Discoveries from Latvia World Cinema

While Munks and Lemijs are having a nap, a fellow animal loses their tail under mysterious circumstances. It's time for our heroes to wake up and help out a friend in need and help them find their tail!

This short film has it all – modestly dressed beauties, sensual shots and conversations, retro cars, weapons, blood and other essential ingredients of a successful "blockbuster."

Cross-section of 149 days lived in the shadow of Covid-19 pandemic in Latvia.

Vika arrives to congratulate her father on his birthday. But instead of her father, all that greets her in the debauched apartment is a strange crackling. The search for their source and for her missing loved one draws Vika deeper and deeper into memories that force her to confront not only the monsters of the past, but also those of the present.

Three guys steal a donkey in order to make peace within.

The film is a visual, imaginative message about painting, about the attitude of artists Helēna Heinrihsone, Ivars Heinrihsons, and Boriss Bērziņš towards their work, about what an artist really paints on canvas, what these images, visions, and impulses are, and where they come from.

A novella about Riga, composed of songs from the rooftops of Riga, sung by the girls of the Riga Dome School choir, recited by Riga residents, chance encounters with foreigners, cyclists and pedestrians, tram drivers and lovers.

A Latvian woman who has lived in Cuba for 29 years with her three sons wants to leave the country, which is closed to the outside world, and return to Latvia. The Latvian government has secretly arranged for the whole family to become citizens so that they can return to Latvia. Therefore, the plan to try to escape from Cuba has been abandoned, and the family has officially asked the Cuban authorities to allow them to leave the country. However, a decision has not yet been made.

The film tells the story of A. Bikše's object "1/10 of Mother Earth's Office" in the Great Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Riga. After its closure, there were plans to create a park here, but at present it looks like a place abandoned to fate, used mainly by drunkards, mothers with prams and dogs. A confrontation between the opinions of cultural critic P. Bankovskis and artist A. Bikše on the fate of the cemetery, the contemporary meaning of art, and the creation of the art object itself.

An athlete with an unbreakable character on the soccer field and a fighter off it — this is the story of Kaspars Gorkšs, captain of the Latvian national team, who at the age of 33 has experienced various career turning points but has not succumbed to the temptation to take the easy way out.

The 1949 deportations were one of the most tragic aspects of contemporary Latvian history. 43,000 people were deported to Siberia for life, with 10,000 infants and children, elderly people, and even people raised from their deathbed among them. 4,941 persons perished. Every fourth deportee was a child. Every sixth deportee was 60 or older.

Five men from Latvia - two bussinessmen, an experienced traveller, a cameraman, and their tour guide - head out to tame the fastest flowing river in North America - Stikine. But unexpected winter sets in, placing them in a situaltion that could cost them their lives. Despite locals’ advice, men decide to press on, leading them to dramatic events, that were not supposed to happen.

A slightly different expedition to India, where a group of Latvians will travel across India for 4,000 kilometers in locally purchased tuk-tuks or auto rickshaws. This will not be a tour of Indian history, Hinduism, and the Taj Mahal with a local guide. Everything will be real – Latvians without makeup, without celebrities, and with real emotions. This will be an unplanned adventure that will begin when they leave their comfort zone by getting off the plane and will end when they get back on it.

A granddaughter spends a week with her grandparents and falls in love with their kittens. However, when her grandfather, without attempting to discuss or understand, prepares to drown the kittens, the girl rebels against the incomprehensible morality and power of adults.

You are an evil genius. You create a world, and then in a single stroke you can turn it back into rubble.

It is 20-30 degrees below zero. Finally, the Uda River has frozen over, becoming a lifeline between the vast Russian mainland and the Russian Tibet hidden high in the mountains - the Tofolaria Mountains, home to Russia's smallest ethnic group — a land of untouched nature and its people, who have become victims of the negative influence of civilization.

The mundane life of Rita, a nurse and a single mum, changes when she sets eyes on a young photographer named Ernest. Meanwhile, an unexpected encounter with her ex-husband and the father of her child brings back hopes and desires of the past that challenge Rita’s true feelings.

A film about the great 20th century sculptor whose work was inspired by the cubism of the 1920s, and her life story which contains all possible dramas for a creative person living in the previous century.

The documentary "Childhood Land Siberia" continues the series of films about the deportations to Siberia, commited by the Soviet Union as part of an ethnic cleansing in its occupied lands in 1941. Some of the surviving children who were deported, now seniors, wish to visit the lands of their childhood in Siberia. They have experienced the cold and famine and have lost their families there, but it was their only childhood, with sun and snow, friends and people who helped them survive. What is it like there now? Does anyone remember them there?

A documentary about Latvian film star Vija Artmane.

Cecil is being followed by a dung fly wherever he goes.

Using previously unpublished footage shot by amateurs in the era of 8 mm cameras, the film is about the simple human life of those who lived in the Soviet Latvia from 1940 until 1991, a time when a double-moral reigned in society.

“Vestards is a God, a God of pianists! The power of his energy is unbelievable!” – after a concert said a fan of Vestards her eyes shining in excitement. Where does the internationally acclaimed pianist Vestards imkus find the source of the divine energy he is so generously offering to his audiences? We are looking for the answers following Vestards for four years and catching a glimpse of his love for nature and life in his remote countryside home in four different seasons. We also observe him at concerts and rehearsals in Riga, Berlin, Madona, Barcelona, Liepāja, London and Bilbao – not pointing out the geography of destinations but documenting the pianist’s absolute devotion for music.

A look back at the first years after Latvia regained its independence.

Young people involved in extreme sports and the current state of street culture are no longer considered to be hooligans. The modern society sees them as athletes striving for success. By disobeing some standards of modern day society, they enrich their personalities, not degrage themselves as some may think. With a true belief in what they do and respect towards the world surrounding them, these youngsters have reached their goals and refined their lives right here in the streets we walk each day. The inteligent hooligans are those who seek to create, not destroy.

A mythical dream about a person's attempt to escape from the labyrinth of irresponsability.

An animated lullaby for children by Latvian poet Māris Čaklais.

One day a common man finds himself in a hell of family life. How did he get there? It all started with such a romance – they met in a museum of contemporary art…

Sometimes we got lost. And then we have to be found again, so that no one is sad.

This film tells about the most striking and tragic phenomenon during the development of self-awareness of the Latvian nation – the Latvian Riflemen. The first Daugavgrīva regiment, the second Riga, third Kurland, fifth Semigallian, sixth Tukums, seventh Bauska and eighth Valmiera regiments of Latvian Riflemen – this was Latvia before its statehood. The film is a historically chronological study beginning with the formation of the Riflemen battalions and their first battles until the end of the Civil War in Russia, when a large part of the Riflemen returned home to the recently established state of Latvia. This is a story about common people challenged by the Big Epoch that determined their lives.

In 2006, seven confused Somalian refugees found themselves in the middle of a park in Riga, a modern capital in a member state of the European Union. As they had overstayed their time limit at the national centre for illegal immigrants, the authorities had no strategy for how to deal with them, so the seven refugees were simply let go. They had no identity documents and no money. They didn’t speak the language. They didn’t even have a legal option for leaving Latvia. Two of them were underage. The seven Somalians found help and a place to stay in Latvia, but not through official channels. The Somalian protagonists in this film ended up choosing separate paths. Some of them have left Latvia and moved to a more welcoming country. Some have chosen to stay – they have learned the language and enjoy living in Latvia. The case of the seven Somalians is an extreme example of how unprepared Latvian society is for the upcoming increase in multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, and migration.

An investigative look at the life of Latvia’s first foreign minister Zigfrids Anna Meierovics is also a chronicle of the inception of the statehood of Latvia. In a time of deep political turmoil, one man had to make the choices and sacrifices necessary to achieve the legitimacy of an entire country.

What draws thousands of people to leave everything behind and venture out into Siberian taiga, following Visarion, an ex-agent of the Soviet police who proclaims to be Jesus? The film tries to answer this question, showing the construction of the New Jerusalem, a resettlement «destined» to become the birthplace of a new civilization after the imminent apocalypse takes place.

Despite societal standards, the members of the legendary Latvian punk rock band "Inokentijs Mārpls" and well-known music journalist Uldis Rudaks have been leading a rock-and-roll lifestyle all their lives. Now, in their 50ies, the men still stay truthful to the ideals of their youth, but, off the stage, they each have to deal with different aspects of life, ageing, and the change of the world around them.

Acorn Boy needs a bit of patching up so he can join his friends in the miniature village.

The strange creatures Munk and Lemmy encounter very human problems and attempts at solving them. Here, they try to help their friend the rabbit, who is unable to reach the fruit he desires. A film from the Munk and Lemmy series.

This film is the cinematic continuation of a classic poem by the Latvian poet Rainis. It follows the subsequent adventures of its main heroes – eight peas – and their interactions with the world around them as well as with the cycles and laws of nature. These musical and countable stories tell about the peas’ adventures after spilling out of their original home, the pod.

The night watchman's usual ritual – Tetris game – is suddenly interrupted by a technical flaw. One of the surveillance cameras breaks down, and the game begins to dictate its own rules.

A detective movie with two people trying to find some clues. They manage. There are witnesses.

A trip through the mystical Coral Castle and the big question - did some regular, unschooled man during the first part of 20th century in Florida seriously discover the secret of levitation and understand the principles by which the Pyramids were built? Or was the Coral Castle, which became the inspiration for Billy Idol's "Sweet Sixteen", created merely as a commemoration for a lost love?

At a time when Soviet ideologists dictated the musical taste of Soviet people, Juris Lapinskis offered an alternative. Since the 1960s, he has shared and distributed a wide variety of Western music. Music shared by Lapinskis reached people both in Latvia and Russia. And maybe thanks to him, in the 60s and 70s, Western music idols can add thousands of former Soviet citizens to their supporters. Lapinskis himself was imprisoned and repaired. At that time there was something more than music in these tape rollers, a little more on the other side of the iron curtain - a little more air and a little more freedom.

In winter some people go ice-fishing. Excitement intensified by freezing temperatures and strong drinks lead to unpredictable consequences.

A film of ethnographic nature portraying the journey of the River Gauja from its upper reaches to the estuary leading to the sea. Directed by Kristaps Linde of the Riga National Theatre.

As a result of a series of unexpected coincidences, one of the three closet-sitters gets out from his natural environment, but in his absence longing for the friends starts to crystalize…

It has already been 100 days since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the occupying troops are not going to retreat and are intensifying their horrific attacks in Donbas.

After several decades, we are again faced with the threat of war and attempts to redraw the borders of Europe. Is the effort to undermine Ukraine's sovereignty only a question for Ukraine? What is it like to live at the front line now, where fate can be determined by the battles of superpowers for zones of influence?

This film, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Latvian state, tells the story of Latvian history and Latvians, based on the collections of three collectors. Kārlis Edelnieks, Ilgvars Brucis, and Viktors Ķirps each collect their own collections – household items from different periods, old tools, World War II artifacts, and military equipment. In the film, these historical "things" are supplemented with archival materials, music, noise, and sound scores that, without words, evoke memories and tell the story of the country and its people.

To fulfill her dream of opening an animal shelter, Gundega worked as a strip dancer and purchased a property where she, together with her mother Iveta, began building a new life devoted to caring for animals. This is a story of three generations of women — Iveta, Gundega, and Gundega’s daughter Ronja — revealing how interests, traits, and affection are passed down from one generation to the next, forming an invisible yet enduring bond between mother and daughter.

An attempt to combine a classical form (music) with a new form (video). Human ignorance and fear in front of the new, unknown. The timelessness of this theme.

Short film about the unique nature of self-criticism, and the game between two opposing sides of the same mind.

"Saiet sviestā" is a Latvian saying which means losing your mind or messing something up. It literally translates to something "turning into butter" and the word "butter" itself is used to describe anything that is chaotic, illogical or failed. The short film demonstrates this along with the literal act of making butter.

“TAGAD” is Rūdolfs Kugrēns’ seventh solo stand-up show. One of Latvia’s best-known comedians and the most prolific creator of stand-up comedy shows returns with a new collection of jokes and observations after a two-year hiatus. “‘Someday’ or ‘later’ are probably the most common modes of human action. To put ‘now’ into gear, you need either terrible trouble or terrible energy. ‘TAGAD’ is a reminder that waiting for something can make you late, but the right moment is just that kind of joke. This is a show about this era, about people and current events,” says Rūdolfs.

The film reflects on the life of the authors of the film, while living in Norway for half a year. The director and cameraman document the landscapes of western Norway and the people they meet along the way, while the couple's conversations during long car rides through the mountain landscapes bring up the making of the film and its impact on their relationship.