Discoveries from Latvia World Cinema

Two border patrol agents come across a mysterious crashed van near the border of Latvia and Russia.

The sun on Venus comes out once every seven years. Children are waiting for the moment when they can see the sun for the first time consciously. They sing songs about the sun and dream about it. Envy makes Max lock Margo in the closet.

In January 2011, Latvia commemorated the 20th anniversary of the tragic events that occurred in January 1991. Film producer Andris Slapiņš was killed, and cameraman Gvido Zvaigzne was fatally injured on the night of January 20th and died in hospital two weeks later. He was a young man whose talent had not yet fully flourished. His story, however, contains elements that make it not only possible to demonstrate his personal tragedy, but also the problematic existence of a young and creative person during an era when everything was crumbling around him. Destiny kept Gvido Zvaigzne from finishing his route, but the events and values of his life represent a model of his generation’s efforts.

On the evening of a total eclipse of the moon, seven close friends gather for a dinner party. One of the friends, a relationship therapist says that she is convinced that many couples would separate if they saw the messages on each other's phones. As the friends debate this contention, they agree - some of them reluctantly - to play a game. They will each place their phone on the table and they will share their messages and calls with the rest of the group.

In 2004, a successful banker known as "Mr. Dice" mysteriously disappeared off the face off the earth, along with millions of dollars from investors and friends alike. Desperate to find answers, his best friend Kaspars Roga embarks upon a journey, ultimately leading into the heart of Africa where Mr Dice has reinvented himself… this time as the owner of the diamond mine, begging the question - were they ever really friends? Or was he a pawn in Dice's greater scheme?

Maria decides to go for a swim in the pool even though it looks deserted and she’s warned that the water is cold. When she gets into the pool she is faced with not only the frigid water, but with her other feelings as well. Like fear.

A story of love, jealousy and betrayal. But always, even under fatal circumstances, nobility will find its way to the light. Gertrude, a former governess, marries the count and cheats on him. She has long been in love with the count's business manager and hopes to marry him eventually. But her stepdaughter is growing up...

Amid the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago, the Baltic nations fought to regain their independence and freedom, while die-hard believers in the Soviet empire saw ways to force them back under Moscow's control. In order to protect their reborn state, the Latvian people began to build barricades in the center of Rīga. Unique footage and previously unheard historical evidence contributes to the documentary film “The Fortress of the Nation. 30 Years since the Barricades" from Latvian Television.

Two Latvian actors travel the country and visit different witches and healers to find purpose to their lives after years of alcoholism, which has had a great impact on their personal health. On the way they run into trouble, adventure and many comic, as well as tragic, situations.

Ralf, 35, is saving his relationship by taking his girlfriend’s son on a boat trip with an aim to establish himself as a father figure. Not a wildlife expert himself, he also takes on board his office buddy, and it soon becomes clear that this unpredictable, flamboyant womaniser is a world away from being an example to look up to. As Ralf tries to protect the boy from his friend's unsophisticated look on gender and sexuality, soon they are confronted with the realities of the sharp winding river and the roughness of Latvian nature.

An immersive visual poem about a journey within a blank page. Is a blank page ever really empty? Where does an artwork begin or end? Are you the one directing creative flow or is it leading you? One may feel a creative impulse, but confronting daunting emptiness as a point of departure is inevitable. The only thing left to do is to make the first step, first dot, line or movement and suddenly the page transforms into something completely else and the multitudes it contains take up life on its own.

Mother takes her eight-year-old daughter Antonia to a children’s creativity camp. Antonia is not happy about having to spend time under close adult supervision. On their way, she spots a sign saying ”The Robots Have Escaped!” The sign unleashes Antonia’s imagination and grows into a fantasy of how exciting her stay in the camp might turn out to be. Of course, Antonia’s and the robots’ paths intersect at the camp, where they intend to steal children’s dreams during their afternoon nap to convert them into ingenious commercials. Thriller-like events unfold. Thanks to Antonia’s inquisitive and rebellious nature and with her best friend and favourite toy Yeti by her side, the robots’ intention is averted.

