05-11-2018

Two Animations Among Latvian Films in Post-production

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    Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs by Edmunds Jansons Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs by Edmunds Jansons

    RIGA: Latvian production companies have a bonanza of films in post-production or completed and awaiting release. They include two animated films, both for children and family audiences.

    Tasse Film is a coproducer on the Greek/French/Latvian film Virus, also known as Still River, which is scheduled to premiere in Greece on 6 November 2018. The film, directed by Angelos Frantzis, includes a number of Latvian actors in its cast, including Regina Razuma. The story, set in an industrial Siberian town, was filmed in Riga. It received support from the National Film Center of Latvia and the Riga Film Fund, as well as MEDIA.

    Tasse is also coproducing Oleg, a Latvian/Belgian/Lithuanian film directed by Juris Kursietis, about a local butcher who leaves for Brussels to earn a better salary but becomes ensnared by a Polish criminal. The Lithuanian coproducer is In Script.

    Locomotiv Productions will release an animated family film The Sun Rides up Into the Sky on 16 November. The film is directed by Roze Stiebra working with production designer Ilze Vitolina and produced by Roberts Vinovskys. It was supported by the National Film Center of Latvia.

    A second animated film for children, Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs directed by Edmunds Jansons, is scheduled for release on 1 February 2019. The film, about a seven-year-old boy from Riga sent to spend the summer in the city's suburb Maskachka, is a Latvian/Polish coproduction from Latvia’s Atom Art and coproduced by Polish animation company Letko. It was supported by the National Film Center of Latvia.

    Giedre Zickyte, Lithuanian director/producer at Moonmakers, is completing the full-length documentary film The Jump in December. The coproduction with Latvia’s VFS Films, with Latvian producer Uldis Cekulis, received 40,000 EUR in funding from Latvia, with support coming from the National Film Center of Latvia, the Lithuanian Film Center and the Lithuanian State TV.