TV Beats, the drama series-focused strand of Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, will showcase a record 31 drama series projects in various stages of development during its 2025 edition alongside insightful panel discussions. 

This year’s programme brings together several key initiatives: the TV Beats Co-Financing Market, MIDPOINT Series Launch, two new sections Series Bridges Baltics and Coming Soon, as well as the Screening Day offering an extensive overview of the most exciting new projects in the region and  Europe. 

Petri Kemppinen and Roosa Toivonen, the co-heads of TV Beats Forum, comment that TV Beats isn’t just about surviving the changes in the industry—it’s about thriving through them together as a collective and ecosystem. “In the heart of medieval Tallinn, we have wanted to create a collaborative and inspiring refuge where producers and creators from across the Baltics, CEE, Nordics and beyond can build and sustain relationships, share strategies, spot opportunities, and learn from each other about new trends and innovations that will help drive and pivot business decisions - to keep telling stories to audiences whose consuming habits are constantly evolving,” they add.

The TV Beats Co-Financing Market section will present eight European series projects. Out of the eight projects, which will be pitched in Tallinn on 17 November 2025, seven are eligible for the Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award, worth €50,000. After the pitches, the jury will select the most promising project to receive the award. Check the projects here 

For the first time, TV Beats introduces Coming Soon, a showcase dedicated to upcoming series from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The projects,seeking funding, distribution, and sales partnerships, will be announced in the beginning of November.  

Launched this year, Series Bridges Baltics will present six projects led by writer–producer duos from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The participants will take part in a five-day programme including group sessions and one-on-one mentoring with international experts. All projects will also be pitched during the TV Beats Forum. A jury selects a winner that will get a spot at Seriesmania Forum in Lille next March. 

Returning for the sixth year, MIDPOINT Series Launch will bring nine carefully selected original drama series projects to the TV Beats Market, offering a glimpse into some of the most promising new works from emerging European creators.

For the second year in a row, TV Beats Screenings will introduce five newly completed drama series to sales agents, distributors, and professionals from the local and international TV and film industry. The 2025 line-up features productions from the Nordic countries, Eastern Europe, and Spain, including titles developed in collaboration with Canal+ and HBO Max Spain. The screenings of the first episodes will be followed by the Q&As. 

Strategies for sustainable series production

TV Beats has also been a valued place to share experiences and discuss the most burning issues in the industry. In 2025, TV Beats Forum will host two insightful panel discussions “Meeting of Minds” that explore the transfo

Works in Progress, showcasing films currently in production or post-production and seeking sales agents or festival premieres, introduces 18 promising projects across three categories: Baltic Event Works in Progress, International Works in Progress, and Just Film Works in Progress. The lineup features both debut filmmakers and acclaimed directors presenting their latest works.

All projects will be screened during Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event on 20–21 November in the cinemas of Apollo Plaza.

This year’s International Works in Progress selection features eight film projects, including two from the festival’s Focus: Catalonia.

According to Triin Tramberg, the Project Manager of International Works in Progress, altogether there were 80 submissions for International Works in Progress, which showed a really strong level of interest. “We’re thrilled with the diversity of the selected projects. It was important for us to include films from Ukraine, both to showcase their incredible resilience and to support filmmakers creating under extremely challenging circumstances,” she adds “We’re also excited to highlight new Catalan titles, particularly with Alba Sotorra returning — the producer of Upon Entry, which began in the festival's debut competition and had great success — now presenting her new project Salen Las Lobas,” says Tramberg.

Salen Las Lobas, the first feature by Claudia Estrada Tarascó – a Spain-Belgium co-production that follows a misunderstood teenager confined to a juvenile detention center, plotting her escape. The second Catalonian title, The Convulsions, is the third feature by David Gutiérrez Camps (Spain–France), a psychological drama exploring inner turmoil and identity.

From Turkey, Bulgaria, and Greece comes Rahma, written and directed by award-winning Turkish poet and filmmaker Faysal Soysal. Germany is represented by Superbuhei, a visually stunning dark comedy and the directorial debut of Josef Brandl, whose previous work as a production designer includes The Grand Budapest Hotel (2015), Bridge of Spies (2016), and The Alienist (2021).

Two Ukrainian films join the lineup: Kira’s Dream, a musical drama debut by Denys Kolesnikov, introduces a bold new voice from Eastern Europe; and Crickets Sing in the Rye, written and directed by Yevhen Khvorostianko, recounts one of the darkest chapters of Soviet history – the 1932–33 Holodomor genocide.

Montenegrin filmmaker Andrija Mugoša presents Happiness Is Just a Blue Couch Away, a family drama about a mother and son escaping an abusive husband. Rounding out the selection is Prince, a Uruguay–Argentina dramedy by Federico Borgia, in which a dog inherits a house, forcing his late owner’s former lover to defend him from greedy human heirs.

This year’s Baltic Event Works in Progress presents six captivating feature films from the region.

Helen Räim, the Project Manager of Baltic Event Works in Progress says, it is really exciting to welcome Rahma and Lex Julia, that were attending Co-Production Market project in 2023 and in 2021 accordingly.  “It makes it really worthwhile to support the project in development and then see the outcome in Works in Progress. We’re glad to also welcome new voices in the region and will showcase two first features this year: Something Real by director Evar Anvelt and Kingpings by director Kristians Riekstins,” she adds. 

