Returning to Lithuania’s capital city of Vilnius between 6 and 9 October, the 14th edition of the Baltic Pitching Forum (BPF) will reaffirm its status as the leading short film industry event in the Baltic region. Celebrating the best short film projects from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – alongside this year’s guest country Italy – the BPF will provide talented filmmakers and industry professionals a space to network, collaborate and celebrate the breadth and depth of the short film industry in the Baltics and beyond.
Published: 16.09.2026.
The main focus of the forum will be the pitching of the 12 selected projects, which will take place on the 8th of October. Different lectures, presentations and keynotes will be part of the forum’s program, open not only to participants, but also to observers. Pitching sessions and other public events will be accessible to all registered professionals.
On October 6th, the first day of the Baltic Pitching Forum, German pitching expert and longtime BPF collaborator Gabriele Brunnenmeyer will give a presentation titled Creating a “Good” Pitch. The talk will focus on what convinces people during the pitch, and how preparation and a structured presentation can resonate with an audience.
On October 7th, Italian marketing strategist and audience designer, Nicolò Gallio will present Short Films, Big Stakes: What AI Can and Cannot Do for Filmmakers. The lecture will examine key implications of working with Generative AI: its ethical and ecological costs, the cognitive risks of uncritical adoption, and the strategic question of where human judgement remains irreplaceable. This lecture is organised in partnership with Creative Europe MEDIA Desk Lithuania.
Later the same day, producer Anne-Laure Guégan – from Belgian production company Need Production – will present Building a Sustainable Relationship Between Director and Producer. She will be talking about building a long-term, trust-based partnership between director and producer, identifying the right creative partner for your project, and balancing creative ambitions with the reality of production.
With October 8th being dedicated to the pitching sessions of the 12 selected short film projects from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Italy, the Forum will invite participants of the Baltic emerging producers training program UP! to introduce themselves to the international audience.
The final day of the Forum, October 9th, will start with Let’s Stop Whispering, The Baltic Moment (Your Moment) Is Now, where Simona Inta and Viktorija Cook, co-founders of the Baltic Talents Agency, explore how creatives in the Baltics have been making world-class creative work for decades and how they want to amplify those creative voices so the world knows what the Baltics have to offer.
Later on, Jacopo Chessa, president of the Italian Film Commission, will invite the forum's audience to a presentation: Why Italy? Your Next Co-Production Destination. Following it, the manager of the Italian Short Film Center, Elena Ciofalo, will present key opportunities available at the Italian Short Film Center and ShorTO Film Market.
The second half of October 9th will place the focus on successful BPF alumni. Gintė Regina and Akvilė Žilionytė (director and producer of “On Conductor Street”, BPF 2023, Lithuania) will talk about their experiences with the journey of their films and discuss some of the challenges that they have faced along the way.
This will be followed by the traditional Who is Taking Care of Short Films? which brings together European short film sales, distribution and television companies to give filmmakers a practical insight into how they work and what they are looking for. Featuring contributions from many of the BPF’s industry guests, this is a crucial event for those wanting to take the pulse of the short film world.
As a tradition, the Forum will be rounded out by a short film screening from the guest country, Italy, “Contemporary Italian Animated Short Cinema”, curated by the Italian Short Film Center. The programme will showcase acclaimed Italian animated short films that reflect the creativity of contemporary Italian animators and their growing presence on the international festival circuit. The screening will take place at Muzeoteka and will be open to everyone.
This year’s BPF Panel will consist of Anne-Laure Guégan (producer at Need Productions, Belgium), Elena Ciofalo (manager of ShorTO Film Market, Italy), Eva Schweizer (TV distributor at SRF TV, Switzerland), Olivier Berlemont (producer at oriGine Films, France), Sari Volanen (buyer at Yle, Finland), Simone Bardoni (distributor at Lights On, Italy), Stine Wangler (sales agent at Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg, Germany), Vanya Rainova (producer at Portokal, Bulgaria), and Laurent Crouzeix (coordinator at Euro Connection, France).
Aside from giving immediate feedback to the pitches, the BPF Panel will award two short film projects (from the Baltic States) with participant rights to the European Short Film Co-production Forum Euro Connection (part of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival), and the ShorTO Film Market and its Pitching Session ‘You Only Pitch Twice’.
The Producers’ Jury will have four members: Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė (Just a Moment, Lithuania), Maie Rosmann (Estonia), Antra Cilinska (Juris Podnieks Studio) and Enrica Capra (Graffiti, Italy). One of the projects will receive the Producers MEDIA Award (€1,000), initiated by the Creative Europe MEDIA Desks in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Italy.
Projects will also be eligible to win awards established by other BPF partners. One project will receive The RIGA IFF Award, which allows the film to participate in the SHORT RIGA Test Screenings event in 2026 or 2027. Another project will get The UP Records Sound Post-Production Award, which provides sound post-production services valued at €2,000. The Baltic Talent Digital Strategy Award – open to Baltic projects – will award one project a consultancy session to sharpen its digital presence ahead of its festival launch, covering EPK development, social media strategy, and positioning materials for the market and press. Finally, students from Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian National Film Schools will select their favourite project and award it with the Baltic Film Schools Student Choice Award.
The 14th Baltic Pitching Forum will take place from 6 to 9 October at the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius. The event is open to the general public and free of charge.
To attend the event, pre-registration is required HERE.
More about the programme – HERE.
The full list of selected BPF projects can be found HERE.
Baltic Pitching Forum is organized by the Lithuanian Short Film Agency “Lithuanian Shorts”. The event is partly financed by the Lithuanian Film Centre, Vilnius City Municipality, Audiovisual Works Copyright Association “AVAKA” and Baltisches Haus. Associated partners: Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS, Riga IFF, Latvian Short Film Agency and PÖFF Shorts (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival). Partners – Creative Europe MEDIA Desks in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Italy, Italian Short Film Center, Estonian Film Institute, Embassy of Italy in Lithuania, ShorTO Film Market, European Short Film Co-production Forum Euro Connection, UP Records, Baltic Talent Agency, National Film School KIMO, Latvian Academy of Culture, Baltic Film and Media School, Vilnius Film Office and National Gallery of Art.
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CONTACT PERSON
Ieva Daugialaitė
Digital Communication Coordinator
Baltic Pitching Forum &
Lithuanian Short Film Agency
media@filmshorts.lt
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