EnergaCAMERIMAGE, the international film festival of the art of cinematography, will celebrate three-time Academy Award® winning cinematographer Robert Richardson and two-time Academy Award® winner Quentin Tarantino by presenting them with the festival’s Cinematographer-Director Duo Award at a gala closing-night ceremony onNovember 16. The collaborators will visit Toruń for the event, which will include a screening of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, the fifth film in their renowned collaboration.

Robert Richardson and Quentin Tarantino

With his vibrant imagination and dedication to richly layered storytelling Quentin Tarantino has established himself as one of the most celebrated filmmakers of his generation. His nine films – Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 1and Vol. 2, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – have been nominated for a total of 24 Oscars®, winning five, including two for Tarantino’s screenplays for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained. He was honored with the Palme d’Or for Pulp Fiction.

Always passionate for his ever-evolving craft, Robert Richardson made his name with ambitious, emotionally harrowing films set in the conflict-ridden El Salvador in Salvador, the war-torn Vietnam in Platoon, and the concrete and electronic jungle of Wall Street. During the next three decades, with such films as JFK, Heaven & Earth, Casino, The Aviator, Shutter Island, Hugo, and many others Richardson became a true master of light, shadow, and frame, changing the way we watch films. 

Commenting on the announcement, Marek Żydowicz, EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival's Director, said, “In their epic- two-part Kill Bill; their twisted reimagination of World War II in Inglourious Basterds, their deconstruction of American myths in Django Unchained, their 70mm Western The Hateful Eight, and now, their heartbreaking and often uplifting recreation of a Los Angeles on the verge of change in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Richardson and Tarantino have created detailed, visually evocative stories that serve as reminders of why many of us fell in love with cinema. We are thrilled to welcome them to Toruń with this award.”

On Friday, 25 October, the shooting of the live-action feature Eva by the director TijanaZinajić began in Ljubljana. The script for this romantic comedy was written by IzaStrehar.

Zinajić’s directorial debut focuses on Eva, an academy-trained painter. About to turn 27, she realises that she has not yet achieved anything at all in her entire life.As she has not had her period for more than half a year because of her bad habits, she decides to stop drinking, smoking, and experimenting with various substances.Her favourite way of finding advice and assistance is a web browser.As the other aspects of Eva’s life are not exactly stellar, kicking her habits proves difficult as well.She has a creative block, her romantic affair with her painting mentor starts to annoy her, while her best friend Nina moves to Berlin in search of an environment more favourably inclined towards young artists.Eva works in a bookstore that sells self-help manuals, but her pay is always late, so she can hardly keep up with the rent.Without realising it at all, she and her roommate Blaž are in love with each other.

Before the shooting, the director told us: “The film Eva focuses on the period of life currently experienced by those born in 1991.It speaks of the social pressures and expectations,compelling every generation to grow up in a precisely defined manner.In every generation, some of us have matured differently.The script was written by a 25-year-old, yet I am no stranger to these issues, even though I belong to another generation.The screenwriter and I, as a director, represent different generations, but it is precisely this distance that can establish the universality of the topic.”

Starring Liza Marijina as Eva, Tosja Flaker Berce as Blaž, AnušaKodelja as Nina, and Jure Henigman as Jakob.Also featuring Lea Cok, Vesna Pernarčič, Nina Valič, Davor Janjić, Primož Pirnat, Nika Rozman, Miranda Trnjanin, Lovro Zafred, Jernej Kogovšek, Ana Urbanc, Sebastijan Horvat, Matej Puc, Desa Muck, Jožica Avbelj, and Špela Rozin.Director of photography: MilošSrdić; production designer: Neža Zinajić; costumes designer: Matic Hrovat; and makeup designer: Lija Ivančič.

The film, to be completed in the summer of 2020, is produced by Vlado Bulajić and Lija Pogačnik from the December production company from Ljubljana and co-produced by RTV Slovenija and Aatalanta.The project has been financially supported by the Slovenian Film Centre and Viba Film.

After secondary school, the director TijanaZinajić studied French and philosophy at the Faculty of Arts but graduated in theatre direction from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (the AGRFT) in Ljubljana.She works as a theatre director, actor, and assistant film director.She has received two Žlahtnarežija (Refined Direction) Awards for comedies, while the theatre performances she has directed have received several Slovenian and international awards.

