Baltic Cinema

The Only English Language Page Dedicated to Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian Cinema

Reviews

GO TO: Faithful unto Death (2024) dir. Ivars Zviedris

Faithful unto Death will be having its North American premiere this Saturday, May 17, at the West Newton Cinema.

Essays

Rolands Kalniņš: riding the Baltic New Wave with “Latvia’s Godard”

One of the most important Latvians to ever stand behind a camera.

Essays

The Klassiki Podcast: Jonas Mekas — a Lithuanian abroad

I was honored to join host Sam Goff on the Klassiki Podcast to discuss the life and work of the Lithuanian avant garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas.

Reviews

BBFF Interview: Tomas Vengris

Part of the Boston Baltic Film Festival 2025

Interview

BBFF Interview: Laurynas Bareiša

Part of the Boston Baltic Film Festival 2025

Reviews

BBFF Dispatch #5: Period Pictures

Part of the Boston Baltic Film Festival 2025

Reviews

BBFF Dispatch #4: Cats and Sculptures

Part of the Boston Baltic Film Festival 2025

Reviews

BBFF Dispatch #3: Is It Easy to Be … Trilogy

Part of the Boston Baltic Film Festival 2025.

Reviews

BBFF Dispatch #2: Two Baltic Movies Prominently Featuring Lakes

Part of the Boston Baltic Film Festival 2025

Reviews

BBFF Dispatch #1: Three Highlights from Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania

The following dispatch features reviews of Podnieks on Podnieks. A Witness to History; Five and a Half Love Stories in an Apartment in Vilnius, Lithuania; & Lioness.

Reviews

Orenda — Pirjo Honkasalo [IFFR ’25 Review]

Orenda is by no means a bad film and in fact mightily impresses in moments, its inconsistency undermines testimony of any genuine orenda.

Essays

Year Ender: Joshua Polanski's Top Ten Films of 2024

In a year darkened by ethnic cleansing, global conflict, and hopeless elections, it’s beautiful that beauty, more than depravity, captivates the minds of our best artists.

Reviews

Black Velvet

A genre-defiant drama about depression with a formalist flare, the Latvian-Lithuanian co-production Black Velvet uses some killer editing and funky cinematography to zero in on the strangeness and alienating effect of that unique sadness.

Reviews

Anna LOL

Anna may not feel anything, but any audience even half paying attention will. Anna LOL is a remarkable film, and it is one of the best Baltic films I have seen so far this year.

Paid-members only

Reviews

Deaf Lovers

Reviews

Life & Love

A good film about the psychology of desire, enticing and toxic power dynamics, and the messy pain of love.

Reviews

Tesa Man

The music speaks clearly enough.

Reviews

Touched by Eternity

Touched by Eternity doesn’t fully commit to any single type of comedy.

Reviews

Never Alone (Ei Koskaan Yksin)

Nazis are bad!

Reviews

REVIEW: AZRAEL (2024) dir. E.L. Katz

You read that right: Azrael takes place in a post-rapture society.

Reviews

REVIEW: The Brazen (2023) dir. Aik Karapetian

Creepy-crawlies

Reviews

BBFF Dispatch #4: Lovable (2022) dir. Staņislavs Tokalovs / Faulty Brides (2023) dir. Ergo Kuld

Staņislavs Tokalovs must have been one of the Baltics’ busiest film creatives over the past few years because he has three separate entries in this year’s Boston Baltic Film Festival...

Baltic Cinema

BBFF Interview: Staņislavs Tokalovs

"I started to think, 'Okay, so I can either take the money and rewrite what he wants' — but I had to overstep myself — or I say, 'Okay, you go F-yourself?' It took me a couple of days, but I decided not to write it."

Reviews

BBFF Dispatch #3: Everything Will Be Alright (2023) dir. Staņislavs Tokalovs / The Poet (2022) dir. Vytautas V. Landsbergis & Giedrius Tamoševičius

“I will put a mask on you just in case,” Irina tells her mother at a V-Day event during the pandemic. “Okay, but why?”

Aurora

BBFF Interview: Maarja Johanna Mägi

"Well, this profession depends a lot on luck. If you happen to be in the right place and someone who just needs your type of acting will see you."