PÖFF has announced 12 titles for its Baltic Film Competition, featuring three world premieres and one international premiere. The festival has also unveiled ten world premieres in its Critics’ Picks Competition and nine in Rebels with a Cause.
Presented during the festival’s 30th edition, the selection brings together films from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania alongside international co-productions that showcase the Baltic film industry’s growing reach.
According to Edvinas Pukšta, curator of the Baltic Film Competition, international collaboration defines this year’s selection. Five films are directed by filmmakers from outside the Baltic countries, with Baltic talent and expertise playing significant roles in their production.
“This year’s selection demonstrates the strength of Baltic co-productions and the growing contribution of our filmmakers to international cinema,. Baltic producers, actors, cinematographers and other film professionals are taking their experience beyond the region and becoming increasingly involved in ambitious international projects.”
- Edvinas Pukšta, curator of the Baltic Film Competition
The programme is equally varied in its themes and cinematic approaches, ranging from accessible, entertaining stories to more challenging works that invite close attention. Political drama, various comedies, film noir, a drama driven by punk rock music and science fiction with Asian influences all feature in the selection.
“There is no single way to define Baltic cinema, and this programme reflects that diversity,” adds Pukšta. “These films offer very different experiences, both in the stories they tell and in how they tell them. It is worth noting strong and visible support to Ukraine in this year’s Baltic films”
First introduced in 2008 and re-established in 2018, the Baltic Film Competition forms a central part of Focus: Baltics, which puts Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the spotlight in 2026. Baltic productions and co-productions will also feature across the wider festival programme, offering audiences a broader view of the region’s cinema and its international connections.
Learn more about the competition selection HERE
The Jury of Baltic Film Competition is led by producer Mariette Rissenbeek and includes Paul Gallagher, Head of Programme for both Glasgow Film Theatre and Glasgow Film Festival and Ali Vatansever, an Istanbul-based filmmaker whose third film won Best Director at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s Official Competition in 2025.
Best Baltic Feature Film will be awarded with a grant of 5,000 euros from Piletilevi.
Curated by Nikolaj Nikitin, the Critics’ Picks Competition presents ten world premieres from emerging and established filmmakers. Dedicated to distinctive auteur cinema, the programme highlights films with a clear artistic vision that explore genre conventions while engaging in dialogue with film history.
This year’s selection spans productions and co-productions from Japan and China to Morocco, Mexico and Uruguay, alongside European titles. Estonia is represented by Eeva Mägi’s Mo Amor, while the wider lineup reflects the programme’s international outlook and openness to different filmmaking traditions.
Nikolaj Nikitin, curator of the program comments that he is happy that, alongside powerful stories tackling some of today's most urgent issues, the programme has rediscovered a sense of humour: with three brilliant comedies, strong female protagonists and plenty of unexpected cinematic discoveries.
“From daring experimentation to Shakespearean family tragedies and deliciously absurd black humour, this year's selection celebrates cinema in all its diversity – geographically, artistically and emotionally.”
- Nikolaj Nikitin, curator of Critics' Pics
Learn more about the competition selection HERE
The jury of Critics’ Picks Competition includes Heike-Melba Fendel, a founder of talent and event agency Barbarella Entertainment, Jurgis Matulevičius, a Vilnius-based director, screenwriter and editor, and Hakim Zejjari, a film journalist, author, director and TV producer.
The Rebels with a Cause Competition presents nine world premieres that explore unconventional approaches to filmmaking. Launched in 2017 and curated by Javier Garcia Puerto, the programme celebrates filmmakers who challenge cinematic conventions. Bringing together emerging voices and established directors, the programme explores adventurous approaches to storytelling, visual expression and the relationship between cinema and other art forms.
This year’s lineup brings together productions and co-productions from Europe, Asia and the Americas. Among them is Lithuanian filmmaker Emilija Škarnulytė’s Sounds of the Desert, a Lithuanian-Norwegian co-production that extends the presence of Baltic cinema beyond the regional competition.
According to Javier Garcia Puerto, the curator of the programme, this year’s selection expands its diversity through multiple voices and bold language —from the interplay of artistic disciplines and dark humor to explorations of "hot-button" contemporary issues.
"We also enjoy works created outside conventional funding channels, proving that it is possible to create outside the system."
- Javier Garcia Puerto, the curator of the Rebels with Cause
Learn more about the competition selection HERE
The jury of Rebels with a Cause competition consists of Jason Wood, Executive Director of Public Programmes and Audiences at the BFI, Samuel Abrahams, a BAFTA and Webby nominated writer and director, and Mireia Vilapuig, the Catalan actress, screenwriter, creator and visual artist based in Barcelona.