At the end of 70ies, when individual houses were getting destroyed in the Latvian countryside to put everyone in Soviet kolkhozs, painters Inta Celmiņa and Edvards Grūbe bought a house in Vidzeme, far away from everybody. It was a new beginning for the house, and for the artists as well, who now lead a double life, spending winters in Riga, and summers - in their workshop in the countryside. It's a story about the classic values of Latvian painting and the environment that breeds it.

'Žagari' traces the lives of Andrejs and Juris Žagars, brothers from the city of Cēsis, who both became distinguished in the arts as actors and administrators of art institutions, while both also found success as entrepreneurs. The original plan of the filmmakers was to show two strong personalities with their characteristic relationship and rivalries. However, fate intervened during the filming process, transforming the result into a powerful and touching portrait of brotherly love and the importance of family ties.

Standing near the reptile section in a zoo we can learn a lot about the animals on both sides of the separating glass.

In one long take lasting nearly an hour and a half, three well-known Latvian actors re-stage scenes from renowned Soviet Latvian movies made under the Riga Film Studio. As they progress from film to film, their re-enactments lead them to discover the undeniably funny personalities and unbelievable circumstances under which these films were made. Blending documentary, theatre and fiction film, this is a comedy about the cinema and the actor, and a heartfelt homage to the Riga Film Studio.

After another successful con, two reasonably experienced con-men - Richard and Harry, - come to a conclusion that this has become too easy and even boring and they decide to expand their horizons.

During the reconstruction of the Valmiera Theatre building (2021-2024), artistic activities were never interrupted - the preparation of new productions and performances in the Round Hall continued. The promised one winter of patience turned into three. Rehearsals and performances took place in various locations in Valmiera, but the theatre building, despite the lack of water and heat, was never abandoned - with construction crews, through the dust and cold, actors and other theatre staff went to the rehearsal hall, the Round Hall, the carpentry workshop, and the administration to work as if nothing were unusual or difficult.

Romeo n’ Juliet depicts the contemporary love story of a young Latvian girl, Juliet, and a Russian guy, Romeo. Juliet aimlessly spends tiresome days in Jūrmala; all she has to look forward to is leaving for England with her best friend in search of a better life. Romeo also wants to live for something and dreams of a hip-hop musician’s life in Russia. After Romeo sees Juliet for the first time and falls in love, their dreams and hopes for a better future collapse in a matter of days.

To escape the cold and mundane bus wait, two elderly ladies, Nina and Zulfia revisit their warm past desires in a story that explores a conflicting relationship between one’s memory and dream.

The story of the German occupation of Latvia and one of Rīga’s major 20th century historical tragedies, which will be remembered by the people of Rīga forever. French teacher Riva Šefere, lawyer Aleksandrs Bergmanis, music teacher Gabriela Paraša, film historian Valentīna Freimane and historian and founder of the museum “Jews in Latvia” Marģers Vetermanis are just a few of the 30 000 Latvian Jews who were imprisoned in the Riga ghetto. These are eyewitness memories of the holocaust that need to be told.

Hunting Day is a Korean cinema influenced student/indie short film made in Latvia. When after a poaching run a hunter is found dead in the forest, the hunter’s daughter and mentally ill son set out to find the truth behind his death and take revenge.

In spite of bad omen about the upcoming storm, the fisherman sets out to the sea and doesn’t return. The wife of the fisherman embarks on a journey to find the storm whisperer who could calm down the sea and return the fisherman home.

A photographer has lived his life doing the same things on repeat. Photographs embody his passion and the quest for meaning in life. One day, the photographer experiences a situation that reflects the ambiguous nature of his mind and emotions. He himself becomes a witness and reveals the truth that has been a mystery to him so far.

In the ice-free months of the year Father Gennady captains a barge transformed into a floating Orthodox Church on a mission trip along the Volga-Don Canal to the remote Russian villages. At each port of call Father Gennady leads church services, distributes holy sacraments and hears confessions. But some unexpected circumstances cause the mission to suddenly take a rather different turn.