After finishing secondary school and graduating in dramaturgy and performing arts from the AGRFT, the screenwriter IzaStreharalso attained her master’s degree in film and television screenwriting.She has already received four Grossman Awards for short film scripts and a Žlahtnokomedijskopero (Refined Comediographer) Award.She works as a script editor, dramatist, and screenwriter.She developed the project Eva at the “Scenarnica” scriptwriting workshop.

This year’s visitors of the Nordic Film Days Lübeck will be able to see six Lithuanian films of various genres with a uniting topic: a desire for freedom, told through youthful pranks and historical experiences. 

Two Lithuanian films were selected for this year’s Nordic Film Days competition. Director Karolis Kaupinis’ feature film debut, “Nova Lituania”, will compete with 17 other European films in the main Feature film competition. The story about the efforts of Lithuanian geography professor to create a reserve state overseas has already received many international awards. Dir. Kaupinis and an actor Vaidotas Martinaitis will present the film in Lübeck. 

Ramunė Rakauskaitė’s film “Back to the Dreamland” (lit. Kelionės namo) will be screened at the Documentary competition. The director will also attend the screening and will join a discussion about the connection between Lithuanian emigrants and their homeland.

This year, the festival focuses on films for children and youth. Tomas Vengris’ debut “Motherland” (lit. Gimtinė) and Inara Kolmane’s “Bile” (Lithuanian prod. Kęstutis Petrulis, Arūnas Stoškus) will be screened among other 35 films. “Bile”is a co-production between Latvia, Lithuania and Czech Republic.

Jorė Janavičiūtė’s 18-minute drama “On Time” (lit. Laiku) will be screened at the Short films program.

Also, Raimundas Banionis’ “Children from the Hotel America” (Vaikai iš „Amerikos“ viešbučuio, 1990)will visit Lübeck and will be screened at Retrospectives program from the film agents.  

Lithuanian films are competing for 8 awards, including the Baltic Prize for the Best Feature Film. Dovilė Butnoriūtė, the Head of the Film Promotion Department of the Lithuanian Film Center, is among this year’s judges. 

Lithuanian participation in the festival is sponsored by the Lithuanian Film Center.

Tallinn Black Nights aka PÖFF unveils the 15 films that are representing the three Baltic states at the 23rd edition of the festival. The programme consists of nine features, five documentaries and one animation.

Running for the second time, the Baltic Competition programme is a selection of the year’s finest films from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as selected by the festival’s non-Baltic programming team members. The competition’s mission is to highlight and introduce Baltic cinema for the International industry and film critics, promote it for the festival’s audience and to build ties between the region’s filmmakers. The programme will be overseen by a jury comprised of international film professionals who will be announced in November.

Festival director Tiina Lokk commented: ’The idea of the Baltic Competition is an old one that we were once forced to drop since the cinematic output of the three countries dropped rapidly during a financially difficult period in the 90’s and a big part of the ’00s. When re-establishing the Baltic Competition last year in the context of the centenary celebration when all three countries had financed bigger productions, we were actually quite scared that maybe it will be a one time deal and the output and quality will drop again. We are extremely glad to admit that not only did our fears not realise, but actually all our hopes were surpassed – this is a wonderfully diverse programme with so many great films that have either seen considerable international success already or will hopefully do so after their premieres at PÖFF!“

Estonia

Estonian-Latvian co-produced Immortal reveals a contemporary Russian social mechanism that produces obedient state patriots and feels not unlike the methods used in the political systems of the last century. Ksenia Okhapkina’s film has won the documentary Grand Prix at Karlovy Vary IFF and several other festivals around the world and was submitted for the Academy Awards in the Documentary category.

Manfred Vainokivi presents his latest documentary biography In Bed With A Writer, a portrait of the controversial Estonian writer Peeter Sauter, right after his divorce. We follow Sauter in Estonia’s art and underground scene as he contemplates marriage, women, sex and ageing.

