Works in Progress, which presents films in production or post-production looking for sales agents or festivals for international premieres, presents 16 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, as well as 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.”
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.
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. The drama Sand in Your Hair explores whether love can overcome loneliness and resist social taboos, following the love story of the elderly couple Malvina and Kipras. The film is the second feature by director Mantas Verbiejus, whose first, the romantic comedy Divorce, was well received by audiences in Lithuania. Renovation, a debut feature by Lithuanian writer-director-editor Gabrielė Urbonaitė, was part of the EKRAN+ and Mediterranean Film Institute's Script 2 Film training programme. The story explores themes of identity, questioning social expectations and the pressure to conform to traditional roles through the eyes of 29-year-old Ilona. The film is produced by Uljana Kim, whose productions have premiered at major international film festivals and enjoyed domestic box office success.
Just Film Works in Progress presents six children and youth films that tell stories about people in different places and times – two of them are created for children. Little Elephant in the Woods is a Dutch-Belgian co-production directed by Belgian-Dutch filmmaker Meikeminne Clinckspoor, known for her Emmy-nominated toddler series Doopie (2020) and dedicated to making cinema for the young. In 2024, the European Children’s Film Association published her manifesto on why the youngest audience is the most important. Another children’s film, the hilarious Finnish family comedy Ella and Friends: Nature Calls is the debut feature from Elin Grönblom, who has written and directed several children's and youth TV series.
Award-winning filmmaker Luis Campos comes to Tallinn with his debut feature Dirty Land, which follows a 12-year-old boy, Joao, who lives with his troubled father and caring female neighbors. An adventurous youth film, Secret Delivery, is based on a true story of great heroism by little heroes. The film is directed by Slovak director Ján Sebechlebský, who has made more than a dozen documentaries and series. South America is represented by the Argentinian-Uruguayan co-production Emi, directed by Ezequiel Erriquez Mena, which tells the story of 18-year-old Emi, who lives with his adoptive parents but wants to know more about his biological family. The selection concludes with another South American title, The River, a debut feature by Cristóbal García about five adolescents who lose their shack to rising waters during a winter in Santiago, prompting them to embark on an adventure along the Mapocho River to see the ocean.
Jurys and awards
The jury of Baltic Event and international Works in Progress includes Casey Baron, US Programming Lead of Tribeca Film Festival, Julie Marnay, Program Manager at First Cut Lab and head of European Short Pitch in 2019 and Alexis Cassanet, EVP International Sales & Distribution at Gaumont Film Company.
The best projects both in the Baltic and International Works in Progress, will be granted 7000 euros, consisting of 6000 euros worth of services by Studio Beep, together with 1000 euros travel allowance.
The jury of Just Film Works in Progress includes Janne Vierth, Commissioner of feature films, short films, and documentaries for children and youth at the Swedish Film Institute, Film and TV Scriptwriter, Teresa Lima, Co-founder, programmer, and director of PLAY - International Film Festival for Children and Youth and Eva-Maria Schneider-Reuter, Media Educator and Artistic Director of the Sehpferdchen Film Festival for the generations.
The best project of Just Film Works in Progress will receive 1000 euro monetary prize to help the film gain visibility by covering promotion and publicity costs.
