This year brings together filmmakers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, plus a special guest country: Italy.

Vilnius will be hosting the 14th Baltic Pitching Forum (BPF) from 6–9 October.

Estonia brings three projects: Blue Tower (dir. Mari Koff, prod. Sergo Kibus, Kadriann Kibus), an animation about two characters whose fragile balance turns to chaos; Smart Men (dir. Liina Särkinen, prod. Kirill Volkov), a story of lonely widows, AI husbands, and the real man who shakes things up; and A Working Mother (dir. Hanna-Mirtel Paas), about a burnt-out mum who finds herself again in solitude.

Latvia's picks lean dark and absurd. Mara's House (dir. Egija Smeile, prod. Tabita Paula Avotiņa, Matīss Kaža) turns a 55th birthday into a family nightmare, Seeing John Malkovich (dir. Ildze Felsberga) imagines a faded Hollywood star causing chaos in Riga, and Bacon Bun (dir. Žanete Skarule, prod. Dominiks Jarmakovičs) follows a boy's painful search for belonging.

Lithuania goes all-animation this year: The Phonebook (dir. Nina Chubinishvili, prod. Giedrė Burokaitė), a tender look at a grandmother and her shrinking circle of friends; Walks. I Love, Therefore I Am (dir. Gintarė Valevičiūtė-Brazauskienė, prod. Justė Beniušytė), honoring Lithuanian librarian and humanist Ona Šimaitė; and Meat Jelly (dir. Emilė Maigytė, prod. Marija Lenkutytė-Bartoševič, Agnė Adomėnė), about a young woman making peace with her body.

As guest country, Italy contributes Creature!, on childhood and grief; Melting, a poetic look at glaciers and ecological loss; and The Belly of the Whale, following a young Senegalese immigrant's story in Milan.

Read all about the projects on the Baltic Pitching Forum website.

BPF kicks off 6 October in Vilnius.