Vladimir Loginov’s second documentary Prazdnik chronicles an event that has been organised for nearly twenty years now in a small Estonian town: a Ukrainian-themed fair, during which a beauty pageant is held. While observing a community made up of a mostly ethnic minority in Estonia, the film also explores whether beauty can be an object of competition, and how we should understand the phenomenon of beauty contests in the modern-day.

Having travelled the globe with his debut In the Crosswind, Martti Helde returns with Scandinavian Silence, a feature film that tells, using an unusual narrative device, the tale of a man reunited with his sister after having spent years in jail. The film has screened at Karlovy Vary IFF and Busan IFF.

Becoming the biggest box office hit in the country’s history, the adaptation of the literary classic Truth and Justice is the first feature film of Tanel Toom, who won the Student Academy Award with his short film The Confession. The story follows the decade-spanning feud of two neighbours during the second half of the 19th century.

A comedic depiction of the global and local startup culture, Unicorn is the second feature of Rain Rannu, who himself is active as a startup investor and entrepreneur. The film is just finishing its successful run at the Estonian box office.

Latvia

A culmination of one artist’s creative journey that lasted 3,5 years, Away is a fantasy animation directed, animated and composed by Gints Zilbalodis. The film has screened at numerous festivals around the world, including Annecy, Tokyo, Fantasia and Sitges.

Chronicling the tumultuous times in Post-Soviet Latvia, Jānis Ābele’s feature film Jelgava 94 shines a light on the period where teenagers were obsessed with heavy metal.

Juris Kursietis’ second feature Oleg premiered at the Quinzaine des Realiseteurs section of the Cannes film festival. It’s rough, gripping tale of Latvian migrant workers searching for a better life in Belgium, not always on the right side of the law.

Having screened numerous times in the PÖFF programme, twice in the Official Selection, director Laila Pakalnina presents the documentary feature Spoon that follows the ’life-cycle’ and the geographical path of a plastic spoon in the globalized economical system.

Lithuania

Aistė Žegulytė presents Animus Animalis, an observational documentary about a taxidermist, a deer farmer and a museum employee who guide us around a bizarre world in which the line between reality and artificiality becomes imperceptible. The film has screened at numerous festivals across the world, including Leipzig and Brussels IFF, where it won the European Competition Grand Prix.

Director Ignas Jonynas’ second film Invisible presents the story of a former dancer Jonas pretending to be blind to enter a TV dance competition, as an intimate and emotional relationship builds between him and his dancing partner. He is soon reconnected with someone from the past with whom he shares a dark secret. The film premiered at the San Sebastian film festival.

Following the International premiere at Busan IFF, Tomas Vengris’ debut Motherlandrevisits the year 1992 in a Lithuania, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as a single mother and her 12-year-old return to Lithuania after a long stay in the US, to claim the property that was taken from the woman’s parents when they were sent to labour camps decades ago.

Karolis Kaupinis’ historic drama Nova Lithuania is set in 1938, the year when the young Lithuanian state celebrates twenty years of independence, while the situation in Europe is becoming increasingly tense. Geographer Feliksas Gruodis comes up with a novel solution proposing to create a “backup Lithuania” overseas, where the country’s inhabitants could move in case of danger and starts looking for support from the political elite.

A legend of Lithuanian cinema, Algimantas Puipa presents the film Other Side of Silence, a tale inspired by the book Bumblebee Honey by Swedish writer Torgny Lindgren, talking about two brothers living in the same village, on the same lake, by the same forest, but their mutual hatred is so strong because of a once shared love interest, that they cannot die out of fear of losing to each other.

The 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival runs from the 15th of November until the 1st of December.

