More than 100 films in cinemas and online – Riga IFF announces program / Article

The Riga International Film Festival (Riga IFF) this autumn, from October 14 to 24, will invite spectators both in Riga and throughout Latvia to join the eighth year of the festival – more than 100 films will be shown in 10 thematic sections, including 5 competition programs. informed the festival organizers.

Live screenings will take place in “green mode” (presenting a document confirming the fact of Covid-19 vaccination or disease) – in the cinema “Splendid Palace”, as well as in the Ziedonis Hall of the National Library of Latvia. In turn, most guests of the festival will be able to watch most of the program online from anywhere in the territory of Latvia.

For the first time in the history of the festival, several face-to-face sessions will also take place in the branches of “Riga IFF” outside Riga – in Madona (k / t “Vidzeme”) and Valmiermuiža.

This year, the festival’s slogan is “There is always time”. As the festival organizers explained, this is also reflected in the curators’ choices, and visions for the future. “

“Time has no objective limits, it is absolute, at the same time unpredictable in form and content. What matters is how we fill time.

Cinema can stop, slow down, shift time, it can tell and explain time, but never empty it.

Dedicate 11 October to the festival’s cinematic experience – an awareness-raising and mind-sharpening adventure; for a team or an individual – it is your choice, we will take care of both, ”wishes Liene Treimane, the head of Riga IFF.

The festival will be opened on October 14 by a film that brings together Latvian filmmakers (co-producers – “VFS Films”, screenwriter – Dāvis Sīmanis, cameraman – Valdis Celmiņš) and a legendary film dynasty – “I was born Rosellini”. The documentary, made by Alessandro Rosellini’s grandson of the influential Italian neo-realist director Roberto Rosellini, outlines almost a hundred years of creativity, illuminating the shadows of the life of his heirs to the influence of the “artistic patriarch”. Part of the film’s international team will be present at the opening evening, and the next day, October 15, those interested will be offered the opportunity to meet them in person. The opening session also introduces the retrospective program “The Rossellinis and The Century”.

This year, cinema-goers will be particularly pleased with theFestival Selection”, Which includes films praised at 16 European and world film festivals. Among the selected films is the film of the French film giant Leos Caraks “Anete” – a psychedelic and opera-oriented musical with Adam Driver and Marion Cotiary in the lead roles. The “Anete” screening was the opening event of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and the work received the Best Director Award. For Ves Andreson’s fans – the latest film will be shown to the favorite of viewers and critics French Journal, Supplement to Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun, while the extreme limits of the cinema format will once again be tested by French cinema enfant terrible Gaspars Noah, whose visually expressive “​​Lux Æterna” Charlotte Gainbourg is in the lead role (she also appears in a completely different register in the chamber drama “Suzanna Andlere”).

The local audience’s favorite Nordic cinema will offer the brilliance of “Nordic Highlights”Section – the range of 10 films is a dark existential comedy “Equestrian Horsemen” Mads Mickelsen mourned as a war veteran, and a provocative look at a woman’s career ladder in the porn industry in film “Fine”.

This year, the festival has a particularly rich range of national premieres, most beautifully represented in the section “Home Made PremieresAs well as the main feature film competitionRiga IFF Feature Film Competition”- it includes a film by Laila Pakalniņa “In the mirror”, which depicts the story of Snow White for a generation overwhelmed by narcissism and self-image in the aesthetics of “selfie”, Rebekah Lamarsha-Vadela and Dāvis Sīmanis’ view of the late Riga International Art Biennale in the film “RIBOCA 2” “Everything blooms at once”, As well as strong full-length debuts from Latvian filmmakers.

The eighth “Riga IFF” also pays special attention to the tastes of the youngest spectators – the children’s film program of the festival “Kids’ ReelThis year, we can be proud not only of the longer duration of the event, both “Riga IFF” weekends, but also of two competitions that will be conveniently available online throughout Latvia.

The section of the festival will tell about the most topical issues in cinema this year as well.Short Riga”, Which will be screened in six screenings at the International Short Film Competition, while both acclaimed authors and strong debutants will compete for the prize in the national competition.

In addition to the public film program, there will also be a film industry for professionals “Riga IFF Forum”Section, where local and foreign film industry representatives will have the opportunity to share their experience and knowledge.

“Riga IFF” is created with the support of the State Cultural Capital Fund, the European Union program “Creative Europe – MEDIA”, the National Film Center and the Riga City Council.

–