RIGA IFF OFFICIAL COMPETITION

It is the first time and international award shall be presented here. For now – the competition's only boundary is it's region, namely – the nations connected by the Baltic sea. There is no genre or category, there is no style or technique of production, there is only the format of a cinematic experience of a feature length. Let's see where such an open concept takes us! We're excited. And that's not an easy feat. So we hope you are too!

RIGA IFF SELECTION

Consider this the festival's signature programme – it is a research of sorts into the ever elusive boundary between the stronghold of the cinema as we know and love it – the Western tradition and culture of film making and the engaging force of the cinema that we are yet to define – be it specifically Northern, Southern or Eastern influenced. “These are the new auteur features that hold as much of the new globalized world in them as they demonstrate their roots and their influences. The selection's purpose is to search for the auteur – whether that spirit comes from a personal space or a traditional heritage,” says the festival's artistic director Sonora Broka.

LIELAIS KRISTAPS. SELECTION

The national competition takes place for the duration of a month before the festival when all the Latvian productions are screened within the forum of the festival Lielais Kristaps (named after the Latvian mythical hero The Great Christopher). During Riga IFF in collaboration with Lielais Kristaps a selection of the newest Latvian film shall be presented to an international audience.

NORDIC HIGHLIGHTS

Curated in conjunction with NORDEN – the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia, the embassies of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Danish Cultural institute – this is a contemporary view of the particularly Nordic way of doing film. It’s a selection of films that represents that storytelling, that cinematography, that psychology and that spirit so distinctive to the region.

SHORT RIGA

As an individual department within this year’s festival the team behind the wittily titled SHORT RIGA have devised a remarkable feat – altogether three competitions of new shorts from around the world, Baltic student films and a separate category for music videos. Showcased within three respective programmes SHORT RIGA will take over the newly established small theater KINO BIZE as well as organise workshops and host an award ceremony.

KIDS WEEKEND

The festival's team understands that in order to engage in a meaningful big screen conversation with a little person, it has to be a family affair. That is why we encourage to use this programme to bring the whole family together for an afternoon-slash-emotional journey – take a walk to the cinema, have a bite, get into an exciting animation workshop and let the first (or one of the first) big screen experience feel special for your children and yourself! This small but not least meaningful programme is curated by renowned journalist and the most passionate and careful children's film enthusiast in Latvia – Kristīne Giluce in cooperation with Kristiansand International Children's Film Festival. The film programme is made possible thanks to the support of EEA Grants un Ministry of Culture Republic of Latvia.

ARTDOCFEST/RIGA

Film director, producer and creator the most influential Russian documentary festivals Vitaly Mansky brings the goods to Riga for the blunt reason that this year he might as well not be able to screen them in Moscow. Politically so. Even more so – because both the film-makers themselves and the subjects of their films can basically be turned into outlaws when entering Russia. Thus Riga during the festival becomes the hotspot for the most innovative independent documentary films made by Russian-speaking authors all over the world. The prime focus of ARTDOCFEST has always been discussion. The Riga IFF team is honoured to provide this necessary freedom in times as both difficult and exciting as these.

#‎YOUTH_MATTERS!

We've been advised that it’s a challenge, but we do feel that an international film festival should save space for the film audience of tomorrow. In conjunction with our friends at KICFF whom we trust to be on the forefront of understanding and engaging with the younger audience of our region we thus present a programme fully devoted to coming-of-age, to the reality of a young existence – to it's conflicts, to it’s celebration, to it’s diverse dynamics. In support to sustain this venture we devised a jury of the brightest young stars of film blogging in the country and last year’s prize went deservedly to Daniel Joseph Borgman's The Weight of Elephants. Let’s see which film speaks to the hearts of the young this year! The film programme is made possible thanks to the support of EEA Grants un Ministry of Culture Republic of Latvia.

IN KINO VERITAS

“Freed from the boundaries of time and space, I co-ordinate any and all points of the universe, wherever I want them to be. My way leads towards the creation of a fresh perception of the world. Thus I explain in a new way the world unknown to you.”
/Dziga Vertov/
For this year’s retrospective programme our artistic director Sonora Broka has delved into the blurry lines between documentary and fiction – the genres history remembers as cinéma vérité and direct cinema. This is a personal view on origins and a commentary on the influence these films and film-makers have had on the evolution of cinema in general. The fact is – the concepts these directions enlightened us of are still matters of discussion now that the genre of the contemporary film gets ever so elusive.