The 8th Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America returns this November with the best new films from the Baltic region! This year’s lineup includes a Baltic Short Films session with screenings of six short films, two from each of the Baltic countries.
PROGRAM
Sauna Day (Sannapäiv) | Dir. Anna Hints and Tushar Prakash, Estonia & Lithuania, 2024 | 13 min. | In Estonian with English subtitles
This quiet meditation invites you into the world of Southern Estonian men who go to the dark-intimate space of a smoke sauna after a hard day’s work. Beneath their tough exteriors lies a desire for connection, veiled in secrecy.
Jungle Law (Ääremängijad) | Dir. Madli Lääne, Estonia, 2024 | 18 min. | In Estonian with English subtitles
After three teenagers meet by the sea on their summer vacation, an innocent flirtation between them spirals into a violent power game.
Sujip | Dir. Gintare Parulyte, Lithuania & Norway, 2025 | 23 min. | In Lithuanian with English subtitles
It’s Aleksandras’ first day at his new workplace, where his office turns out to be a suicide helpline center after an unexpected phone call from another man his age.
Left-handed Pen (Tušinukas) | Dir. Adas Burkšaitis, Lithuania, 2024 | 18 min. | In Lithuanian with English subtitles
At a suburban school, a schoolteacher finds out that her son’s poorly written exam may jeopardize his dream of attending a prestigious university abroad. The film explores sacrifices a mother is willing to make to secure her child’s success, raising questions about ethics and the pressures of education.
Kafka in Love | Dir. Zane Oborenko, Latvia & Czechia, 2024 | 10 min. | In Latvian with English Subtitles
Based on Franz Kafka’s Letters to Milena, this animated short explores lesser known, but nonetheless extraordinary and puzzling, aspects of Kafka’s personality: how his long-distance romance with Milena filled his life with light and hope, and at the same time illuminated the fears and darkness in him.
Where Does the Sun Sleep at Night? (Kur Saulīte Nakti Guļ?) | Dir. Ildze Felsberga, Latvia, 2024 | 17 min. | In Latvian with English subtitles
An absurdist mythological comedy in a corporate setting, the film lampoons capitalist dreariness with choirs of fortune-telling accountants and ritual-obsessed office workers, running over the course of 14 somewhat connected episodes.
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Anna Hints (Sauna Day) is an Estonian film director with a background in contemporary art and folk music. Anna’s debut feature documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood won Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival and European Film Award for Best Documentary in 2023. It was the Estonian National Entry at 96th Academy Awards, has been sold to 33 territories and nominated to numerous awards winning so far 32. Anna belongs to music group EETER that collaborated with composer Eðvarð Egilsson for Smoke Sauna Sisterhood.
Tushar Prakash (Sauna Day), born in New Delhi and a graduate of the National Polish Film School in Łodż. His work includes editing Anna Hints’ Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, which won the Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival and the European Film Award for Best Documentary. The film has won numerous awards, including being nominated for the LUX European Audience Film Award and the Critics Choice Documentary Award.
Madli Lääne (Jungle Law) is an Estonian writer-director and editor. She holds an MFA in Film & Media Production from the University of Texas at Austin. Her films have screened at and received awards from festivals such as Busan ISFF, Leeds IFF, Uppsala SFF and IN THE PALACE ISFF. Madli’s short film Dear Passengers (2022) premiered at Palm Springs SF and won The Best Short Film Award at Estonian Film & TV Awards. Her coming-of-age short Jungle Law premiered at the Odense IFF, where it received the Artist Award, and later won Best Short at Alice nella Città, parallel section of the Rome Film Fest. Jungle Law was also honored with the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Annual Culture Prize for Best Short Film and is currently nominated for the Estonian Film & TV Award.
Adas Burkšaitis (Left-Handed Pen) graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2012. During his undergraduate years, Adas became obsessed with cinema, theatre, and contemporary art. In 2017, he directed the stage play “Honey I’m Home”, which was a repertoire show at Menų spaustuvė in Vilnius. He has also written and directed short films. In 2020, Adas began his postgraduate studies in film directing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.
Gintarė Parulytė (Sujip) is a Lithuanian-born actress, author, theatre director, and filmmaker from Luxembourg. After having worked as an actress in both national and international theatre and film productions, she wrote and directed the short films “Is That, Like, Your Real Job?” about an actress’ humiliations and her final rising, as well as “And He Said Yes!” about how wedding planner’s appointment gone wrong (both produced by Red Lion). The script of the latter film was selected among the six best short comedy scripts from around the world by the “Torino Short Film Market”, and the film won the Panorama “Divergent Minds” award at the Tirana International Film Festival. Recently released her short “Sujip”, a co-production between Greta Garbo Films (Lithuania), Red Lion (Luxembourg), and Staer (Norway) about a volunteer’s first call in a suicide helpline, which instantly got nominated for “Best Short Film” at the Lithuanian National Film Awards.
Zane Oborenko (Kafka in Love) is an artist and animated film director from Latvia. After completing her BA studies in Brera, Academy of Arts of Milan – Italy, she moved to Tallinn, where she enrolled in the Estonian Academy of Arts for MA studies of animation led by Priit and Olga Pärn. While there, Zane developed a distinct author’s handwriting in sand animation. In this technique, she animated her diploma film “IMG_00:01. JPG” (2013) awarded as Best Student Film at the Fredrikstad Animation Festival, and has created numerous animations for exhibitions and music events. Currently in production is her next animated film “Kafka. In Love”. In stage of development it won the first prize for a short animation project at CEE Animation Forum 2019 in Trebon, Czech Republic.
Ildze Felsberga (Where Does the Sun Sleep at Night?) is a young film director with a deep interest in conceptual cinema. Her last film – documentary Darwin’s Darlings – was one of the winners of Latvian National TV Creative Documentary Contest in 2023. Ildze is currently working on a metal-inspired radio play and playing in a dark country band.
