Baltic Circuit: Inside the Region’s Film Festivals
Did you know that there are more than three film festivals in the Baltics?
The presentation: "Baltic Circuit: Inside the Region’s Film Festivals", organized in collaboration with the Latvian Short Film Agency, will bring together the most significant short film festivals from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, offering filmmakers, producers, and students a closer look at the Baltic festival landscape. Attendees will be able to learn about the festivals' selection focuses, industry programmes and networking opportunities, to better evaluate which of them best suits their project and what sets each one apart in the regional festival landscape.
Participants include:
Susanna Räim (Estonia), Student Film Festival "Best of BFM"
Susanna Räim is a fourth-year student of Film Arts BA at Baltic Film, Media and Arts Institute, focusing on production. She has previously been the head organizer for Best of BFM in 2023 and 2025, and has joined the team this year as Head of Screenings. While finishing her thesis film, she is also actively producing two feature documentaries and developing her first feature fiction film.
Mari Liis Keevallik (Estonia), PÖFF Shorts
Mari Liis Keevallik is the Head of PÖFF Shorts, one of the largest short film and animation festivals in the region, and a sub-festival of the Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF). Mari studied filmmaking at Arts University Bournemouth in the UK, where she graduated with a degree in Production. After completing her studies, she returned to Estonia and worked as a freelancer in various production roles on both international and national film projects before joining the PÖFF Shorts team.
Johannes Lõhmus (Estonia), Valga Hot Shorts
Johannes Lõhmus is the main programmer and founder of Valga Hot Shorts film festival in Valga, Estonia. He has been working in various cinemas for most of his adult life after being brought up in a household with an excessive VHS-collection. At the moment his day job is being the main programmer in the oldest arthouse cinema of Estonia, Kino Sõprus while also trying to manage a bit of teaching and writing and filmmaking here and there whenever possible. Johannes believes in the magical power of surprising the audience and in that field the short films have an upper hand over feature length films.
Justina Polikaityte (Lithuania), BLON Animation and Games Festival
Justina Polikaityte is Head of Communication & Partnerships at BLON Animation and Games Festival, where she drives visibility, partnerships, and audience growth. Her background in cultural project management includes work on Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009, architecture festival Open House Vilnius, and the Inconvenient Films documentary festival. She holds a Master’s in Communication from Université Toulouse I Capitole, France.
Kamilė Zinkevičiūtė (Lithuania), Šoblė Film Festival
Kamilė Zinkevičiūtė is a Film Culture student at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LMTA), with aspirations to become a film programmer and critic. She currently serves as Executive Director of Šoblė Film Festival – a student-oriented festival organised by LMTA film students.
Gabrielė Cegialytė (Lithuania), Vilnius Short Film Festival
Gabrielė Cegialytė is projects' manager at Lithuanian short film agency “Lithuanian Shorts”, with over 10 years of experience in the film industry. She is also serving as Managing Director of the Vilnius Short Film Festival and manager of the Batic short film industry event "Baltic Pitching Forum".
Jānis Ābele (Latvia), International Student Short Film Festival "Easy to be Young?"
Jānis Ābele is a Latvian film director whose graduation film Six Feet Above won the Grand Prix at the 33rd ISFF "Tous Courts." He is best known for Jelgava '94, the first Latvian fiction feature to stream on Netflix (four National Film Awards, including Best Director). His other works include 81 Meters (2022) and Call of the Void (2024), both National Film Award winners, and the feature documentary The Last Will, which premiered at Riga IFF and Tallinn Black Nights in 2025. Since 2026, he has served as creative director of the International Student Short Film Festival "Easy to be Young?"
Lauma Kaudzīte (Latvia), Riga International Film Festival
Lauma Kaudzīte is an international project manager with a focus on short film and talent development. She is the head of short film programme and SHORT RIGA Test Screenings at Riga International Film Festival as well as the project coordinator at European Short Pitch and the managing director of Short Film Conference. She often serves as a jury member in different festivals and industry events, as well as participates in talks and panels. She also works as a project coordinator at Latvian Animation Association, is a member of Baltic Pitching Forum selection committee and consults for Latvian Short Film Agency, 2ANNAS and Baltic Shorts
Laima Graždanoviča (Latvia), Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS
Laima Graždanoviča divides her work between theory and practice. She is programme director at Riga International Short Film festival 2ANNAS and has been a short film curator since 2015. Laima has graduated from theater and film theory studies in Latvian Academy of Culture, and has an MA in Visual Communication at Latvian Academy of Arts. Lately she is working as a guest lecturer teaching about short film history and video art. Her own work focus is researching personal and collective histories through interconnectivity.
The presentation will be held in English on Wednesday, April 15 at 14:00 at the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture.
Admission to the event is free of charge and open to all.
2ANNAS Forum is organized with the support of the National Film Centre, Riga City Council and the State Culture Capital Foundation.