Works in Progress, showcasing films currently in production or post-production and seeking sales agents or festival premieres, introduces 16 promising projects across three categories: Baltic Event Works in Progress, International Works in Progress, and Just Film Works in Progress. The lineup features both debut filmmakers and acclaimed directors presenting their latest works. The selection brings together projects, from intimate psychological dramas to imaginative adventures for younger audiences. The films explore family relations, freedom, grief and belonging.
All projects will be screened during Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event Works in progress pitching on Thursday 19 November in Apollo Plaza cinema.
International Works in Progress
According to Helen Räim, the Project Manager of International Works in progress comments on this year’s selection: “International Works in progress selection shows that no matter where in the world the stories are created, human empathy and understanding can be recognised as common themes everywhere. From viewing the world through a new parent trying to search for compassion for themselves in their vulnerability of new dynamics, to the reality of the changing world we need to accept and finally landing to the questions of belonging in the later chapters of life. This allows us to observe a full circle of life through the selected films. With that all in mind, this year’s lineup was created to show our support for these 16 projects for finalizing their films and to create some buzz already before they eventually reach the wider audience.”
Six projects make up the International Works in Progress selection. From Spain, Marina Palacio presents And So It Will Go On (Gariza Films), a drama told in reverse in which Germán grows younger as a once-empty village fills up again. In Leopard Spots, a Japan–United Kingdom production directed by Josh Trigg and made by On Par Productions, Kingyo Films and Geronimo Boy Film, a mother’s fear of abandonment threatens her relationship with her daughter in a rural Japanese factory town.
French director Théo Gottlieb explores memory and acceptance through a physicist obsessed with changing the past in Luci Looped in Limbo (HIERSOIR FILMS). The Montenegro–Albania–Serbia project Požari, directed by Nina Tratnik and produced by CODE BLUE PRODUCTION, follows a girl coming of age amid summer fires in Podgorica.
Denmark’s Without You, from director Nils Holst-Jensen and Hyæne Film, centres on a mother whose daughter’s disappearance brings an unsettling sense of freedom. Kyrgyzstan is represented by The Elderly Store, directed by Amanbek Azhymat for the National Film Studio Kyrgyzfilm, in which a 70-year-old man has just 15 days to make life interesting before facing “recycling.”
CHECK THE INTERNATIONAL WORKS IN PROGRESS PROJECTS HERE
Baltic Event Works in Progress
Helen Räim, the Project Manager of Baltic Event Works in Progress says: “with Baltic selection, we’re highlighting the up-and-coming projects from the region, be it from strong established authors or a more experimental view of filmmaking. Courage to think wider and bring these ideas to life is the cornerstone of strong local cinema that is not limited to only our region. It occurred that there is a strong theme with the circle of life this year with Baltic projects reflecting the subjects of humanity, safety in this layered reality of our world.”
Five titles feature in Baltic Event Works in Progress. Estonia is represented by A Midnight Pilgrimage, a tragicomedy from director Katrin Ruus and Exitfilm about a carefree journalist suddenly faced with holding his family together; and Paraiso, Outer Space, a Tin Can production directed by Carlos E. Lesmes, offering a nocturnal reflection on chance encounters, change and grief.
From Lithuania comes Concrete Music, directed by Saulius Baradinskas for Viktorijos filmai, MB, in which a musically gifted teenager flees his mafia family and seeks to avenge his mother’s death through music. Latvian filmmaker Elza Gauja presents Marry Then Die (VFS FILMS), a dark comedy built around an extraordinary agreement between two strangers: Zigis will help Anya end her life, but only if they marry first.
Completing the selection is Burlaks, a Latvia–Georgia tragicomedy written and directed by Gatis Ungurs and produced by Sunday Rebel Films. Its unlikely protagonist, a bored sawmill worker, becomes caught in a wager between God and the Devil.
CHECK THE BALTIC EVENT WORKS IN PROGRESS PROJECTS HERE
Just Film Works in Progress
Kärt Väinola, project manager of Just Film Works in Progress, comments, “We were drawn to films that offer young audiences space for reflection and lead them into unfamiliar places and emotional territory. Questions of identity and belonging resonate through nearly every project and are explored with lightness of touch in some projects and with unflinching honesty in others. It's precisely the range that allows young viewers to really experience, rather than merely observe, the lives unfolding before them.”
Just Film Works in Progress brings together five stories of childhood, family and growing up. Germany’s Uncle Egg, directed by Torfinn Iversen for Fjordic Film, sends a 12-year-old boy from Northern Norway to Germany with his eccentric uncle in search of his biological father. In Lithuania’s The Queen of England Stole My Parents, director Ernestas Jankauskas and Dansu Film follow an adopted girl on a journey to save her biological parents.
The Reef, a Germany–Estonia–Finland project directed by Phillip Donnellon and produced by eyrie entertainment GmbH, sends two siblings into a mysterious parallel world where they fight for its inhabitants’ freedom. Another journey of escape unfolds in 1970, a Serbia–Luxembourg–Hungary–Croatia drama from director Darko Lungulov and This and That Productions, about a 13-year-old boy who sets out with a hippie girl in search of a new family.
Rounding out the selection is All Girls, a Bulgarian project directed by Boyana Avdjieva for On Pointe Productions, in which two childhood best friends face the possible end of their bond after a devastating nightclub tragedy.