Films

Immortal (Surematu), 2019, Estonia-Latvia, director: Ksenija Ohhapkina | Estonian premiere
In Bed With A Writer (Kirjanikuga voodis), 2019, Estonia, director: Manfred Vainokivi | Estonian premiere
Prazdnik (Праздник), 2019, Estonia-Belorussia, director: Vladimir Loginov | Estonian premiere
Scandinavia (Skandinaavia vaikus), 2019, Estonia-France-Belgium, director: Martti Helde 
Truth and Justice (Tõde ja õigus), 2019, director: Tanel Toom 
Unicorn (Ükssarvik), 2019, Estonia, director: Rain Rannu 

Away (Projām), 2019, Latvia, director: Gints Zilbalodis | Estonian premiere
Jelgava 94, 2019, Latvia, director: Jānis Ābele | International premiere
Oleg (Oļegs), 2019, Latvia-Belgium-Lithuania-France, director: Juris Kursietis | Estonian premiere  
Spoon (Karote), 2019, Latvia-Lithuania-Norway, director: Laila Pakalnina | Estonian premiere

Animus Animalis (Istorija apie žmones, žvėris ir daiktus), 2019, Lithuania, director: Aistė Žegulytė | Estonian premiere
Invisible (Nematoma), 2019, Lithuania-Latvia-Ukraine-Spain, director: Ignas Jonynas | Estonian premiere
Motherland (Gimtine), 2019 Lithuania-Latvia-Germany-Greece, director: Tomas Vengris | Estonian premiere
Nova Lituania, 2019, Lithuania, director: Karolis Kaupinis | Estonian premiere
Other Side of Silence (Kita Tylos Pusė), 2019, Lithuania, director: Algimantas Puipa | Estonian premiere

The film stills and presskits of the programme can be found HERE. 

Festival TEASER.

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25 October / What's cooking?

• 18 projects attending Baltic Event Co-Production Market 
• Script Pool Tallinn reveals projects for TV drama series
• Save the date for European Film Forum Tallinn 2019
• Music Meets Films focuses on the creativity of composers
• Take part in Virtual Reality workshop
• Apply for accreditation on 28 October the latest!
• Is this the future of photography?

18 PROJECTS PARTICIPATING AT 
BALTIC EVENT CO-PRODUCTION MARKET

Just in a few weeks, 18 projects will be presented at the Baltic Event Co-Production Market 2019 during the Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event. The market’s 18^th edition welcomes both promising debutants as well as industry heavyweights, with stories ranging from raw personal traumas to mind-bending thrillers. This year's event proudly showcases the greatest talents from Central and Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia as well from the focus countries Ireland and Argentina in addition to the projects from Baltic countries.

SEE THE FULL LIST OF THE PROJECTS

 SCRIPT POOL TALLINN REVEALS PROJECTS FOR TV DRAMA SERIES

This year for the first time the international script competition Script Pool Tallinn also presents projects for TV and drama series in addition to scripts for feature films.

At the Script Pool Tallinn event, six teams consisting of scriptwriters and producers will be at the open pitch on the 26th of November before the international  jury and other decision-makers from the industry including Kamila Zlatušková, Independent TV producer from the Czech Republic, Dominic Schreiber, Global Drama Executive, at leading independent drama producer and distributor, Reel One Entertainment and Benjamin Harris, a writer and producer with over 15 years experience in the industry.

READ MORE ABOUT THE PROJECTS

SAVE THE DATE: EUROPEAN FILM FORUM TALLINN 2019

Save the date -  27 November - for the European Film Forum Tallinn 2019: Industry (R)Evolution: Debating Tech, Distribution, and Future Talent for European Cinema!

The European Film Forum, as a debate and discussion platform on the future evolution of European cinema, will return to Nordic Hotel Forum with executive-level discussions, case studies, and showcases on the most pressing topics for the European film, television, and content industry focusing on topics including: 

• How does Artificial Intelligence impact Storytelling and Cinema in Europe and beyond?

• What are the Streaming Wars and what it takes for Independent Cinema to stay relevant?

• Why you should you engage with European film tech startup (r)evolution?

READ MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMME 

FILM MUSIC - WHERE DOES THE CREATIVITY COME FROM?

Music Meets Film, a part of Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event taking place for the 8th time, has announced its programme and focuses on film music composers’ source of creativity this year. The exhaustive programme brings together award-winning British composer Richard Harvey, forensic musicologist Peter Oxendale as well as renown composers Michael J McEvoy, Tom Player and Mihkel Zilmer.

Music Meets Film, curated by Estonian Music Producer and Music Editor Michael Pärt, welcomes together composers and directors; from music and sound creatives through to producers, agents and the wider music – and film industry. The programme runs from the 25th until the 27th of November, 2019.

