The jury consisted of: director/producer Laila Pakalniņa (Latvia); Marge Liiske, Head of Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event at the Black Nights Film Festival (Estonia); Dmitrij Gluscevskij, Scanorama programmer (Lithuania); programmer Eva Markovits (France); and Theo Tsappos from the Swedish Film Institute (Sweden).

“Naturally, this year has been challenging for both the festival team and its audiences, but at the same time it’s proven to be strangely satisfying. We’ve realised that dealing with the multiple restrictions imposed on us by the pandemic situation hasn’t diminished the public’s passionate love for film, be it the big screen at the cinema or online screenings. We’re grateful for the help and support we’ve felt from the local and international industry professionals – filmmakers, jury members, lecturers – and we’re sincerely hoping for more in-person meetings next year,” festival director Liene Treimane told FNE.

The festival included an industry section consisting of Magnetic Series focused on the production of TV series, Green Charter exploring solutions for climate-change friendly festival actions, and Baltic Animation Meetup aimed at networking and current trends in animation.

Full list of winners:

Best Film
The Conference (Russia, Estonia, UK, Italy)
Directed by Ivan I. Tverdovsky
Coproduced by Nafta Films (Estonia)

Jury Special Mention
The Trouble with Nature (Denmark, France)
Directed by Illum Jacobi

Short Riga Best Film
Symbiosis (France)
Directed by Nadja Andrasev

Short Riga National Competition
Divas strīpiņas / II Lines (Latvia)
Directed by Alise Zariņa
Produced by Latvian Academy of Culture

Baltic Music Video competition award
Video Kapapuu by the group Puuluup
Directed by Zbanski Kino

Baltic Music Video Special mention
Bruises on Her Legs performed by Kabloonak
Directed by Igne Narbutaite and Kabloonak

Cinema Splendid Palace Audience Award
Andrey Tarkovsky. A Cinema Prayer (Italy, Russia, Sweden)
Directed by Andrey A. Tarkovsky

Kids Weekend Best Family Film
Romy’s Weekend / Kapsalon Romy (Netherlands)
Directed by Mischa Kamp