Siblings Roby and Raya after the death of their father and being abandoned by their mother, are forced to live with their dominating grandmother in a small country house owned by their family. Things change after the sudden death of their grandmother. The teenagers have to face a tough choice: either to report the accident and submit themselves to a life in an orphanage or hide the dead body and live as if nothing has happened.

There is a moment in the lives of emperors, which follows pride in the boundless extension of the territories we have conquered, and the melancholy and relief of knowing we shall soon give up any thought of knowing and understanding them.

A Latvian fairy-tale film based on Anna Brigadere’s classic play. It follows two stepsisters: gentle, hardworking Maija and spoiled, idle Paija whose trials in the underworld reveal their true natures, with rewards and consequences to match.

Mareks (32) is a young taxi driver in Riga working hard to provide for his son. He is looking forward to spending the weekend with him when an envelope full of cash is stolen from his taxi. With a debt to repay to his short-tempered boss, Mareks needs to earn the money back fast. He drives to the airport and hotels in the hopes of getting some well-paying customers. However, the competition for clients is fierce. Mareks ignores the established rules and upsets the delicate balance between rival taxi companies. As the morning approaches getting the money seems to be the least of Mareks problems.

Members of a class of the 1980s hold an annual gathering. All together spend one night remembering the passions and hopes of youth and realising what has been achieved or missed.

When two outcasts are invited to a high school party, meet a girl and decide to help her, their summer takes an unexpected turn.

Jan, a guy in his twenties, and his friend Cracker are involved in several crimes in their neglected suburb of the city. After meeting the “golden youth” beauty Sabina, he looks for a fresh start in downtown circles, but only finds contempt. His hopes for love, compassion and opportunity are dashed by the even more ruthless rules of the bourgeois, and he comes to realize that the only one he can count on is himself.

Once upon a time there was a chimney. By the chimney - there were three houses. In the houses there were seven girls. All of them - blondes.

This is his chance to shine! A janitor spins pirouettes and dances out his soul, to glance back at the three masked figures above the doors of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre at the end of his shift. Meanwhile, a coworker, watching his star turn in his TV box, silently cheers for the performance unfolding in the theatre corridors.

Once a year, a quiet and secluded village in the north-western part of Lithuania comes alive to celebrate Catholic Easter, doing its best to preserve the vanishing ancient tradition of the Guardians of the Cross. With gentle humor observing the preparations of the local community for the vigil and immersing the audience in Easter night, the filmmakers raise questions about the relationship between the sacred and profane in the modern world.

Space – singer – listener. The power of the human voice takes us on an extraordinary journey.

An effortless after-school parents' meeting takes a rather unexpected turn...

The sausage ends up in a barbershop, a ministerial position, and a school, but in all situations it finds a way out and ultimately achieves her goal.

The Latvian epic "Lāčplēsis" resounds through time and parallels the struggles of a Latvian soldier and his love before, during and after WWI.

Drowning in unpaid bills, an actress-slash-waitress hatches a plan to rob her workplace. When the heist goes wrong, she must give the performance of a lifetime to clear her name.

The story of an obese kiosk lady who is stuck in the kiosk.

Director Aija Bley's "Brīva Vieta - T17" captures the unique testimony of the modern era of Riga - the life of "antisquoters". The film tells about the daily life and dreams of the youth community and a mute fish, the so-called commune T17. The community lives in a non-landscaped building, so its occupation is a real challenge. The house is located under the paspārns of the association " Free Riga ", whose movement is based on a responsible attitude towards nature and the careful use of resources. Here, the community is motivated by the conviction that so few resources in everyday life should be consumed in the urban environment. The film follows the everyday life of the community members, who use their lifestyle to use the resources of nature, material, culture and time.

A police officer and his family arrive at their countryside home in a grim mood and unexpectedly meet Santa Claus. The children drag Santa into their scheme to save the family, while their parents start preparing for the celebration, unaware that the friendly Santa is in fact an escaped prisoner.

Cleo is a once promising actress in her 30s with a career in theatre that’s going nowhere and a boyfriend who still harbours the dream of becoming a famous rockstar. She spends her days in a bohemian haze of booze and ennui, until she meets a legendary theatre director who is on the lookout for a new muse. He offers Cleo the biggest role of her career - The Bride in Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Blood wedding”. Cleo tries to turn her life around, but her co-dependent boyfriend starts to slip back into his old, self-destructive ways, and the director wants from the actress more than just her talent.

