The Fifth Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America returns in 2022 as a hybrid festival with both in-person and virtual screenings on November 2-13! From November 2 through 6, in-person screenings and events will take place at Scandinavia House in New York, presented in accordance with new COVID-19 safety guidance and protocols. Following the success of last year’s festival, the online version will once again be available to viewers all across the U.S. via the Elevent streaming platform November 4-13.

In our Opening Night Celebration at Scandinavia House open to VIP pass holders and invited guests only, see My Love Affair with Marriage (Mans laulību projekts, dir. Signe Baumane, Latvia/USA/Luxembourg, 2022, Narrative). My Love Affair with Marriage tells the story of Zelda (voiced by Dagmara Dominczyk) and her Biology (voiced by Michele Pawk). From an early age, songs and fairytales convinced Zelma that Love with a capital “L” would solve all her problems. The rules for how to behave and dress in order to achieve happiness — i.e., to attract the attention of the opposite sex — are clear, but the other girls in her class can play the part much better. There is, however, always a dissatisfied voice within Zelma questioning what she is told: quiet at first, the voice grows ever louder, and the more she tries to conform, the more her body resists.

Tonight’s event is only open to VIP pass holders and invited guests; the film will later screen in-person on November 3. Learn more and get tickets here. 

About the Director

Signe Baumane is a Latvian-born, Brooklyn-based  filmmaker, artist, writer, and animator. She has made 17 award-winning animated shorts but is best known for her first animated feature Rocks in my Pockets, which premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2014. Baumane’s new animated feature My Love Affair With Marriage fuses animation with music, theater, science, photography, three-dimensional sets and traditional hand-drawn animation. Baumane is a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow in Film for New York Foundation for the Arts. She has a degree in Philosophy from Moscow State University.

About the NYBFF

Established in 2018, the New York Baltic Film Festival is presented and organized by Scandinavia House in collaboration with the Consulate General of Estonia, Consulate General of Lithuania, and Daris Delins, former Honorary Consul for Latvia in New York and founder of the festival. Financial support for the festival comes from the Estonian Film Institute, National Film Center of Latvia, Lithuanian Film Center, and the Edhard Corporation with additional sponsorship by the Estonian American National Council, Lithuanian Culture Institute, Lithuanian Foundation, Consulate General of Estonia in New York, Embassy of Latvia in Washington D.C., Permanent Mission of Latvia to the U.N. in New York, Consulate General of Lithuania in New York, American Latvian Association, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, the PBLA Culture Fund, and Sondra Litvaitytė.

ORGANIZERS & SPONSORS