During this year’s Festival de Cannes, Baltic Shorts will be present within the Short Film Corner (SFC) | Rendez-vous Industry from 17 to 20 May, offering international film professionals a focused entry point into discovering Baltic talent, co-production opportunities, and the region’s short film ecosystem.

Working across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Baltic Shorts will bring together festivals, institutions and industry platforms in a coordinated presence designed not only to showcase films, but to facilitate meaningful connections between Baltic creators and international partners. For producers, programmers and directors navigating Cannes, the SFC will become a space where the Baltics can be approached as a coherent, accessible and collaboration-ready region.

A central moment of this year’s programme will be the panel “Why the Baltics? Co-Producing and Connecting with Baltic Talent”, taking place on Sunday, 17 May, 13:30–15:00 at the Baltics Pavilion. The session will address a question that is increasingly relevant within the European industry: why are international partners turning to the Baltics now? Bringing together producers and industry professionals with direct experience of cross-border collaboration, the discussion will explore the region’s working practices, creative strengths and production environment, while also identifying practical pathways for initiating collaboration. Particular attention will be given to short films as a development space where many long-term partnerships begin.

The panel will featureMarianne Ostrat (Alexandra Film), Alise Ģelze (White Picture), Greta Akcijonaitė (Magic Film),Rimantė Daugėlaitė (Lithuanian Shorts) and Julie Rousson (Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival) and will be moderated by Lauma Kaudzīte (Short Film Conference / RIGA IFF / European Short Pitch).

Alongside the panel, Baltic Shorts will contribute to the New Producers Room programme at SFC | Rendez-vous Industry with participant Dārta Krāsone (Latvia), highlighting a generation of producers already operating within a European co-production landscape.

This year, Baltic Shorts presents a selection of the newest short films from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, curated into the “Baltic Shorts 2026 Collection”. Available in the SFC Video Library and Market Catalogue, the collection offers a curated overview of contemporary Baltic filmmaking, bringing together a diverse slate of fiction, documentary, and animation works that reflect both strong authorship and internationally relevant themes.

From Estonia, Room Number (dir. Silvia Lorenzi) will weave together intersecting characters searching for intimacy and belonging, while Big Zeus (dir. Johannes Magnus Aule) will explore moral conflict and redemption through a darkly ironic story of a priest entangled in gambling addiction.

From Latvia, Carbon-14 (dir. Anna Konovalova) will take the form of an essayistic documentary, linking personal memory with broader geopolitical histories and examining how invisible traces of conflict permeate everyday life. In contrast, Thank You for Your Review (dir. Līva Polkmane, Marta Šleiere) will present a sharply observed fiction narrative where social dynamics unravel over the course of a single dinner, revealing tension, insecurity and miscommunication with both humour and precision.

Lithuanian films will further highlight the region’s engagement with memory, identity and emotional landscapes. Neiplis, Florida (dir. Modesta Žemgulytė) will revisit a family’s migration story through a deeply personal documentary lens, tracing the long-term psychological impact of displacement. Pacific Islands (dir. Adas Burkšaitis) will unfold as a quiet, atmospheric fiction piece reflecting on nostalgia and the persistence of the past, while Conductor (dir. Antanas Skučas) will offer a visually distinctive animated vision of control, harmony and individual agency within a collective system.

Still from Pacific Islands (dir. Adas Burkšaitis)

Together, the collection will reflect a region that is not only thematically bold, but increasingly confident in its cinematic language and international positioning. For industry professionals, it will serve as a practical discovery tool offering direct access to emerging directors and future collaborators.Baltic Shorts’ presence in Short Film Corner (SFC) | Rendez-vous Industry at Cannes Film Festival is supported by partners including the Estonian Film Institute, PÖFF Shorts, National Film Centre of Latvia, Latvian Short Film Agency, 2ANNAS International Short Film Festival, Riga International Film Festival, Lithuanian Film Centre and Lithuanian Shorts, reflecting a shared, strategic approach to international collaboration and visibility.

Baltic Shorts’ presence in Short Film Corner (SFC) | Rendez-vous Industry at Cannes Film Festival is supported by partners including the Estonian Film Institute, PÖFF Shorts, National Film Centre of Latvia, Latvian Short Film Agency, 2ANNAS International Short Film Festival, Riga International Film Festival, Lithuanian Film Centre and Lithuanian Shorts, reflecting a shared, strategic approach to international collaboration and visibility.