1719 Matches Found
A travel film about adventures in snowy Russia, visiting Russia's smallest nation - the Tofolars in the world's coldest pole - Oymyakon. Cut off from the outside world, Tofolaria, rich, harsh Yakutia - home to a tenacious people and the birthplace of reindeer, beckons with its poignant romance.
Tonight, Anna and her dad have decided to walk home through the forest. Anna takesa torch and dad lights it up for her. The silent nocturnal forest is as enchanting as it is scary – and the bright flameas protective as it is blindingly bright.
It's Latvia on the 20th of September, 2003 - the day of the referendum about joining the European Union. On the day of the referendum, twelve Latvian film directors of different generations portray twelve different characters across the country. Their life stories and environments affect their decision of voting “for” or “against”.
An intimate story about the experiences of three new mothers after the birth of their children. In their video diaries, the women reveal the daily difficulties and moments of joy, offering a glimpse into a world that often remains hidden from the outside world. The film offers a deeply personal insight into an emotional journey, where new mothers try to find a balance between their role as mothers and their own identity, overcoming isolation, doubts and societal expectations.
They met on Christmas Eve, beyond one's usual living-space: at the morgue. In an outburst of feelings, they try to manipulate each other in order to get what they want. She wants him, but he wants to vanish – following the rules of black comedy, neither one of them will get anything.
A dreamer by nature, Quanqi Zhu decides to set up a unique installation at the hillside of Sacred Songshan mountain in China. Despite the language barrier, his best companion is Latvian architect Austris Mailitis. As the building of the object begins, the creators themselves have to levitate between cultural differences, conventions and personal ambitions.
Strange things are happening in the Tiger’s garden. Someone has stolen his carrots and some of the carrots are growing ”up and down”.
Even if you’re born to fly, it's not an easy thing to learn. And not everyone succeeds.
A documentary that looks back at the past year - at how Russia's war in Ukraine has evolved, changing and transforming the lives of Ukrainians.
Talented and charismatic, Lithuanian photographer Virgilijus Šonta was brutally murdered, the perpetrator never found, and the case closed. Thirty years later, we embark on a detective’s journey, delving into the enigmatic life and tragic double existence encoded in his photographs.
In the disaster tower - a telecommunications tower, a man at a computer, many TVs, filming screens, a small fire breaks out.
Dagnis suffered in a serious accident that took place almost 30 years ago. He's had to learn to live with his disability and also his insomnia and loneliness, as he feels people are afraid of him. Now Dagnis has other worries: he's got a video camera in his hands for the first time of his life, and he has to make a film. He walks around the village of Vaidava, films and comments on everything he sees and hears. We have the opportunity to look at the life of a small Latvian village through Dagnis’s eyes. What does Dagnis think about the environment around him, the society and its ability to accept others?
A retrospective of art and power in the world. The life and art of Džemma Skulme as a free spirit during the regime.
This is a film about the return of an individual to the Far North, and to the past. Agapitova, Igarka – the vast lands of Siberia, to which Ilmārs Knaģis and 4,000 other children from Latvia were deported in 1941. In the autumn of 1942, 700 mothers and children of different nationalities were sent to the death island of Agapitova. Only 60 survived, among them six Latvian children – Biruta Kazaka, Pāvels Kliesbergs, Venta Grāvīte, Ilmārs Grāvītis, Pēteris Bērziņš and Valentīna Voiciša. The question remains: Why did this happen? And why is no one to blame?
It’s summer in a village by the sea, and a retired actor once again invites locals to participate in an open-air opera performance. During the past ten years they’ve staged many classical operas; this year it’s time for Schoenberg and Verdi.
A documentary about Latvian partisans ("forest brothers") who were fighting against the Soviet occupation long after the end of WWII.
Road's End is the story of Daina who lives in Latgale in Eastern Latvia, close by the Russian border. She lives two miles from the nearest road, with no electricity or running water. The roof has collapsed. She is completely dependent upon herself in order to cope with her everyday life. Daina’s children have both emigrated, her son to Norway and her daughter to Italy. When she feels lonely, she goes to her husband's grave and sits there talking with him as if he were still alive. Road’s end is a both poetic and existential film about choices we make in life, about obstinacy, love and betrayal.
