Last year, the most visited domestic films in cinemas – ‘Emilija. Queen of the Latvian Press’ and ‘Tizlenes’

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According to Matīsa, the screening of films in cinemas is one of the fields of activity of the cultural sector that is most affected by the conditions of the pandemic and restrictions on face-to-face events, therefore the statistics of film screenings for the second year in a row are declining compared to pre-pandemic conditions in 2019. Already in 2020, the results were affected by the need to periodically close down cinemas, but in 2021 cinemas in Latvia were closed for more than seven months, operating only from June to October and a month and a half at the end of the year. Matīsa also points out that, for comparison, in Lithuania and Estonia in 2021 cinemas were closed for a total of four months.

The total number of cinema-goers in Latvia in 2021 is 503,442 (44% decrease compared to 2020), but the share of Latvian films (the so-called “market share” occupied by national cinema) has not decreased significantly – 15.77% In 2021 against 19.90% in 2020 – and last year two Latvian films were included in the top ten most visited films.

The fifth place in the list is occupied by the multi-series film Emilija. Queen of the Latvian press (18,276 viewers), but in seventh place is the teenage comedy “Tizlenes” (16,077 viewers). However, the radical change in the overall situation is evidenced by the fact that the winner of the first place, Bondiad’s film “No Time to Die”, was visited by only less than 40,000 people in cinemas last year (while before the pandemic the number of the most popular Latvian films regularly exceeded 80,000).

Summarizing the attendance data of Latvian films premiered in 2021, the two most popular are followed by director Dace Pūce’s feature film “Bedre”, which was also Latvia’s application for the US Academy Award “Oscar”, director Andrejs Ēķis ‘erotic comedy “Tabu”, Māris Martinsons’ summer comedy “Say Yes! ” and director Matīsa Kaža ‘s variation on the western genre “Wild East. Where the road will leadThe NKC spokeswoman also recalled that the pandemic of 2021 was the worst hit by the film in 2021, as cinemas closed just two weeks after the Wild East. However, she emphasizes that this is a collection of data from 2021, but the life of the film screen does not end with the year, all films continue to attract viewers on various commercial distribution platforms.

All statistics on the film industry will be published in February in the National Film Centre’s annual “Facts & Figures”, which is traditionally being prepared for participation in the Berlin International Film Festival.

Naturally, at a time when live viewing of films is restricted, there are good results for showing films on online platforms, especially in free resources such as the National Film Center ‘s portal “filmas.lv”. During 2021, 18 special events were organized on the portal (both the May 4 Latvian Film Marathon and the Midsummer Festival worldwide, and a selection of 12 film personalities, etc.), highlighting a total of 190 films in these events, and the portal was visited 603,919 times during 2021. The portal “filmas.lv” currently contains 323 Latvian films, which can be watched free of charge at any time throughout the territory of Latvia, but the section of restored classics (19 films) is constantly available all over the world. During 2021, the portal’s films were viewed 125,850 times.

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