3rd annual comedy award ceremony in Latvia.

Four friends travel in a car to an unknown destination. Where are they going and why?

City boy arrives to Tukums, Latvia to surprise his online love whom he had never seen. Director’s team follows the guy to document the most exciting meeting of his life.

This tale, full to the brim with the magic of animation, offers a glimpse into the mischief that unfolds when the dull task of tidying up your room is interrupted by the appearance of a wizard. However, sometimes play can get dangerous – and then mum and dad have to embark on a rescue mission.

The story of a lovely snake family. How they spend a holiday by the sea – swim, play ball, sail, sunbathe, eat ice cream. Like all of us. And then evening comes, and the holiday is over.

An insecure millennial woman pursues her dream whilst learning how to adult. While being preoccupied with life tasks at hand she can barely handle and also severe depression, main character of this film Marta (30) keeps dreaming about making films, drawn to the healing power of storytelling, but not having the courage to act these dreams out; sometimes she is too scared to even pick up the phone. Marta’s life seems to sway both in comic and tragic directions: it’s sometimes a mix of ultimate freedom, sex, drugs, friendship, laughter, alcohol, lots of alcohol, music, honesty and love, and sometimes the reality Marta avoids to face becomes so brutal she can’t take it anymore. Through the course of the film Marta learns there is an unavoidable question that at some point becomes inevitable for almost every filmmaker: if you really want to direct films, can you first direct yourself out of depression?

When Lyudmila Ivanova made her infamous claim during a US-Soviet TV programme in 1986 that ‘There is no sex in the USSR!’, her comment – although roundly mocked at the time – revealed a certain truth about Soviet attitudes towards sex and the ways in which it was controlled by the regime, rendering it largely invisible. With this documentary, the director takes us through 70 years of Soviet history to highlight the interplay between sex, politics and society and the changing meanings attached to sex and sexuality under different General Secretaries.

A story about a young mechanic who tries to collect debt during a friend's funeral.

He really is a superhero – he hides people in his basement. And then he finally wants to be happy – he leaves her, abandoning her – his wife, his little daughters, and eleven people in the basement. She is not a heroine. She wants to forget not only Him, but also the basement.

Father and daughter – film actor Pauls Butkēvičs and Doctor of Dental Science Alēna Butkēviča, who has passed on her family name to her son and grandson – meet in their country home and in stories from the past. Pauls has appeared in more than 150 films, Alēna has studied in Latvia and the US, lectured all over the world, but her father says: "We are together all the time. Maybe not physically, but mentally – definitely!"

A young man anxiously crosses the road. Gints Zilbalodis first short film.

A timid 17-year-old at a summer camp finds solace in a group leader’s friendship, but soon realizes his intentions are not innocent.

Deniss is a Russian-speaking young man working at a fast food chain and spending his days in a small, gloomy apartment where all the things still remind him of his dead grandmother. Once a week he takes the stage, becoming a stand-up comedian. His jokes come from his life, which might be called dull as well as bleak, and, as he puts it, his ‘uninteresting biography’.

All four characters in the film were born on the same day as the Latvian state – November 18, 1918. Ella Steināte from Riga, Ignats Spridzāns, a farmer from the Viļāni region, Arnolds Dzirne, a veterinarian and retired lieutenant in the Latvian army, and Jeļena Vucane-Bicane, a resident of a retirement home in Latgale, each with their own destiny. Just as dewdrops reflect the surrounding world, their life stories reflect the history of Latvia.

Three sisters, dead broke and disconnected from each other, travel around Europe with their mother’s corpse on top of their van, trying to minimize transportation costs. The trio has to talk, reminisce and maybe even admit that underneath their fantasies of perfection — these are women in a desperate search for freedom.

A nearly impossible story, supported by a catchy melody, guides us through the ABCs - from Awesome Beetles to Yellow Zebra. Visual, audial and kinesthetic associations help children to learn with fun.