CHECK OUT THE PROGRAMME AND THE MENTORS

WORKSHOP: HOW TO INCORPORATE VIRTUAL REALITY TO AUDIO-VISUAL PROJECTS?

Are you interested in VR and want to know how to use the technology in your audio-visual projects?

Join the “Demystifying Virtual Reality” workshop taking place in collaboration with Film New Europe and Proto Invention Factory on 28-29 November in Tallinn. It is a hands-on workshop for filmmakers and enthusiasts, who are interested in what the future brings to the audiovisual medium. During the two intense days, participants will learn how to apply their creativity and take audience involvement to a completely different level through Virtual Reality.  

The two-day workshop is lead by Rein Zobel (Maru VR), Angel Urbina Vitoria (Iralta VR), Nimrod Shanit and Mitya Sorkin.

NB! Please register for the workshop by 30 October the latest!

LEARN MORE OR REGISTER TO THE WORKSHOP

3 DAYS LEFT FOR ACCREDITATION!

There is only 20 days before the kick-off of Black Night Film Festival and just one month to go before Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event! This is your last chance to make the necessary arrangements. To attend the 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and Industry@Tallinn and Baltic Event, you are welcome to apply for accreditation. Depending on your plans, you can choose the most suitable solution for you:

• Festival + Industry accreditation (valid during November 15 – December 01 2019) or
• Industry accreditation (valid during 25-29 November)

The last day to apply for accreditation is 28 October, so you'd better hurry!

FIND OUT MORE ON ACCREDITATION

FOTOINMOTION — 
THE FUTURE OF PHOTOGRAPHY WILL BE MOVING

Black Nights Film Festival is proud to partner with FotoInMotion, a new tool that will automatically turn still images into immersive short-form videos. But what would be the future tools for digital content creation? FotoInMotion partners will shed some light upon the trends!  

READ MORE ON FOTOINMOTION

https://go.coe.int/HeaDT

Cultural property, as an invaluable testimony of history and identity to be preserved in all circumstances, contributes to the creation of a more peaceful, just and cohesive society. However, with alarming frequency, cultural property is targeted in both peace and wartime, often leading to a permanent destruction or loss of cultural heritage, with resulting impoverishment for humanity as a whole. It is stolen from museums, galleries, private collections, religious monuments or archaeological sites and illicitly trafficked via international organised crimes networks. This illegal trade has become a transnational phenomenon, bypassing national borders and local police checkpoints. 

Therefore, in the framework of the Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property (also known as the “Nicosia Convention”), the Commissioner for Volunteerism and Non-Governmental Organisations of the Republic of Cyprus, in co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, the Council of Europe and the European Union is organising a two-day Conference on 25 and 26 October (Filoxenia Conference Center, “Zenon Kitieus” Meeting Room, in Nicosia), to raise awareness and promote shared efforts at fighting offences relating to cultural property.

The event will be opened by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides and Deputy Secretary General Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni (press statements will be delivered at 09:50 am). 

The symposium will also feature findings from a new European study on trafficking of cultural property and links to organised crime, new regulation by the European Commission on the import of cultural goods as well as important ongoing European research and action projects.

Participants will include representatives of governments (crime prevention, culture, tourism, education) and civil society/NGOs from Council of Europe member States and other neighbourhood countries, business representatives as well as representatives of the European Union, UNESCO, UNIDROIT, INGOs and other relevant stakeholders.

The conference will be highly interactive and combine specialists’ points of view with those of more generalist heritage actors. Finally, based on in-depth debates in four thematic working groups, it will consolidate insights and formulate action proposals for working vigorously towards a culture of awareness and responsible handling of cultural property, empowering citizens and governments alike.

Background

The Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property is open for signature since 19 May 2017 to Council of Europe member states and to any country in the world. The treaty aims to prevent and combat the illicit trafficking and destruction of cultural property, in the framework of the Organisation’s action to fight terrorism and organised crime, fostering international co-operation and partnerships. 

The Convention, which is the only international treaty specifically dealing with the criminalisation of the illicit trafficking of cultural property, establishes a number of criminal offences, including theft; unlawful excavation, importation and exportation; and illegal acquisition and placing on the market. It also criminalises the falsification of documents and the destruction or damage of cultural property when committed intentionally.

