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Ever since the northeastern European nations Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania introduced their filming incentives about a decade ago, the region has been growing as a go-to destination for foreign shoots. No fewer than three weighty European co-productions selected for Cannes have chosen Latvia as a filming destination: Kristen Stewart’s “The Chronology of Water,” Sergei Loznitsa’s “Two Prosecutors” and Kirill Serebrennikov’s “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele.”

The Baltics’ biggest draws are their tax and cash rebates of up to 30% of local spend, which are topped by co-production and regional coin, as well as top crews, competitive production costs and diverse locations, ranging from medieval, baroque castles, Soviet era buildings, to rugged sea coastline and pristine forests.

Swedish producer Piodor Gustafsson who filmed in 2024 the Frank Spotnitz’s co-produced series “We Come in Peace” in Lithuania, praised ‘the “refreshingly straightforward” tax rebate, “exceptionally high” standard of crew and “abundance...

Estonia’s Taska Film, the production company behind local box-office hits such as medieval crime thriller “Melchior the Apothecary,” hits Locarno’s Match Me! industry sessions with a slate that includes Jaak Kilmi’s “Dirt in Your Face,” a coming-of-age rock drama set in the twilight of the Soviet Union backed in part by Apollo, the largest cinema chain in the Baltic region.

The film follows 17-year-old Mihkel and his band as they go on a journey full of alcohol, protest and music to impress a Western producer visiting a rock festival in 1980s Soviet Estonia. In their struggle to keep the band together, the group inadvertently help split the Soviet Union apart.

“Dirt in Your Face” is written by Martin Algus and based on the bestseller of the same name by Mihkel Raud, a former member of the ’80s band Golem (pictured) on whom the movie is based. It...