28/05/2026
We would like to share a few words in memory of Simon Drewsen Holmberg, one of the founders of Baltic Sea Docs, written by Lelda Ozola, an early member of the BSD organising team:
"I needed a couple of days to contemplate what it means that Simon is in another world now. He is and he isn’t, as he continues to live in the minds of Baltic documentary professionals (and beyond) forever.
This year, BSD is celebrating its 30th anniversary. It is the most important documentary event in the Baltic countries – highly respected for its professionality and loved for its friendly and inclusive atmosphere. It was founded by Simon Drewsen Holmberg & Bent Noerby Bonde at the Baltic Media Centre on the island of Bornholm in 1997. They were visionaries who saw that unknown Baltic stories are worth breaking out in the world. And they were so true.
The event helped to shape and strengthen the concept of a Baltic documentary film producer – a non-existent profession in the Soviet regime. They saw the value of creative documentaries that had developed in the Baltic countries since 1960s under the censorship of the Soviet Union where you had to tell the truth between the lines and be very creative visually.
Today’s internationally well-known Baltic documentary producers’ names have developed all through the 30 years of Baltic Sea Docs. It is a mind-blowing journey started by a couple of people and their teams. It proves that every one of us can change the world – like Simon did for our documentarians.
On a personal note, Simon has also geared my professional life into what it is today – inviting me to join the Baltic Media Centre’s team at the end of the 1990s. It was a huge step for someone born and raised in the Soviet Union and helped me to adapt to the new Western reality much quicker, gaining invaluable professional know-how in those two years on Bornholm. And it was Simon who ‘planted’ me in the team of the National Film Centre of Latvia so that the knowledge gained in Denmark continues to grow together with the Latvian film industry. I am SO GRATEFUL for having such a rewarding and interesting job until this day.
Simon has undoubtedly left his footprint in the Baltic documentary scene, and it cannot be erased. And we are sure that he’ll continue to guide us as a guardian angel from the silver lined heaven – filled with light, harmony and a wonderful sense of humour. RIP."
Lelda Ozola
In the photo by Agnese Zeltiņa: Simon Drewsen Holmberg at the reception hosted by the Danish Cultural Institute in the Baltic States to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Baltic Sea Docs in 2021.
