The animated feature My Love Affair With Marriage by Latvian-born and Brooklyn-based Signe Baumane will open the 5th New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America. The festival runs November 2-13, 2022 as a hybrid festival screening new and critically-acclaimed Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian films in-person in NYC November 2-6 and virtually November 4-13.

The festival will open on Wednesday, November 2 with the animated feature My Love Affair With Marriage, a wild semi-autobiographical musical journey inside the mind of Zelda, exploring the notions of love, sex, and romance through the lens of neurochemistry. Baumane’s fiercely original and visually arresting work was recognized with the Jury Distinction for Feature Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival this year.

My Love Affair With Marriage perfectly embodies the theme of this year’s festival: Past or Present, inspired by the intense emotional response felt in the Baltic countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Signe Baumane, My Love Affair With Marriage director: “As Ukraine is fighting for its right to sovereignty and independence, people are increasingly tuning in to the history and politics of Eastern Europe, making the Baltic Film Festival more relevant than ever. I am honored to present My Love Affair With Marriage as the festival’s Opening Night film in person, and I am equally thrilled to bring the unique, particular world of where I am from to New Yorkers. This intimate story of a woman trying to find love and her place in the world against the backdrop of major historic events in Eastern Europe will resonate with American audiences like it was their own.”

Watch a trailer for My Love Affair With Marriage.