The "Baltic Women in Film Mentorship" program is entering its fourth edition and invites women from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania who are active in the Baltic audiovisual sector to apply for the 2024–2025 season. The program offers emerging professionals in the film industry a valuable opportunity to receive guidance and insight from mentors in the field. The application deadline is August 11, 2024.
"Baltic Women in Film Mentorship" is the first mentorship program exclusively for women in all areas of the film and TV industries in the Baltic states. Through mentorship activities, it aims to enhance the exchange of best practices, knowledge, contacts, and interest in Baltic film culture, with a focus on promoting gender equality. The cornerstone of the mentorship program is the creation of an effective contact-exchange and matchmaking platform.
Eligible candidates are Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian women under the age of 30, working in the Baltic audiovisual industry, who are eager to enter, transition within, or advance their careers in the film/TV industries and are committed to being mentored by industry professionals.
During a seven-month period (October 2024–April 2025), 15 selected mentees will engage in personalized coaching sessions with their mentors, along with participating in webinars and interactive workshops covering topics such as mental health in the film industry, leadership, and self-presentation. They will also have the opportunity to expand their professional networks by attending industry events such as Meeting Point Vilnius, Riga International Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, and Vilnius Short Film Festival. Each participant will receive a one-year membership to the European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA Network).
In recent years, participants and mentors in the program have achieved several noteworthy accomplishments. In 2022, program alumna Vilma Razmutė presented her first animated short film, "In a Bubble", which she developed during the mentorship program with assistance from her mentor, Latvian animation director Lizete Upite. The second season of the mentorship program brought together two foley artists from the Baltic countries: Anna-Maria Jams from Estonia and mentor Dominyka Adomaitytė from Lithuania, who appreciated having someone to share their successes and challenges with. Another fruitful example is the professional relationship formed among mentees themselves: film screenwriter, director, and producer Vivian Melder, film critic Emel-Elizabeth Tuulik, and film director and producer Vesta Tučkutė plan to continue their collaboration working on a Estonian-Lithuanian co-production "Mari, Sweetie". Also, mentee, Estonian filmmaker Alesja Suzdaltseva was invited to participate in the “Baltic Shorts Residency”, where she spent three weeks developing her short film script with the residency's script consultant Anna Ciennik.
The mentorship program is organized by the Lithuanian Short Film Agency "Lithuanian Shorts" and the "Women in Film & Television Lithuania" association, in partnership with the Riga International Film Festival (Latvia), Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Estonia), "Meeting Point – Vilnius" (Lithuania), and the European Women Audiovisual Network (EWA, Belgium). Funding for the program was provided by the Nordic Cultural Institute "Nordic Culture Point" and the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture.
Application deadline: 11 August 2024
Rules and regulations: bit.ly/BWiFM24_Regulations
Application form: bit.ly/BWiFM24_Apply
