SYNOPSIS

Dumping munitions into seas and oceans was a crude but common practice after the First and Second World Wars. Eighty years later, these materials have become an inseparable part of the Baltic Sea’s environment, forming a human-altered landscape where the legacy of conflict is embedded in both nature and everyday life. Baltic UXO takes the audience on a meditative journey, observing the people and the natural world coexisting with this Sisyphean problem. It unfolds from the sea’s own point of view – as a patient observer, silently watching humans and the changes they leave behind.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

We first became interested in this topic upon discovering the problem of munitions in the sea, and our interest deepened when we learned that the Baltic Sea could never be fully cleared of the weapons dumped there after the world wars.The sea has always seemed a place of mystery and danger to us, and this invisible presence sharpened that impression. We wanted to convey that feeling on screen – showing how nature absorbs what is left behind, and how people and animals live within a human-altered environment shaped by this legacy of war. Only after editing did we realise that the film is not simply about the sea as a character, but that it unfolds almost from the sea’s own perspective: the sea as an observer, quietly watching the humans who look back at it.

Working in the tradition of slow cinema and observational landscape documentaries, over nearly six years we joined scientists on expeditions, went fishing with locals, and followed the military. We watched them as they, too, watched the sea – as if looking is the only action still possible.

Throughout, our aim has been to remain impartial observers: to present things as they are, and to leave space for viewers to form their own questions and conclusions.

produced by JUST A MOMENT, AIR PRODUCTIONS & FÜNFERFILM producer DAGNE VILDZIUNAITE, ANTRA GAILE, LIGA GAISA, JULIA CÖLLEN, FRANK SCHEUFFELE & KARSTEN KRAUSE

funded by LITHUANIAN FILMCENTER, MOIN FILMFÖRDERUNG HAMBURG SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN & NATIONAL FILMCENTER OF LATVIA

SCREENINGS

JI.HLAVA FILMFESTIVAL (world premiere)

Documentary
76 minutes | Lithuania, Latvia & Germany 2026

CREW

written & directed by AGNE DOVYDAITYTE & ALEXANDER BELINSKI cinematography ALEXANDER BELINSKI composer TOMS AUNINS editor IGNE NARBUTAITE sound design JUIUS GRIGELIONIS colors OLEGS ALEKSEJEVS production manager DANIELE KUNCINAITE

scientific consultant JACEK BELDOWSKI Ronin camera operator PETER KOLLANYI vfx Supervisor MARIS ABOLINS vfx BIBEK SHRESTHA & OLEGS ALEKSEJEVS
digital restoration PETERIS SUDAKOVS

sound mixer SASCHA HEINY (LOFT STUDIOS) sound recordist AGNE DOVYDAITYTE, FRANCESCA BERTIN & EDGARS DOMA foley artist MICHAEL STANCYK foley recordist BERNHARD MAURER foley editor MICHAEL STANCYK & BERNHARD MAURER mastering DARIUS SILENAS graphic designer MAREK VOIDA motion graphics KRISJANIS PLEIKO

translations OLEG VOLKOV, JULIJA MATULYTE, MAYA CONNORS, DACE ANDZANE, IVO FELT, AGNE BERNOTAITE subtitlingDACE ANDZANE, SUBS HAMBURG & JULIJA MATULYTE impact producer SILVIJA DUOBLYTE production manager latvia ZAKLINE ZABERE-GAGA production manager estonia IVO FELT
location scouting in germany HENDRIK LANDSCHOOF, SARAH DRATH