A portrait of a post-Soviet country in Eastern Europe whose society is torn apart by the struggle to accept the Gay Pride Parade tradition. The unearthing of Pride in Riga from 2005 to 2010 shows the different perceptions of the concept of democracy in the 21st century.
Unable to strike up a conversation with anyone at a party, a young man takes desperate measures to get attention.
An attempt to capture the feeling of emptiness and nostalgia, reflecting it as reality in the Latvian rural landscape, partly from the observer's position, but also questioningly - what is the future of these rural areas? What is the relationship of contemporary society in Latvia with the Soviet legacy? Does it have a place to survive today and in the future, or were the materials, structures and philosophy used in Soviet times not sustainable enough to remain as witnesses to the history our country has experienced? This work is the author's personal observations of people who have remained in the countryside and possibly still live in the past or even idealize the past, and is therefore, without condemnation, a tribute to them.
The carelessness of summer residents, relentless sun, bare skin, water, and blood. Sudden injury of Kiril's girlfriend rips the temporal and spatial boundaries in his hazy consciousness. Struggling to find a way and help his girlfriend, he tries to distinguish the harsh reality from the acid dream, where his parents' country house still reigns in peace, surrounded by closest friends enjoying tranquil summer days.
On June 14, 1941, more than 15,000 Latvian inhabitants, including approximately 4,000 children of Latvian, Jewish, Polish and Russian ethnicity were deported to Siberia. During this period of deportation by the Soviet invaders, the men were separated from their families and sent to the Gulag. Some were sentenced to the highest punishment, death, and the rest were kept in labor camps. The women and children were sent to the remote Krasnoyarsk and Tomsk districts. The first two years were the most difficult and many perished from the harsh conditions. Today some 400 of those deported children still live in Latvia and Siberia. This documentary describes the fate of these children.
In two monumental symbols of the national awareness sculptor Kārlis Zāle has immortalized his vision about the state of Latvia. Freedom Monument is the statement of the sculptor’s love for his native country. Kārlis Zāle with his characteristic monumental touch sees life in large and powerful lines; the same way he perceives also sculpture that requires much vital force and daring. The full-length documentary “The Wounded Rider” is based on facts from the life of the sculptor Kārlis Zāle and documents on the construction of the Freedom Monument, providing insight in the political and social scene of the age and presenting outstanding figures in the culture and art together with the ideals of that time.
The Samtskhe-Javakheti region in southern Georgia, which has a mostly Armenian population, suffers under silent ethnic tensions caused by a historical burden. It is a unique place to study the role of the human factor in ethnic conflicts through the eyes of a Georgian photographer and the ears of a Latvian film director.
Rejecting the natural comforts of city life, young sociologist and researcher Elgars Felcis has moved with his family to the countryside, where he has established one of Latvia's few eco-communities. The goal of the community members is to become self-sufficient and live in harmony with the surrounding environment. The film portrays Elgars' daily life – farming and working on academic papers and lectures.
Aivars Freimanis' documentary consisting of small episodes from a trip to Kurzeme.
The Latvian underground icons Dambis' portrait - reflections on the past and today. The film includes video material from the musician's personal archive.
Today they've become almost mythical, but in 1991 the Barricades were a reality of a national revival. The will of the three Baltic countries - Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, showed that they were sovereign nation asking to accept their rights. What was this phenomenon? Was it a romantic ardency, destiny, conjunction, or God’s gift? Politicians, journalists and guardians of the Barricades discuss this topic in the film.
For the first time in the history of world cultural heritage preservation, a Latvian scientific expedition explores the ancient Karnaka temple in Egypt using the most up-to-date technique: three-dimensional laser scanning.
For the first time, enthusiasts of four major extreme sports come together to make a trip of a lifetime in their own country. They choose not to spend a stack of money crossing borders, but instead they stay in Latvia and explore the countryside in the southeast, which is known as the land of blue lakes – Latgale. It’s an unheard-of experience, putting skateboarders, rollerbladers, MTB and BMX riders together in a van for 12 days, just to see what happens. Each rider has his own story to tell, and together they form a 53-minute-long documentary film that reveals a wild story to remember. One that will hopefully inspire you to get up and make your own story.
Based on interviews with over one hundred people including musicians, hockey fans, farmers, executives, and pensioners in the market. From Latvian President Vaira Vike- Freiberga and business tycoon Aivars Lembergs, to Russian poet Sergei Timofeyev, all discussions stem from one question: What does it mean to be Latvian?
