The 9th Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America returns this November, bringing the best new films from the Baltic region to New York audiences. On Friday, November 6 at 6:30 PM, we’ll present an evening of “Baltic Short Animations,” highlighting unique and innovative animated films from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
CLEANLINESS (Tīrība) | Dir. Andrejs Brīvulis
5 min. In Latvian with English subtitles (Latvia, 2025)
An office worker’s account of his day reveals monotony broken by casual homosexual adventures, overlaid by an obsession for personal hygiene. As night falls, the reasons for his fixation become clear.
FACADE (Fassaad) | Dir. Elise Kruusel
12:25 min. In Estonian with English subtitles (Estonia, 2026)
In an apartment building, a variety of residents live side by side. Behind each door lies a personal secret — some darker and some stranger than they first appear. As the residents struggle to keep them hidden, cracks begin to spread through the building’s facade.
FAMILY ALBUM (Šeimos albumas) | Dir. Emilija Juzeliūnaitė
12 min. No dialogue (Lithuania, 2026)
Separated in childhood, a brother and sister reunite on a TV show, which gives them a picture-perfect onscreen ending. Off-camera, they set out on their first trip together, hoping to carry that closeness into real life. But when the cameras stop, they must face a harder reality: how do you build a real relationship with someone who should feel like family, but is a stranger?
KYIV CAKE (Kiievi tort) | Dir. Mykyta Lyskov
22 min. In Ukrainian/Russian with English subtitles (Estonia, 2025)
Kyiv Cake covers a fragment of Ukrainian history from 2014 to 2026 through the prism of absurdity and surrealism. When a child is born in a poor family, the parents do everything possible to survive. Just when their crisis seems to reach its peak, a new danger flares up.
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Andrejs Brīvulis (b. 2001) studies audio-visual communications at the Art Academy of Latvia. He made his debut with the animated short film Betula, which has been displayed at two joint exhibitions. He works in different mediums, including photography, video, 3D modeling, digital painting and animation. His themes cover urban visions and nostalgia, as well as the complex inner lives of seemingly ordinary people, seen through the eyes of a sympathetic, unobtrusive observer.
Elise Kruusel (b. 1993) is an animator, director, and screenwriter. Her work explores societal bodily taboos and social facades, aiming to normalize the insecurities associated with embarrassment and shame.Her films are primarily created using 2D animation techniques.
Emilija Juzeliūnaitė is an animation director from Lithuania. Her focus is storytelling and art direction – creating stories and immersive worlds. She is also a co-founder of the animation studio Emilemilija, producing commercial animations and illustrations. Of Family Album, she states, “The idea started with a real TV show from Lithuania, in which people search for their lost relatives. I was interested in what could have happened after the cameras were shut down. The contrast between the simplicity of a happy television ending and the complexity of life after was a starting point for the story.”
Mykyta Lyskov began his career in the early 2000s as a classical painter and later worked as a designer in the advertising business. Beginning in 2007, he began to create digital animated films. He works and lives in Dnipro, where he rethinks modern Ukrainian themes with absurdity and black humor. He also creates visual accompaniments for live musical performances and works as a VJ.