The first prize of the Baltic short film projects came to Estonia once again
On 11 October, a new short film project “A Hair” (Est. “Karv”), the director Oskar Lehemaa and producer Kaspar Ainelo, received the first prize in Vilnius at the Baltic Pitching Forum and secured a place at the short film production forum Euro Connection at the prestigious international Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.
On 11 October, a new short film project “A Hair” (Est. “Karv”), the director Oskar Lehemaa and producer Kaspar Ainelo, received the first prize in Vilnius at the Baltic Pitching Forum and secured a place at the short film production forum Euro Connection at the prestigious international Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.
Peter Murdmaa, the organizer of the Baltic Pitching Forum in Estonia, said that Oskar Lehemaa’s and Kaspar Ainelo´s film project stood out among other projects with the clearest vision and more complicated realization.
“The international expert committee of the Baltic Pitching Forum decided that Lehemaa-Ainelo team’s project, which can be categorized under the complicated genre of horror film, deserved international attention and an opportunity to find sponsors abroad more than others,” said Murdmaa.
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Oskar Lehemaa’s and Kaspar Ainelo´s short film project “A Hair” tells a story of a young man who has complexes due to becoming bald. He finds a mystical hair growth serum that causes grotesque transformations in his body, so he has to stop the transformations before he loses even the last hair.
Look here for the winning project: https://www.facebook.com/karvhorrorshort
Other Estonian filmmakers who participated in the Baltic Pitching Forum this year are Anna Hints, a TU Baltic Film and Media School alumna, with a film project “Ice” (Est.“Jää”), and Johan Kudu, who has just started film studies, with a project “Chain” (Est.“Ahel”). Altogether eight short film projects from Estonia applied for the Baltic Pitching Forum.
According to Peter Murdmaa, all three short film projects by Estonian authors presented in Vilnius at the Baltic Pitching Forum, seemed strong against the general competition background, which is a sign of viability of the short film genre in Estonia.
The main prize of the Baltic Pitching Forum came to Estonia also the year before. At that time the prize was awarded to the film project “Butterfly Man” (Est.“Liblikmees”) of Edina Csüllög, an alumna of TU Baltic Film and Media School.
Background information on the Baltic Pitching Forum
The Baltic Pitching Forum is a part of the Vilnius short film festival, which this year took place on 10-11 October. The forum is the only event of the Baltic film industry that provides an opportunity to Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian filmmakers to show their best production to the European producers, representatives of television channels and film funds, festival programme managers and distributors.
The forum consists of a one-day pitching training and on the second day the selected projects are presented. Simultaneously also one-to-one meetings with the European film professionals take place. On the first day, skills that help to prepare a successful presentation are acquired. The second day focuses on the presentation of selected projects to an international jury of seven members. Meetings between participants and film professionals start after the presentation.
The forum is organized by the Lithuanian short film agency in cooperation with the Baltic short film festivals Vilnius Shorts (Lithuania), 2Annas (Latvia), Sleepwalkers (Estonia) and the short film centre ShortEst (Estonia).