New York, NY—The 9th Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America is back this November 5-8, 2026, continuing its tradition of bringing the best new films from the Baltic region to New York audiences. Over the four-day program, festival-goers can enjoy screenings at Scandinavia House in New York alongside director talks and Q&As, receptions and other events. 

The full in-person festival program has now been announced. This year's lineup will include 2 U.S. Premieres, 5 North American Premieres, and additional New York and East Coast Premieres. Several of these films have received coveted awards and festival premieres, including at Cannes Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights, the Doc@POFF Competitions, and Best Baltic Film, as well as national film awards including the Cultural Endowment of Estonia's Annual Prize, Latvia's Lielais Kristaps National Film Awards, and Lithuania's Silver Crane Awards.

Opening Night on Thursday, November 5 at 6:30 PM features the East Coast Premiere of A Goodnight Kiss (Irena, Lithuania/Estonia/Bulgaria, 2025), alongside a film talk and Q&A with director Giedrė Žickytė (The Jump). A documentary about writer/human rights activist Irena Veisaitė—who inspired Für Alina by her lifelong friend, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt—A Goodnight Kiss tells the story of an extraordinary woman who survived tragedies under the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Lithuania, yet retained an unabating belief in life free from hatred. The film rescreens Saturday, November 7 (12 PM). 

Other highlights include the North American Premiere of Ulya alongside a film talk with director Viesturs Kairišs (2026; Latvia/Poland/Estonia/Lithuania) on Saturday, November 7 (8 PM). A biopic of legendary athlete Uļjana Semjonova, the film follows Ulya's life from her early teen years, when her height began approaching two meters, to the fraught world of athletic stardom with Latvian women’s basketball team TTT. Ulya had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and is Latvia’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards. 

On Sunday, November 8 at 6:30 PM, NYBFF will close with the U.S. Premiere of Our Erika (Meie Erika, Lithuania/Estonia/Latvia, 2026) with director German Golub. Our Erika, Estonia's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, is a captivating story of Estonian track bicyclist Erika Salumäe, who fought her way from a troubled childhood to the highest podium level of the Olympic Games. 

Two powerful forces— both driven by hunger for life —collide in director Aistė Žegulytė’s Holy Destructors (Biodestruktoriai, Lithuania/France/Latvia, 2026), a powerful documentary about the invisible world of organisms, with film composer Gediminas Jakubka (Saturday, November 7, 5:45 PM; U.S. Premiere); winner of Best Directing Award, IDFA Envision Competition (2025); Best Baltic Documentary Film, Doc@POFF Competition at Tallinn Black Nights (2025); and Best Documentary at Lithuania’s Silver Crane Awards (2026).

A moving portrait about the fragile balance between art and parenthood, My Family and Other Clowns (Minu pere ja muud klounid, Estonia, 2025), winner of the Special Jury Prize at Doc@PÖFF Baltic Competition, Tallinn Black Nights and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Annual Prize for Best Documentary, screens with a talk by co-director Liina Särkinen (Sunday, November 8, 12 PM; North American Premiere). 

Lead actor Šarūnas Zenkevičius and producer Martynas Mickėnas will be present on Sunday, November 8 (2 PM) for the NY Premiere of Ignas Jonynas’ thriller Borderline (Sienna, Lithuania, 2025), about a grieving ornithologist roped into a smuggling operation, for which Zenkevičius received the European Shooting Star at Berlinale (2025) and Best Actor at Lithuania’s Silver Crane Awards (2026), and was awarded Best Baltic Film at PÖFF (Tallinn Black Nights) in 2025.

Other highlights include Scarecrows (Putnubiedēkļi, Latvia, 2025), a gripping, visually composed documentary of “runway rangers,” with a talk by director Laila Pakalniņa (Friday, November 6, 7:30 PM; North American Premiere); Morten, a mystical coming-of-age Estonian tale that won three awards at Italy’s Giffoni Film Festival, with a talk by director Ivan Pavljutškov (Saturday, November 7, 3:30 PM; North American Premiere); and The Child (Bērns, Latvia/Lithuania, 2026), a drama exploring a couple's difficult efforts to conceive, screening with director Linda Olte (Sunday, November 8, 4:30 PM; North American Premiere). 

The festival will also including two programs of short films, including Baltic Animated Shorts on Friday, November 6 at 6:30 PM; and Baltic Shorts (live action) on Saturday, November 7 at 2 PM. 

ASF Program Manager & NYBFF Curator Kyle Reinhart states, “This year’s iteration of the festival features Baltic stories ranging from the great to the microscopic and focuses on attaining your dreams or enacting change even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. Whether exploring personal subjects, such as family life and coming of age, or political history, from the Soviet occupation to the present, the filmmakers in this year’s lineup put a deeply human perspective on the struggle to achieve one’s goals, and the beauty that often arises from perseverance.”

Each in-person day of the festival concludes with a reception. For program updates, please subscribe to the festival newsletter at balticfilmfestival.com and Scandinavia House newsletter at scandinaviahouse.org. Stay in the loop by following NYBFF on Instagram and Facebook.

ABOUT THE NEW YORK BALTIC FILM FESTIVAL
Established in 2018, the New York Baltic Film Festival is presented and organized by Scandinavia House in collaboration with the Embassy of Estonia, Consulate General of Lithuania, Permanent Mission of Latvia to the United Nations in New York, with generous financial support from Edhard Corporation. Additional support for the festival comes from the Estonian Film Institute, National Film Center of Latvia, and Lithuanian Film Center, with additional sponsorship by the American-Scandinavian Foundation, American Latvian Association, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian American National Council (EKRÜ), Honorary Consulate General of Latvia in New York, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Sondra Litvatytė.