At the end of October, the new Lithuanian documentary “Baltic UXO” will have its world premiere in the main competition programme of the Czech film festival “Ji.hlava”, while in Lithuania the film will be screened at the European Film Forum “Scanorama”. Directed by Agnė Dovydaitytė and Alexander Belinski, this Lithuanian, German and Latvian co-production explores the legacy of the Second World War on the Baltic seabed and the lives of people and nature alongside an invisible and increasingly pressing threat.
After the Second World War, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unexploded ordnance and other military munitions were dumped in the Baltic Sea. Eight decades later, this pollution is an inseparable part of the sea’s ecosystem. The film invites viewers to look at this problem not through the lens of a military threat or scientific research, but from the perspective of the sea itself, which silently bears witness to human actions and their long-term consequences.
The film seeks to draw attention to a problem whose scale encompasses ecological, economic and political issues. During the nearly six years spent making the film, the directors joined scientists on expeditions, went fishing with local residents and observed the work of military personnel. Continuing the tradition of slow cinema and observational landscape documentary, the film does not seek to provide definitive answers—it leaves room for viewers to reflect on how past conflicts change the present-day environment and the daily lives of the people who inhabit it.
The directors of “Baltic UXO” are Agnė Dovydaitytė and Alexander Belinski, both of whom have a background in journalism. Belinski was born in Ukraine and grew up in Germany and the United Kingdom. The two filmmakers previously co-directed the documentary “The Sun Sets in the East” (2018), which was screened at international film festivals, including “Ji.hlava”.
The film’s world premiere will take place on October 30 at the “Ji.hlava” festival—one of the most important international documentary film events in Central and Eastern Europe, renowned for its programme of auteur-driven, experimental and creatively bold documentaries. The film will also be presented at three other international film festivals this autumn.
“It is important to us that “Baltic UXO” reaches not only Lithuanian but also international audiences, because the legacy of war hidden in the Baltic Sea is not just a regional problem—it is an example of humanity’s long-term impact on the environment that is relevant to the whole world. While the film was still in production, we realised that simply telling this story was not enough. So, during the filmmaking process, we began collaborating with environmental organisations and experts working on these issues, looking for ways to raise public awareness together about a subject of shared concern. We hope the film will become a starting point for a broader conversation about the ecological state of the Baltic Sea and other seas and oceans, encouraging not only a better understanding of the problem but also a search for ways to address it”
Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė
The film’s producer and founder of the production company “Just a Moment”
The national premiere of “Baltic UXO” will take place on November 13 at the European Film Festival “Scanorama”. On November 15, the film will close the festival programme in the Baltic port city of Klaipėda. “Virtuoliai” will distribute the film in cinemas across Lithuania early next year.