“Aesthetic” experience
See what there is to see, enjoy quality cinema and fulfill your image enjoyment desires.
“Eve’s Garden of Paradise”
(Arvīds Krievs, 1990, Latvia)
A film painted in the soft tones of paradise, which tells of a love triangle, while, as the 1930s draws to a close, a political storm is brewing in the background. The cinematographer of the film is Dāvis Sīmanis sr., Whose filigree visual style deserves to be experienced on the big screen, especially in this restored version of the film.
The movie “Eve’s Paradise Garden”
Photo: still from the film / Riga IFF
“Corset”
(Maria Kreutzer, 2022, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, France)
The historical drama includes a woman’s struggle for self-determination. The title of the film is a hint not only of her genre, but also of how the Empress, played by the great Vicki Cripps, feels in her gilded cage. The director follows the recent trend of costume dramas of going back to fictional eras to show them from a more unflattering point of view and give a voice to the women of that time.
“Wing”
(Michelangelo Framartino, 2021, Italy, Germany, France)
The festival is the place to watch slow cinema. The slow and meditative flow of “Cave” gives a lot of space to reflection on the place of man in the majesty of nature and on the subjectivity of the passage of time. It is clear that the director Framartino is a visual artist. He once said that in his understanding, the moving image is always tied to a region – or where you come from or a certain space in time.
Dievzeme
(Hlinur Palmasson, 2022, Denmark, Iceland, France, Sweden)
The primordial force of nature is also the frame of the Icelandic “Godland”. A missionary faithful to his faith, Lukas will encounter challenges in the land forgotten by God (or, conversely, particularly loved) that he did not expect, even if he received the warning not to get lost. In this context, the human being becomes both tiny and immeasurably large.
Any Retrospectives by Pier Paolo Pasolini for movies
A high-profile cultural operator, Pier Paolo Pasolini, who would have celebrated his centenary this year, is a scandalous and undoubtedly important director. The curator of the retrospective mentions in the description that he brought Pasolini closer to cinematographic poetry, but this is not lyrical poetry, gentle. This is poetry of anger and social commentary. The films included in the retrospective are sexual, provocative and very beautiful – and a pre-screening conversation with an expert will help you understand them.
* “Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom” requires a special warning, because it is no coincidence that it is considered one of the most disgusting and cruel films in the history of cinema – it vividly and openly describes the torture of several minors.
“Real” experience
Social issues are presented in different forms: from a brilliant explosion of sexuality to a soulful experience.
“please baby please”
(Amanda Kramer, 2022, USA)
The most real, loudest and loudest family disturbances: a phantasmagoria of identity problems illuminated in neon colors. “Please, Baby, Please” has been the talk of the Internet for some time, as it delivers exactly what they want on a platter to style-hungry youngsters. In addition, it would be painted in bright blue-pink shades. A movie can be both a fun adventure and a challenging nightmare; it all depends on which position you look at.
“Emi”
(Pasa Ensina, 2022, Paraguay)
A child’s mouth speaks the truth, and it’s five-year-old Eami who voices the conversation about destroying her people’s natural environment. She lives in a natural connection with the forest, which is the world of the ajoreo, the indigenous people of Paraguay, but she is forced to watch as the boundaries of this world shrink and leave it closer and closer to her. However, the film is filled with unexpected optimism and a very lively love, which shows that a person’s innermost self cannot be taken away from him.
“Infinity according to Florian”
(Oleksii Radinsky, 2022, Ukraine, USA)
The annual Riga IFF “Architect’s Cut” program is a very interesting project, which includes films that address the problems of architecture and, therefore, the urban environment as such, through cinema. This year, in a double screening with the Romanian short film “Potjomkinisti”, the National Library of Latvia will be able to see a Ukrainian documentary film about the architect Florian Yuryev and the collision of modern functionalism with the legacy of the last century. The shared history of Latvia and Ukraine also makes this film relevant to local viewers, giving them the opportunity to think differently than usual.
“Beautiful creatures”
(Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson, 2022, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Czech Republic)
A familiar story in Eastern Europe about young people who live their lives in poverty, tragedy and pain, but presented in a softer way than we are used to. Moments of light shine through the darkness found in other people. An incredibly tender representation of friendships between boys in a world that imposes violent rules on them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NBpp5DNok
“A beautiful morning”
(Mia Hansen-Löwe, 2022, France, Germany)
Sensitive Mia Hansen-Löve’s perspective on humanity, memories and feelings. The brightness and sadness of a very ordinary life through a woman who in this film is not just an archetype and does not play certain roles in the plot. She lives simply – beside herself and the people closest to her, whose lives are right next to her, but unreachable far away.
“Extraordinary” experience
In addition to the objects not to be missed, I like to find gems in the festival programs, promising works, completely unknown to me, whose descriptions and / or images fascinate me. Such an approach always carries the risk of misperception (and therefore of disappointment), but this is, in my opinion, where the fascination of festivals lies.
“Incredible but true”
(Quentin Dupierre, 2022, France, Belgium)
I am a bit picky with this suggestion, because Dupierre is not such an unknown director and I choose him precisely because I know him. He turns absurdity into absurdity, reaching such a high level of satire that it even seems boring at times. In his latest film, Dupierre offers his version of the eternally relevant “The Family of Dorian Gray”.
“Cova”
(Hanna Bergholm, 2022, Finland, Sweden)
One way to tell coming-of-age stories is through the horror genre. But it doesn’t usually happen beautifully, instagram in an environment where a creature born from a strange egg bursts, upsetting not only the pace of life of the teenager, but also that of his mother-influencer. The vengeful nature has entered the living room of digital humanity.
“attention seeker”
(Christopher Borgli, 2022, Norway, Sweden)
The theme of influencers and hunger for attention is also continued by the Norwegian black comedy “Pati sev foldriezius”. Having lost her partner’s attention, Signe will do anything to make up for it. Literally everything. A cynical and tragic look at a society of narcissists where nothing matters more than clicks.
“Graveyard”
(Emilija Škarnulīte, 2022, Lithuania, Norway)
At a time when the world is frozen in anticipation of a nuclear war, Lithuanian director Škarnulīte offers a look at the Ignalina nuclear power plant, which has been suspended for more than ten years. Now nature has established itself in it. A visual meditation on the opposites of nature and science and on the ruins of ancient greatness.
“People from here”
(Mons Niemann, 2022, Sweden)
In the animated form of hip-hop and pop music, a very human story is told about the search for intimacy: all interlocutors are their own, openly sharing their emotions in the unadorned streets of Stockholm. The director originally made music videos and the skills acquired in this craft are also used in the film “These People”, a musical experiment with the adaptation of dialogue to the soundtrack.