An experimental documentary on environmental issues, based on chronicles. Reproductions of Salvador Dali's paintings, footage from Pumping Iron (1977) with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film shows the process of salmon spawning and the brutal human intervention to extract the eggs. The film features a recording of a concert by Polish musician Czeslaw Niemen. Awarded at UNICA and other film festivals.
A film about Mārtiņš Freimanis and the band Tumsa - a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes life of the singer, composer, and poet - at home and in public. Colleagues and like-minded people, the journey of a song - from conception to the listener.
Drug addict Raitis, who has spent most of his life in the criminal world, gets to know the waitress Jana and hopes to turn his life around. But once again he is drawn into the darkness of the past.
To become a Sleep Master and be allowed to bring sleep to both beasts and humans, each dwarf must pass a test. Klomītis the dwarf fails this test. However, thanks to ingenuity, perseverance and good friends, he gets the chance to make up for his mistake.
Ludis and his daughter live in a greedy and narcissistic village. One day Ludis’ tractor crashes and the entire village loses electricity. Ludis inadvertently touches the electric wires and becomes stiff and seemingly dead. His wife doesn’t want him placed at home, so they place him in the garage.
An intimate portrait of a young couple, Zoryana and Edgars, and their hardships as young, 17-year-old parents, living in the countryside in a remote part of Latvia. The limited job opportunities available in their rural area have left the family mired in poverty. Zoryana becomes a hostage between her two closest people, her mother and Edgars – she must choose between her mother’s advocacy of countryside as the best place for raising a family and life in the city, which would offer more creature comforts and more opportunities to earn a living. Zoryana Horobraya sweeps us along on Zoryana’s journey, as she tries to escape the protective bubble of her mother and define her own family’s happiness and existence.
The Latvian Rambo goes to battle against the Terminator.
This is a version of Riga. It does not exist in the scope of grand events, but rather in the mundane, in gestures and in that, which is recognisable. Thus emerges a portrait of the city through the eyes of a new generation – with a slightly glazed look, lightly clenched teeth, and an always surrendering heart. Valters is a boy from Riga, a twenty-year-old who is more attracted to life on the opposite side of the sea than to the aches of coming of age. Oscillating between his duties as a sailor, a loving relationship that is beginning to show cracks, and a routine life, he searches for meaning in the excesses of written surfeits.
Give us, mouse, a sweet sleep for the little baby tightened, silenced, sleep in the headrest itself.
The experimental film, an allegory about the meaning and significance of human life, conveys a message about man as a bridge from the past to the future. The film received a silver medal at the Latvian SSR Amateur Film Society's annual screening and participated in the Baltic Amateur Film Festival in Vilnius in 1976. The film was digitally restored in 2010 by Uldis Lapiņš.
The story of love between two huge sea creatures that is complicated by distance and ecological issues.
While travelling monotonously on the backseat of mom's car, a little girl suddenly has some strange experiences...
In Soviet Latvia, a family spends a day by the lake. Father and son play ball, but the ball falls into the water. The father almost drowns trying to retrieve the ball, but is saved by an angler.
She comes at night, quiet as a cat, to take his sleep away until he feeds her. All she needs is milk brought by him somewhere between sleep and reality. Her name is Insomnia.
Just like the novel 1984, film 2020 is not about a calendar year, although it is about unique events. The year 2020 serves as a backdrop for a conversation about freedom and unfreedom, starting on the eve of 2020 with Mikhail Gorbachev and continued by Latvian theatre director Alvis Hermanis; documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky, who emigrated from Russia to Latvia; actress Chulpana Hamatova, who was once a confidante of Vladimir Putin; and actor and artistic director Yevgeny Mironov. Together, they create a theatrical production on freedom and a man who gave everyone equal opportunities to enjoy it.
The fancy car thief Zigis goes stealing again, and an incidental opera performance viewer becomes the victim. Zigis does his job perfectly, but the delivery of the vehicle is halted by Zoja, who has fallen down near her house and is now on the road, laying there, helplessly mumbling. An unwilling offering of first aid takes Zigis to a house surrounded by trees, where, between passion and secrets, everyone tries to gain more than lose.