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) has announced the lineup for the Baltic Competition, featuring eleven titles that reveal a fresh and distinctive voice from the region’s filmmakers. 

“With this year’s selection, we’re highlighting the growing importance of our region,” says Edvinas Pukšta, curator of the Baltic Competition. “For the first time, PÖFF features two separate Baltic competitions — one for fiction and one for documentaries — and nearly 40 feature-length Baltic films across the entire festival, which is more than ever before. One of our goals is to showcase award-winning films from the region, such as The Visitor (Svečias, dir. Vytautas Katkus), which just won the RIGA IFF Feature Film Competition, and to celebrate their international success with our audiences.”

The Baltic Competition programme will open with Two Prosecutors (screening out of competition), the latest documentary by acclaimed Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa. A co-production between France, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania, and Ukraine. The film follows two prosecutors as they investigate war crimes committed during the ongoing conflict, offering a deeply human and meticulously observed portrait of justice in action. A powerful reflection on truth, responsibility, and the role of law in times of war, Two Prosecutors continues Loznitsa’s commitment to documenting the moral and historical dimensions of contemporary Europe.
 

Borderline, dir: Ignas Jonynas (Lithuania)

Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart, dir: Alise Zariņa (Latvia)

Therapy, dir: Paavo Westerberg (Finland, Estonia)
 

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERES

Red Code Blue, dir: Oskars Rupenheits (Latvia)

The Activist, dir: Romas Zabarauskas (Lithuania) 

New Money, dir: Rain Rannu (Estonia)
 

BALTIC PREMIERES

Becoming, dir: Zhannat Alshanova (France, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Lithuania)

Hunger Strike Breakfast, dir: Karolis Kaupinis (Lithuania)

Renovation, dir: Gabrielė Urbonaitė (Lithuania)
 

OTHERS

Fränk, dir: Tõnis Pill (Estonia)

The Visitor, dir: Vytautas Katkus (Lithuania, Norway, France)
 

The winners will be selected by an international jury of accomplished filmmakers:

Alexandre Koberidze – filmmaker and screenwriter, whose What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (2021) premiered in competition at the Berlinale, winning the FIPRESCI Prize. His latest film, Dry Leaf (2025), premiered in the main competition at Locarno and will also screen at PÖFF.

Gözde Kural&nbs

RE-CREATION | Jim Sheridan & David Merriman | Court Drama, True Crime | 95 min. | Ireland, Luxembourg | English

Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Institute since its inception. Through our labs and fellowships, we’re dedicated to

The post What to Watch: 6 Indigenous-Led Contemporary Stories Supported by the Documentary Film Program first appeared on sundance.org.

Guests attending include Ben Wheatley, Gabriele Mainetti and Ted Chiang

From October 28 to November 2, the best of science fiction cinema returns to Trieste. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival will showcase the finest in fantastic film from around the world - with over 50 premieres, an impressive lineup of international guests, and a packed programme of special events.

Organized by La Cappella Underground, this milestone edition will light up the Politeama Rossetti with world, international, and Italian premieres, alongside three competitions featuring directors, actors, and authors from across the globe.

Beyond the big screen, the festival also celebrates the many worlds of imagination - from video games and literature to comics, music, and visual arts - offering audiences a galaxy of experiences that explore “the wonders of the possible”.

Festival Director, Alan Jones, enthused “For its 25th Anniversary edition, the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival has assembled a multi-faceted diverse programme that will once more innovate, challenge, thrill, amaze and, of course, ultimately entertain.  As is its unique mission, the festival draws from the keen imaginations of a global community of new, independent and established filmmakers, artists and writers, who are always eager to discuss their work passionately both on the stage and off. And, as ever, no matter where those vivid imaginations take us, the contemporary world is never far from view, as the continually dynamic sci-fi genre continues to comment on the stark present from an incredible future”.

Highlights

The opening film will be L’Homme qui rétrécit (The Shrinking Man, France/Belgium, 2025) by Jan Kounen, adapted from Richard Matheson’s classic novel. Starring Jean Dujardin, the film follows a man who begins to shrink after a mysterious contamination, battling for survival in an ever-expanding world. The Italian premiere will take place on Tuesday, October 28 at 8:00 PM at the Politeama Rossetti, with the director in attendance.

The evening continues with The Ugly Stepsister (Sweden/Denmark, 2025) by Emilie Blichfeldt - a bold, body-horror re-imagining of Cinderella - screening at 10:30 PM in collaboration with I Wonder Pictures.

Other standout screenings include:

• October 30, 8:00 PM: Egghead Republic (Sweden, 2025) by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja, a dystopian tale imagining a world where the Cold War never ended.
• October 31, 8:00 PM: Bulk (UK, 2025) by Ben Wheatley (Sightseers, Kill List, High Rise), a high-octane sci-fi horror filled with car chases, gunfights, and romance - introduced by the director himself.
• November 1, 5:00 PM: Arco (France, 2025) by Ugo Bienvenu, fresh from Cannes, tells the story of Iris, a young girl who helps a mysterious “rainbow boy” find his way home.
• November 1, 8:00 PM: