvelashvili (Parachute Films), Shorena Tevzadze (Diafilm) | co-producer Adriana Ferrares (Ceresa Film)
A young couple in Tbilisi invests in an apartment that never gets built. As they raise their son, seasons shift, war comes and goes – a decade slips by in temporary homes, revealing a country where no one is held accountable.

Information: https://dokforums.gov.lv/industry/

Introducing   PROJECTSEVENING SCHOOL | UkraineMASTER OF CEREMONIES | Poland, SwedenMARIANA’S LAMENT | FinlandEvening Sch...
09/08/2026

Introducing PROJECTS
EVENING SCHOOL | Ukraine
MASTER OF CEREMONIES | Poland, Sweden
MARIANA’S LAMENT | Finland

Evening School | Ukraine
director Philip Dotsenko | producer Nadia Parfan | production company Phalanstery Films
A wounded soldier, a patient teacher, struggling students, and staff are all continuing their music routines while war reshapes their lives. The film observes daily life in an evening music school for adults in wartime Kyiv, where lessons continue despite blackouts, loss, and personal challenges.

Master of Ceremonies | Poland, Sweden
director Katarzyna Piórek | producer Stanisław Zaborowski | production company Silver Frame | co-producer Daniéla Frykstrand (Gunilla Film)
A 54-year-old eccentric Catholic teacher secretly conducts secular funerals behind the Catholic Church’s back until he faces his most difficult assignment: writing his own farewell speech.

Mariana’s Lament | Finland
directors Antti Haase, Mariana Reyes | producer Kaarle Aho | production company Making Movies Oy
Mariana, a Mexican psychologist, returns to Finland to learn how to deal with her problematic relationship with her mother. Pirkko, a reviver of old Finnish lament singing, teaches Mariana how to cure her traumas by laments. Will a lament for her mother cure Mariana’s traumas?

Information: https://dokforums.gov.lv/industry/

Introducing   PROJECTSMY SHADOWS GROW FASTER THAN ME | Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia14,5 KM AWAY FROM OUR DREAMS | Armenia,...
07/08/2026

Introducing PROJECTS

MY SHADOWS GROW FASTER THAN ME | Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia
14,5 KM AWAY FROM OUR DREAMS | Armenia, France
THE CRUST OF EUROPE | Latvia
MY OTHER, PERFECT ME | Czechia, Lithuania, Slovakia

My Shadows Grow Faster Than Me | Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia
directors Roman Bondarchuk, Dar'ya Averchenko | scriptwriters Giedrė Beinoriūtė, Darya Averchenko | producer Jurga Gluskiniene | production company MONOKLIS | co-producers Darya Averchenko (SOUTH FILMS), Uldis Cekulis (VFS Films)
When Russia’s invasion forces a Ukrainian filmmaking family to flee to Britain, their children grow into a new language and culture while the parents film what is being lost – and ask what returning home can mean when home itself is changing.

14,5 km Away From Our Dreams | Armenia, France
director Lilit Mkhitaryan | producers Lilit Mkhitaryan, Ruzanna Ghazaryan | production company HayaDoc | co-production company Les Films d'Ici
Artur, his two friends, retired teacher and taxi driver all live in the Armenian-Turkish border village a mere 14.5 km from Mount Ararat currently belonging to Turkey. Boys share a common dream to climb the mountain. They all remain caught in anticipation of the decades-long closed border’s potential opening.

The Crust of Europe | Latvia
director Ivars Zviedris | producer Liene Ulmane | production company Dokumentālists - Documentarian
The landscape along the eastern border of Latvia and the European Union is changing – dragon’s teeth, anti-tank iron crosses, minefields, and a fence like a sharp ribbon disrupt the harmony of nature.

My Other, Perfect Me | Czechia, Lithuania, Slovakia
director Veronika Liskova | producers Martina Netíková, Kristýna Michálek Květová | production company Cinémotif Films | co-production company Moonmakers
Tereza, a successful actress and musician, struggles with bulimia hidden behind her public life. As her condition begins to threaten her voice and career, she embarks on a cinematic journey confronting her desire for perfection and searching for a path toward recovery.

Information: https://dokforums.gov.lv/industry/

Filmmakers, industry representatives, and journalists - ONE WEEK left to apply for   as observers! Accreditation grants ...
21/07/2026

Filmmakers, industry representatives, and journalists - ONE WEEK left to apply for as observers!
Accreditation grants free participation in pitching sessions & industry events September 9-11, networking activities, and film screenings September 8-13.
Submit Application Form by July 27: https://ej.uz/bsdaccreditation
Selected projects : https://dokforums.gov.lv/selected-projects-2026/

26/06/2026

The regular submission deadline for PÖFF | Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is approaching – submit by 26 June!

We would like to highlight the two documentary competition sections:

🔵 Doc@PÖFF International Competition – feature-length docs from around the world, completed after the 1st of January 2026 (world premieres exclusively).