Submit your Central and Eastern European feature length and interactive projects to the 19th edition of East Doc Platform, which will take place in Prague, March 7–13, 2020. The deadline is November 8, 2019.

The East Doc Platform is the largest co-production, funding and distribution platform tailor-made for Central and East European documentaries. Every year, we connect filmmakers with key decision makers - producers, broadcasters, distributors and festival programmers from around the world.

Dates: March 7–13, 2020
Where: Prague, Czech Republic
Application deadline: November 8, 2019
Who can apply: Central and Eastern European filmmakers

If you have any questions, check the FAQ section on our website.

>>APPLICATION FORM

Feature-length projects are invited to the 19th edition of the East Doc Forum, the oldest and largest central pitch in the region. Transmedia and VR projects are presented at East Doc Interactive pitching, an integral part of the Forum.

Since 2001, more than 180 documentary films have been completed with the direct support of the East Doc Forum, including award-winning Over the Limit (dir. Marta Prus), When the War Comes (dir. Jan Gebert), Sofia’s Last Ambulance (dir. Ilian Metev), Ukrainian Sheriffs (dir. Roman Bondarchuk), The Russian Job (dir. Petr Horký), Domino Effect (dir. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski) and Rabbit a la Berlin (dir. Bartek Konopka).

The East Doc Market offers the opportunity to meet with international funders, broadcasters, distributors, sales agents and festival representatives in the frame of pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings.

The East Doc Platform is organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in association with One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.

Find more information including the application form HERE.

We are looking forward to receiving your projects!

DOK Leipzig, an international festival for documentary and animated film which kicks off today sheds light on Lithuanian films. Two films will have its world premieres at the festival: “Exemplary Behaviour” (lit. Pavyzdingas elgesys), a documentary by Audrius Mickevičius and Nerijus Mileris and “One life” (lit. Vienas gyvenimas), a short film by Marija Stonytė.

“Exemplary Behaviour” will be competing at the International Competition Program. Unfortunately, dir. Audrius Mickevičius unexpectedly passed away last year. Respecting the will of the director, the film was finished by a philosopher Nerijus Milerius who will attend the premiere and will meet with festival visitors.  

The film is a co-production between Lithuania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Italy. Creative documentary explores ideas of crime, forgiveness and social justice. After surviving the loss of his murdered brother, Mickevičius met with life-sentenced prisoners Rimas and Rolandas. The prisoners live in stagnant time, but don’t lose hope of changing and being released. The change of director’s own attitude from anger to forgiveness becomes a radical journey of the film, sadly interrupted by his fatal illness.

Maria Stonytė’s short documentary “One Life” will be screened at the International Short Film Program. The film reveals the fragility of life through the story of the butterfly. “This film has no intention to save the world. It will not extend the life of a butterfly for a second, but hopefully give you a chance to reflect on the beauty of life and the inevitable temporality,” says director Stonytė.

Also, director and producer Giedrė Žickytė will be presenting her latest project “Irena”at Doc Co-Pro Market. Together with the other 35 projects from 40 countries she will be competing for a cash prize. Irena is a documentary about a famous Lithuanian professor and theatrologist Irena Veisaitė.

Having attracted the largest number of visitors since its inception, the sixth Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF) marked the event’s closing with its Award Ceremony. The festival’s main prize for best feature film was awarded to Lithuanian director Karolis Kaupinis for the visually sophisticated historical drama Nova Lituania. 

Ten films from the Baltic and Nordic countries were screened in the FEATURE FILM COMPETITION programme; Latvia was represented by Laila Pakalniņa's documentary Spoon. The international jury awarded the main prize to the black and white film Nova Lituania, about a unique and seemingly extravagant event in Lithuanian history. ‘The faintest glimmer of utopian possibility lights up the dark days of 1930s Lithuania in this tonally assured historical drama. This is a humanistic and finely crafted feature debut, which impresses both with its maturity and with its timely and poignant political message’, is how the jury explained its choice. The members of the jury were: Paolo Bertolin, member of the selection committee of Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival; Rhidian Davis, curator, writer, and Cultural Programme Manager at the British Film Institute; film director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė – a member of the artist trio from Lithuania whose  performance was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale; Kristi Porila, a film distributor from Estonia; and Gints Grūbe, a producer, director and screenwriter from Latvia. 