International Works in Progress
Title: Aquarium
Original title: Akvariumi
Countries: Georgia
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Mystic
Written by: Tornike Bziava
Directed by: Tornike Bziava
Produced by: Tornike Bziava, Elia Pharsadan, Nino Shengelaya
Production company: Reactormonkey Films, Buni Productions, 29plus7pictures, Shengelaya Productions
Arebato Films
Language:
Title: Balance
Original title: Balance
Country: Germany
Genre: road movie, drama
Directed by: Björn Schürmann
Produced by: Björn Schürmann
Production company: projekt:::film
Languages: German, Dutch, English
Title: Face to Face
Original title: A la cara
Country: Spain, Belgium
Genre: drama
Directed by: Javier Marco
Produced by: Odile Antonio-Baez
Written by: Javier Marco, Belén Sánchez-Arévalo
Production company: Pecado Films
Languages: Spanish
Title: Interior
Original title: Interior
Country: German
Genre: thriller, psychological drama
Written by: Timo Ackermann, Pascal Schuh
Directed by: Pascal Schuh
Produced by: Timo Ackermann, Katrin Haase, Oliver Arnold
Production company: U5 Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG, Film University Babelsberg, KONRAD WOLF
Language: German
Title: Late Shift
Original title: Late Shift
Country: Greece
Genre: social drama
Written by: Nikos Smpiliris
Directed by: Stefanos Tsivopoulos
Produced by: Nikos Smpiliris
Production company: Boo Productions
Languages: Greek, Romanian
Title: Papers
Original title: Papeles
Countries: Panama, Spain, Uruguay
Genre: crime film, drama, thriller
Written by: Arturo Montenegro
Directed by: Arturo Montenegro
Produced by: Andry José Barrientos
Production company: Andry José Barrientos
Language: Spanish, English, Turkish
Title: Wolves
Original title: Wolves
Country: Switzerland
Genre: drama, social drama
Directed by: Jonas Ulrich
Produced by: Nicole Ulrich
Production company: Dynamic Frame GmbH
Language: English, Swiss, German
Baltic Event Works in Progress
Title: Call Me Calendar
Original title: Kalendārs mani sauc
Countries: Latvia, Lithuania
Genre: adaptation, tragicomedy
Directed by: Juris Poškus
Produced by: Madara Melberga
Production company: Aigars Sermukss
Language: Latvian
Title: Our Erika
Original title: Meie Erika
Countries: Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia
Genre: biographical, drama
Directed by: German Golub
Produced by: Marju Lepp
Production company: Filmivabrik
Language: Estonian, Russian
Title: Renovation
Original title: Renovacija
Countries: Renovacija
Genre: Lithuania
Directed by: Gabrielė Urbonaitė
Produced by: Uljana Kim
Production company: Studio Uljana Kim
Language: Lithuanian, Ukrainian, English
Title: Sand in Your Hair
Original title: Smėlis tavo plaukuose
Country: Lithuania
Genre: drama
Directed by: Mantas Verbiejus
Produced by: Živilė Gallego
Production companies: Creative Europe MEDIA, Lithuanian Film Centre, Fralita Films
Language: Lithuanian
Just Film Works in Progress
Title: Dirty Land
Original title: Terra Vil
Countries: Portugal, Italy
Genre: drama
Written by: Luis Campos
Directed by: Luis Campos
Produced by: Luis Campos
Production companies: Matiné, dispàrte
Language: Portuguese
Title: Emi
Original title: Emi
Countries: Argentina, Uruguay
Genre: drama, youth film
Directed by: Ezequiel Erriquez Mena
Produced by: Laura Mara Tablón
Production companies: Rita Cine, El Cielo Cine
Language: Spanish
Title: Ella and Friends: Nature Calls
Original title: Ella ja kaverit menevät metsään
Country: Finland
Genre: children's film, comedy
Written by: Katri Manninen
Directed by: Elin Grönblom
Produced by: Aleksi Hyvärinen
Production company: Don Films
Language: Finnish
Title: Little Elephant in the Woods
Original title: Olifantje in het Bos
Countries: The Netherlands, Belgium
Genre: live-action children’s film
Written by: Tijs van Marle, Meikeminne Clinckspoor
Directed by: Meikeminne Clinckspoor
Produced by: Gijs Kerbosch, Guusje van Deuren, Ingmar Conjarts
Production company: 100%
Language: Dutch or English
Title: The River
Original title: El Eio
Countries: Chile, Argentina
Genre: drama, road movie
Written by: Cristóbal García
Directed by: Francisco Bisañez
Produced by: Cristóbal García
Production company: Vórtice Films
Language: Spanish
Title: Secret Delivery
Original title: Ticha Posta
Countries: Czechia, Slovakia
Genre: family film, adventure, historical film
Written by: Jiří Stránský
Directed by: Ján Sebechlebský
Produced by: Julietta Sichel
Production company: 8Heads Productions
Languages: Czech, German
*Header image: Still from Late Shift competing in the International Works in Progress