New York Baltic Film Festival

The Seventh Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America.

Schedule:

12pm: Life and Love
Helen Takkin, 118 min, Estonia, 2024.

In Estonian with English subtitles.

U. S. Premiere

Set during the Great Depression in 1933, this compelling drama follows Irma, a young woman who leaves her rural home to pursue a writing career in the city. There, she becomes entangled with her boss at a local print shop, who convinces her to become a live-in maid while pursuing her romantically. Though Irma is at first captivated by his charm and lavish lifestyle, his toxic behavior and power games soon draw her into a web of manipulation. Meanwhile, as political tensions rise within the city around them, Irma and her loved ones soon learn that romantic illusions come with a very high price.

4:15 pm: Baltic Shorts Program

On Weary Wings Go By (Linnud läinud)

Dir. Anu-Laura Tuttelberg, Estonia & Lithuania, 2024 - 11 min. -  No dialogue

New York  Premiere

In this wintery poem of Nordic nature, the sun moves low, and days shorten. Birds fly south, and porcelain animals and insects hide from the freezing wind and snow. Only a small porcelain girl wanders the abandoned landscape, with no way to get out.

Ootid (Ootidė)

Dir. Eglė Razumaitė, Lithuania & France, 2024 - 9 min. - In Lithuanian with English subtitles

US Premiere

Girls at summer camp raise different versions of what happened to one of their friends who had to leave the camp and go home.

The One Who Knows

Dir. Eglė Davidavičė, Lithuania & France, 2024 - 12 min. - No dialogue

US Premiere

Anxious teenager Ūla is taken on an unexpected adventure during swimming practice, in which she grows up and learns to see her body anew.

Blank Page Syndrome (Baltās lapas bieds)

Dir. Jānis Ābele & Toms Šķēle, Latvia, 2024 - 8 min. - In Latvian with English subtitles

North American Premiere

In a world where printing machines spits out books relentlessly, a contrasting reality exists – amidst the noise of the city, a writer battles with despair, struggling to find words in front of a blank page.

The Weight of Light

Dir. Anna Hints & Tushar Prakash, Estonia & France, 2024 - 20 min. - In Hindi with English subtitles

Surya, a teenage ragpicker, finds a camera on a huge garbage mountain in Delhi. The camera becomes her window to the untold stories of women surrounding her. Blending documentary and fiction, The Weight of Light focuses on a community of garbage collectors who try to find their place in the world amidst garbage and scorching heat.

Sacrificial Lamb

Dir. Uģis Olte, Latvia 2023 - 16 min. - In Latvian with English subtitles

In this allegory about paradise lost, Ildze yearns to find peace and fulfilment by moving from the city to the countryside. However, her thoughts are consumed by the illness of her child, her estrangement from her husband and his absence. In the meantime, Ildze’s grief is enveloped by nature’s promise of comfort, which never arrives. She tries to understand where to find the beginning of the cycle of sacrifice and where to find its end. And who is her victim, or is it herself?

5 pm: Maria's Silence (Marijas klusums)

Dāvis Sīmanis, 104 min, Latvia 2024

In Latvian, German, and Russian with English subtitles

North American Premiere

A powerful historical drama based on the true story of Maria Leiko, a famous actress who, late in her career, becomes a witness and victim to the brutal choices of the Stalin regime. In 1937, acclaimed silent film star Leiko travels to Russia after learning of the birth of her granddaughter. But when she discovers the tragic circumstances of her birth, she is persuaded by KGB agents to remain in the country — abandoning her cinema career to instead join Skatuve, the Latvian State Theatre in Moscow. But soon she discovers that she is being manipulated by the government amid its purges of political enemies. As a network of traitors, informers, and NKVD agents surround her, she is forced to choose between family and career, and between her ideals and the lies of Stalin’s totalitarian regime.

Director Dāvis Sīmanis will present a Q&A following the screening.

7:30 pm: Toxic (Akiplėša)
Saulė Bliuvaitė, Lithuania, 2024
99 minutes, In Lithuanian with English Subtitles
New York Premiere

A gritty coming-of-age drama. Dreaming of an escape from the bleakness of their hometown, two teens form a unique bond at a local modeling school, where the promise of a better life pushes girls to violate their bodies in increasingly extreme ways.

Director Saulė Bliuvaitė will present a Q&A following the screening of the film.

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