New Year's Eve. Taxi driver Andrejs (Lauris Reiniks) has almost finished his shift, when suddenly a forgotten present makes him recall the curious collection of that night’s passengers - a rowdy couple, a tired Santa, noisy mummers, a worried groom, and even a pregnant woman about to have her baby. Andrejs will play a role in each passenger’s story, but will he get to experience his own New Year's miracle?
An exceptional museum in Sweden houses the Vasa sailboat – a ship that has been lifted out from the bottom of the sea where it ended up after an unfortunate maiden voyage. One day, the museum staff notice a rat in the boat’s hull and begin setting traps to catch the rodent before it damages this brilliant museum piece; however, as it turns out, the rat is not alone. In fact, there are surprisingly many of them. The staffs’ attempts to get rid of the rodents prove futile. And, because of its gentle Swedish upbringing, even the cat they bring in doesn’t help. They need to call in the experts – the Rescue Team!
When the last of her friends has been buried, an elderly lady is on her way home from the graveyard. Her own memories play out in front of her eyes all over the city. At the local coffin store, she has to face a choice – a coffin or an old sledge. She says her goodbyes and takes off towards the nearby forest. It isn’t easy to make death charming and almost jovial, but director Rene Turtledove accomplishes it in this animation short about an elderly woman who has buried one too many friends and decides there are better ways to spend her money and her time than on the local coffin shop.
Andris is soon turning 85. He's been through a lot in his life, but, lately, one of the challenges has been the loss of his beloved wife and loneliness. Interrogated by his grandson, Andris reminisces about his past, including his first love who he hasn't seen for over sixty years.
The late 1950s. Every night, Soviet tractors comb the coast of Latvia looking for signs of anyone who could have infiltrated the Soviet border from the sea. One morning, three Soviet patrolmen discover a woman’s shoe in the sand and footsteps leading to the quaint little village of Liepaja.
The film was made as a tribute to Latvia's centenary thanks to financial support from the Ministry of Culture. The story was created in the summer of 2017, following three young people of Latvian descent born in the US as they attempted to work and live in Latvia while participating in a summer internship program created by the American Latvian Association (ALA). The short documentary film offers a glimpse behind the scenes of a personal story - what is it like to move to Latvia when you have lived abroad until now? Imanta herself tells the story of her return to her grandparents' homeland through video and photo documentation in the short film. She has been living in Riga for seven years, where, after working as a teacher at "Iespējamā misija" (Mission Possible), she now works at a growing Latvian start-up and sings in the music group "Imanta Dimanta un draugi" (Imanta Dimanta and Friends).
In 1941, 15,420 Latvian residents were deported to Siberia, including 4,000 children. More than 400 of them survived and currently live in Latvia. Five of them—Ilmārs Knaģis, Biruta Kazaka, Ivars Ross, Gaida Šmite, and Juris Vidiņš—talk about how their experiences have affected their lives.
A story about the emotions that hockey brings, the behind-the-scenes world of Latvian hockey and its place on the world hockey map, and how young boys become hockey players. A story about Latvian hockey today and its future prospects. The filmmakers traveled to Canada, Russia, Switzerland, and Scandinavia to meet with Zemgus Girgensons, Teodors and Valentīns Bļugers, the Rēdlihs family, Elvis Merzļikins, Rodrigo Laviņš, Bob Hartley – players, coaches, and hockey families. The creative team behind Born for Hockey seeks answers to the question of what it takes to become a good player in Latvia and around the world. How do hockey players who have already earned their place remember their first years in hockey? How do their parents and coaches remember them? How does the battle for a place in the arena unfold?
From birth to death, from depression to creative fervor, from desire and passion to the northern ice... Seven fateful episodes that define the life of a painter. Seven contemporary artists share their views on a classic without whom Latvian art would be unimaginable. The documentary film "Rozentāls. Seven" was made in the year of his 150th anniversary. Janis Rozentāls is a pioneer and founder of national painting, a brilliant talent who continues to influence Latvian culture through the centuries, one of the most expressive figures in the Latvian cultural canon. Behind these lofty phrases lies a living person, an artist who fought for the right to paint in the way he considered important.
A near-sighted girl is in a hurry. Her near-sightedness makes it difficult for her to function. From small bits and pieces of seemingly random spots of light and darkness silhouettes of bodies appear.