CHECK THE JUST FILM WORKS IN PROGRESS TITLES HERE
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 a 1000 euros travel allowance.
The best project of Just Film Works in Progress will receive a 1000 euro monetary prize to help the film gain visibility by covering promotion and publicity costs.
International Works in Progress
And So It Will Go On
Original title: Y así seguirán las cosas
Country: Spain
Genre: Drama
Written by: Marina Palacio, Jesús Palacio
Directed by: Marina Palacio
Produced by: Lara Izagirre Garizurieta, Garazi Elorza, Ana Angulo Umaran, Itxaso Frau Terradillos
Production company: Gariza Films
Language: Spanish
Leopard Spots
Original title: Leopard Spots
Country: Japan, United Kingdom
Genre: Drama, Psychological
Written by: Josh Trigg
Directed by: Josh Trigg
Produced by: Toby Cameron, Aiko Flores Yoshioka, Ruth Yoshie Linton
Production company: On Par Productions, Kingyo Films, Geronimo Boy Film
Language: Japanese
Luci Looped in Limbo
Original title: Luci Looped in Limbo
Country: France
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Written by: Théo Gottlieb
Directed by: Théo Gottlieb
Produced by: Yoel Servadio
Production company: HIERSOIR FILMS
Language: English, French
Požari
Original title: Fires
Country: Montenegro, Albania, Serbia
Genre: Drama
Written by: Jovana Bojovič
Directed by: Nina Tratnik
Produced by: Bojana Radulovic
Production company: CODE BLUE PRODUCTION
Language: Serbian
Without You
Original title: Uden Dig
Country: Denmark
Genre: Psychological, Thriller, Drama
Written by: Kimmie Tiemroth, Nils Holst-Jensen
Directed by: Nils Holst-Jensen
Produced by: Daniel Mühlendorph
Production company: Hyæne Film
Language: Danish
The Elderly Store
Original title: Karylar dukonu
Country: Kyrgyzstan
Genre: —
Written by: Amanbek Azhymat
Directed by: Amanbek Azhymat
Produced by: Elvira Mamytova
Production company: The National Film Studio Kyrgyzfilm
Language: Kirghiz
Baltic Event Works in Progress
A Midnight Pilgrimage
Original title: Öised rännakud
Country: Estonia
Genre: Tragicomedy
Written by: Peeter Urbla
Directed by: Katrin Ruus
Produced by: Sander Lebreht
Production company: Exitfilm
Language: Estonian
Concrete Music
Original title: Betono muzika
Country: Lithuania
Genre: Musical, Drama, Crime
Written by: Eglė Vertelytė, Saulius Baradinskas
Directed by: Saulius Baradinskas
Produced by: Viktorija Seniut-Strolienė
Production company: Viktorijos filmai, MB
Language: Lithuanian
Marry Then Die
Original title: Apprecēties un mirt
Country: Latvia
Genre: Rom-Com, Dramedy, Dark Comedy
Written by: Elza Gauja
Directed by: Elza Gauja
Produced by: Līva Vernere, Uldis Cekulis
Production company: VFS FILMS
Language: Latvian, English
Burlaks
Original title: Burlaki
Country: Latvia, Georgia
Genre: Tragicomedy
Written by: Gatis Ungurs
Directed by: Gatis Ungurs
Produced by: Kristele Pudane, Dace Siatkovska
Production company: Sunday Rebel Films
Language: English, Latvian, Georgian
Paraiso, Outer Space
Original title: Paraiso, Outer Space
Country: Estonia
Genre: Drama
Written by: Carlos E. Lesmes
Directed by: Carlos E. Lesmes
Produced by: Lili Pilt, Carlos E. Lesmes
Production company: Tin Can
Language: Estonian, Spanish, English
Just Film Works in Progress
Uncle Egg
Original title: Onkel Egg
Country: Germany
Genre: Adventure, Children’s, Dramedy
Written by: Torfinn Iversen
Directed by: Torfinn Iversen
Produced by: Julia Andersen
Production company: Fjordic Film
Language: Norwegian, English
The Queen of England Stole My Parents
Original title: Anglijos karalienė pagrobė mano tėvus
Country: Lithuania
Genre: Children’s, Family
Written by: Gaibja Siurbyte, Aleksandra Chmielewska
Directed by: Ernestas Jankauskas
Produced by: Gaibja Siurbyte
Production company: Dansu Film
Language: Lithuanian, English, Polish
The Reef
Original title: Strandgut
Country: Germany, Estonia, Finland
Genre: Children’s
Written by: Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen
Directed by: Phillip Donnellon
Produced by: Daniel Ehrenberg, Christine Rau, Evelin Penttilä, Oskari Huttu, Annegret Weitkämper-Kurg
Production company: eyrie entertainment GmbH
Language: English, German
1970
Original title: 1970
Country: Serbia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Croatia
Genre: Drama
Written by: Darko Lungulov
Directed by: Darko Lungulov
Produced by: Snezana van Houwelingen
Production company: This and That Productions
Language: Serbian, Hungarian
All Girls
Original title: Всички момичета
Country: Bulgaria
Genre: Drama, Social Drama, Youth
Written by: Boyana Avdjieva
Directed by: Boyana Avdjieva
Produced by: Kosta Karakashyan
Production company: On Pointe Productions
Language: Bulgarian