As a reminder that a film can only be made through collaboration, the RIGA IFF Award is an eight-part bronze sculpture of the festival’s symbol – the Riga Rooster designed by Ervins Broks. The winning film’s director also received a monetary award of EUR 2000, sponsored by AAS BALTA insurance company. 

It was yet another Lithuanian film that received Special Recognition by the jury – Animus Animalis (A Story of People, Animals and Things) by Aiste Zegulite – a documentary about taxidermy and the theme of conflict between the human and animal worlds that makes us ask: Can we bring the dead back to life? In acknowledging the film, the jury stated: `we [have] agreed on awarding a special mention to a haunting cinematic object that casts a deep gaze into the eye of the other, projecting a reflection of the human in its obsessions and limitations. As the desire to win mortality and impermanence turns the perishable life of animals into undying objects, the director seduces and questions the viewer with a collection of images ranging from the cruel to the ironic, from the pragmatic to the surreal.’ 

The jury comprised of members of the Latvian section of FIPRESCI (the International Federation of Film Critics) awarded their prize to Scandinavian Silence, a graphically sophisticated psychological drama by Estonian director Martti Helde about a sister and brother who are haunted by an incident from the distant past. As the jury stated: ‘The refined monochrome imagery and sound nuances of this film reveal a subtly polyphone narrative structure, with the big screen highlighting the evocative resonance effect on the viewer.’ Seducing its audience with excellent cinematography, music, and a powerful screenplay, the film also received the People's Choice award from the festival's main venue, cinema Splendid Palace. 

The RIGA IFF Children's Jury selected the German film Rocca Changes the World as Best Film. The film successfully interweaves dynamic storytelling with socially relevant topics while emphasising the use of social media. Based on Swedish author Astrid Lindgren’s novel Pippi Longstocking, this film is a great example of how to present a classic in a new way. 

The international jury judging the competition section of SHORT RIGA – the festival's programme featuring short films, experimental films, and music videos – awarded the main prize to Regina Pessoa's animated short film Uncle Thomas, Accounting for the Days. The winner received a monetary prize of 1000 EUR along with the Grass snake silver pin made by artist Maija Vītola. This film is also the RIGA IFF European Film Academy Short Film Candidate. ‘This short combines the perfect formula of craft and storytelling with a calculated approach to enagaging the audience. The experience is multiplied through the addition of mental health, leaving the jury undivided in their praise for the film’, stated the panel. 

As part of the SHORT RIGA programme, the Baltic Music Video Competition marked its fifth anniversary this year. ‘It is a bold, amazing, beautiful and unusual world, and as we watch videos within the framework of the festival, we enrich our understanding of the diversity of audiovisual art forms’, comments curator Agnese Logina. Once again, Lithuania took the top spot in this competition with the music video directed by Titas Sūdžius for the song Liūdnos akys by the group Garbanotas. 

21 films participated in the ARTDOCFEST/RIGA world documentary film competition. The panel of judges: Zhanna Nemtsova, journalist at Deutche Welle and daughter of murdered Russian politician Boris Nemtsov; Latvian film critic Ābrams Kleckins; and Ukrainian film director Roman Balayan, awarded the Grand Prix to the Estonian-Latvian documentary co-production Immortalby Ksenia Okhapkina. The film helps illustrate the mechanism that deviously encourages people to voluntarily deny their personality and become a usable resource in the hands of the state. Pauls Bankovskis, the film’s co-screenwriter, accepted the prize at the Award Ceremony. 

The Riga International Film Festival took place from October 17 to 27 at the Splendid Palace, K.Suns, and Kino Bize movie theatres, as well as at the National Library of Latvia and Kaņepe's Culture Centre. A total of 148 films were screened as part of the festival’s eleven programmes, complemented by a variety of lectures, discussions and other events. 

RIGA IFF is supported by the Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, the National Film Centre, Live Riga, and the Riga City Council.