BALTIC SHORTS PROGRAM - ANIMATION
Screening: Friday, November 6, 6:30 PM
A selection of the newest short animation films from the Baltic States.
PORTRAIT OF GRANNY (Omamma) | Dir. Ieva Ozolina
6 min. In Latvian with English subtitles (Latvia, 2026)
Pickles, sweet tea, strawberries and a warm smile. This is how we are greeted by director Ieva Ozoliņa’s grandmother, Aina—an 88-year-young woman. Health concerns and medication, which she jokingly calls “narcotics,” have become inseparable parts of her everyday life. Yet Aina’s outlook on life is surprisingly light: there is no shortage of understanding, humor, or ability to laugh at herself and the world around her. The five phrases she uses most often are her keys to a life lived to its fullest.
CONCRETE KIDS (Betono vaikai) | Dir. Saulius Baradinskas
20 min. In Lithuanian with English subtitles (Lithuania, 2026)
This short film tells the story of kids who grew up in the courtyards of the Soviet apartment district of Lithuania. Lacking the attention and love of their parents, they needed to survive and free themselves from the violence in the streets every single day.
MY FIRST FUNERAL (Manas pirmās bēres) | Dir. Līva Klepere
15 min. In Latvian with English subtitles (Latvia, 20260
Mare looks at the world with wonder and curiosity. When her family gathers to mourn a recently deceased relative, the eight-year-old girl finds herself in an unfamiliar world, filled with dark clothing, unknown traditions and incomprehensible emotions. The more she sees, the less it makes sense to her. She opts instead for the company of her relative’s dog, hiding in a pleasantly simple, imagined reality.
A MICROPHONE IN THE HEAD (Mikrofon peas) | Dir. Robert Raska Ly
12 min. In Estonian with English subtitles (Estonia, 2025)
Hilja discovers that Joonas, who died in a car accident, is able to contact her through a haunted karaoke microphone. To move on to the afterlife, Joonas asks his heartbroken fiancée to visit his mother and deliver a final message—that he is gay.
SIGNAL PATH (Signalo kelias) | Dir. Eglė Razumaitė
20 min. In Lithuanian/German/English with English subtitles (Lithuania/Germany, 2026)
Liepa and her daughter move to Germany in search of a fresh start, but soon have to deal with her family's disapproval and the challenges of metropolitan life. Director Eglė Razumaitė states: “My intention with this short film was to highlight the shift in the sex industry and to ask: How do we redefine prostitution on screen? Despite societies moving toward legal and political recognition of sex workers, we still tend to stigmatize, discriminate against, and violate their rights.”
Director bios:
Andrejs Brīvulis 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 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.