🟢 Doc@PÖFF Baltic Competition – feature-length docs from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, completed after the 1st of January 2026.

Regular deadline: 29 June 2026
Extended deadline: 17 August 2026
Final deadline: 24 August 2026

The project selection for the 30th edition of Baltic Sea Docs is out! 🌊This September, 26 documentary projects from the ...
02/06/2026

The project selection for the 30th edition of Baltic Sea Docs is out! 🌊

This September, 26 documentary projects from the Baltic States, Ukraine, Finland, Poland, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and beyond will be presented in Riga. Join us in celebrating 30 years of connecting documentary filmmakers and stories across borders!

📍 Riga, Latvia
📅 6–11 September, 2026

The full project selection: https://dokforums.gov.lv/selected-projects-2026/

We would like to share a few words in memory of Simon Drewsen Holmberg, one of the founders of Baltic Sea Docs, written ...
28/05/2026

We would like to share a few words in memory of Simon Drewsen Holmberg, one of the founders of Baltic Sea Docs, written by Lelda Ozola, an early member of the BSD organising team:

"I needed a couple of days to contemplate what it means that Simon is in another world now. He is and he isn’t, as he continues to live in the minds of Baltic documentary professionals (and beyond) forever.

This year, BSD is celebrating its 30th anniversary. It is the most important documentary event in the Baltic countries – highly respected for its professionality and loved for its friendly and inclusive atmosphere. It was founded by Simon Drewsen Holmberg & Bent Noerby Bonde at the Baltic Media Centre on the island of Bornholm in 1997. They were visionaries who saw that unknown Baltic stories are worth breaking out in the world. And they were so true.

The event helped to shape and strengthen the concept of a Baltic documentary film producer – a non-existent profession in the Soviet regime. They saw the value of creative documentaries that had developed in the Baltic countries since 1960s under the censorship of the Soviet Union where you had to tell the truth between the lines and be very creative visually.

Today’s internationally well-known Baltic documentary producers’ names have developed all through the 30 years of Baltic Sea Docs. It is a mind-blowing journey started by a couple of people and their teams. It proves that every one of us can change the world – like Simon did for our documentarians.

On a personal note, Simon has also geared my professional life into what it is today – inviting me to join the Baltic Media Centre’s team at the end of the 1990s. It was a huge step for someone born and raised in the Soviet Union and helped me to adapt to the new Western reality much quicker, gaining invaluable professional know-how in those two years on Bornholm. And it was Simon who ‘planted’ me in the team of the National Film Centre of Latvia so that the knowledge gained in Denmark continues to grow together with the Latvian film industry. I am SO GRATEFUL for having such a rewarding and interesting job until this day.

Simon has undoubtedly left his footprint in the Baltic documentary scene, and it cannot be erased. And we are sure that he’ll continue to guide us as a guardian angel from the silver lined heaven – filled with light, harmony and a wonderful sense of humour. RIP."

Lelda Ozola

In the photo by Agnese Zeltiņa: Simon Drewsen Holmberg at the reception hosted by the Danish Cultural Institute in the Baltic States to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Baltic Sea Docs in 2021.

Last days to submit your documentary project to the upcoming 30th anniversary edition of Baltic Sea Docs!📅 6 – 11 Septem...
04/05/2026

Last days to submit your documentary project to the upcoming 30th anniversary edition of Baltic Sea Docs!

📅 6 – 11 September, 2026
📍 Riga, Latvia
📩 Apply by 6 May

Filmmakers from the Baltic Sea region, Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus are invited to submit their projects. Companies from other European countries may also apply if their project relates to these regions or involves a regional co-producer.
Show us the work!

Worth checking out for documentary professionals! 🙌🎬 Creative Europe Desk Poland / Program Kreatywna Europa invites to a...
14/04/2026

Worth checking out for documentary professionals! 🙌

🎬 Creative Europe Desk Poland / Program Kreatywna Europa invites to a conference “Focus on Documentary Storytelling”, dedicated to production, promotion, and distribution of documentary films.

📅 21 April 2026 (Tuesday)
🕒 11:00–15:00
📍 Online (Zoom)

Among speakers:
Anna Gawlita (Kijora Film)
Helle Faber (Made in Copenhagen)
Katarzyna Kuczyńska (HAKA Films)
Stephanie Fuchs (Autlook Filmsales)
Petar Mitric (Filmotor)
Artur Liebhart (Against Gravity)
Oli Harbottle (Dogwoof)
Katarzyna Wilk (KFF Sales)

The event takes place as part of the 35th anniversary of the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe, which has long supported the development of European documentary cinema and its international visibility.

Participation is free of charge; registration is required.
Follow the link in comments for a full programme and registration link! 👇

Address

Str. Miera 58a
Riga
LV1013

Opening Hours

Monday 10:00 - 18:30
Tuesday 10:00 - 18:30
Wednesday 10:00 - 18:30
Thursday 10:00 - 18:30
Friday 10:00 - 18:30

Telephone

0037167358858

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