The National Film Awards will be unveiled at the Splendid Palace Cinema on February 24 with the first two series premieres of the new feature film “A Criminal Case for Beginners”.Kristaps the Great“program of activities.
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The National Film Award “The Great Kristaps” takes place from February 23 to 27, and its program can be seen in person – at the festival’s home – in the cinema “Splendid Palace”, where the discussion “Latvian Cinema. New Times” has already taken place and it is possible to see an exhibition dedicated to the costume designer Ieva Kundziņš. Online www.filmas.lv there will be a retrospective film program and a student film competition. The award ceremony will be broadcast live from “Hansa Platform” on Latvian Television.
Live events at the Splendid Palace cinema will take place in “green mode” – they can be attended with a valid Covid-19 vaccine or disease certificate.
As mentioned, the film program will be opened on February 24 at 6 pm with the out-of-competition premiere of the first two series of the multi-series feature film “Criminal Case for Beginners” directed by Armands Zvirbulis. At 7 pm in the Small Hall of “Splendid Palace” the documentary film “Gorbachev. Paradise” co-produced by Latvia and the Czech Republic (directed by Vitalijs Manskis) will be shown, which has been nominated for “Big Kristaps” in five categories.
Two films will be premiered on February 25. At 6 p.m., Ivars Zviedra’s documentary “On the unseen, Brasa!” The screening at 8 pm – the premiere of Mārčs Lāčs’ surreal comedy “Revolution”. In the small hall at 5.30 pm Matis Kaža’s screening “Wild East. Where will the road lead”, which is nominated for six “Great Kristaps” awards, will be screened at 7.30 pm – Rebecca Lamarshe-Vadela Biennial (RIBOCA2) and nominated for the National Film Prize in two categories.
On March 26, at 1:30 p.m., Marta Elīna Martinson’s debut film “Tizlenes”, which has been nominated for “Kristaps the Great” in 10 categories, and an animation screening of six short films will start at 2 p.m. The Latvian premieres of the out-of-competition film “Dusmukule” (director Dace Rīdūze) and the “Kristaps the Great” nominee “Diendusa” (Nila Skapan’s last film) and “Chuchi Chuchi” (director Māra Liniņa), which was included in the program of the Berlin Film Festival, will be performed. The screening of the animated films also includes the films nominated for “Kristaps the Great” in “Truba” (director Jurģis Krāsons), “Comeback” (director Vladimirs Leščovs) and “Guard of Honor” (director Edmunds Jansons). At 3.30 pm, Laila Pakalniņa’s film “In the Mirror” (10 nominations for “Kristaps the Great”) will be screened in the Small Hall, at 4 pm in the Great Hall there will be the premiere of Andrejs Verhoustinsks’ documentary “Delle” At 5.30 pm, Alessandro Rosellini’s documentary-family portrait “I Was Born Rosellini” (one nomination for “Kristaps the Great”) will be screened, and at 7.30 pm – Dace Pūce’s debut film “Pit” will be screened (the film is nominated in eight categories). The student and short film program will be shown in two screenings (6 pm and 8 pm) and will feature eight films.
The first part includes the films “Flute” (director Intars Rešetins, premiere) and the student competition films “Professor and Gena” (director Elza Gauja), “Bezfilma” (director Rūdolfs Anže), and “Mia” (director Emil Alps). Part 2 – Premiere of Ilze Burkovska-Jakobsen’s short film “Trace Me” and student competition films – “Book of High Wisdom from the World and Nature. Part 1” (director Lāsma Bērtule), “Priekuļi Millionaires” (director Līva Polkmane) and “Negaiss “(director Jāzeps Podnieks).
An exhibition dedicated to the costume designer Ieva Kundziņš, who will be presented with the Big Kristapas for her lifelong contribution, will also be on display at the Splendid Palace cinema.
The extensive “Kristaps the Great” program is available online from February 24 to March 5 www.filmas.lvand is divided into several sub – programs.
Eight films made at different times allow us to appreciate the talent of the costume designer Ieva Kundziņa, who will receive the Great Kristaps this year as a lifelong contribution: “Four White Shirts” (1967), “Ceplis” (1972), “Gift for a Lonely Woman” (1973), “Boy” (1977), “Early Rust” (1979), “Rocky Road” (1983), “Sprīdītis” (1985) and “Maija un Paija” (1990).
The program “They are with us” pays homage to bright Latvian film personalities whose lives were interrupted in 2021. The program includes the films “The Sad Story of Sister Kerry” (director Ansis Bērziņš, 1978), “The Charming Day” (director Nils Skapāns, 2010) and “Pavasaris” (2000, director Nils Skapāns), “Territija. Vija Celmiņš” (director) Olaf Okonov, 2014), “Evening Version” (starring Astrid Karis, 1980), “Violence Meditation” (starring Armands Reinfelds, 1993), “Keep Smiling!” (director Askolds Saulītis, 2003) and “Puika” (music author – Mārtiņš Brauns, 1977).
From February 27 to March 5, a selection of films by students of the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture will be shown on the website www.filmas.lv: “Book of High Wisdom from the World and Nature. Part 1” (director Lāsma Bērtule), “Mia” ( director Emīls Alps), “Negaiss” (director Jāzeps Podnieks), “Priekuļi millionaires” (director Līva Polkmane) and “Professor and Gena” (director Elza Gauja).
The leading institution of the Latvian film industry – the National Film Center – celebrates its 30th anniversary with a look back at the history of the renewed national film industry, on the portal filmas.lv compiling the most important films of each of the three decades with the help of an expert vote. A description of the most important features of the period and the context of the era is also added to the selection of films of each decade.
In the opening week, “Kristaps the Great” got its entry in the National Encyclopedia – HERE – enabling the widest possible audience to gain knowledge of the historical aspects of the prize. The National Encyclopedia, which is being developed in an electronic environment under the auspices of the National Library of Latvia and with the support of the Ministry of Culture, is a contemporary, extensive and constantly evolving resource of reliable knowledge; the encyclopedia is also adapted for use in the mobile environment. The entries for the National Encyclopedia are prepared by specialists in the respective fields, and the author of the “Big Kristaps” entry is the film historian Kristīne Matīsa, who has compiled the information obtained in the archives of the Latvian Cinematographers’ Union and other sources.
The “Great Kristaps” section covers detailed information about the origins and historical development of the award, the transformation of evaluation systems and principles, and changes in the design and timing of the award over time. The statistics of the 45-year history of the “Big Kristaps” winners (up to and including 2020) are also analyzed in the article, and in the encyclopedia you can find out that Roze Stiebra (6 award-winning films) and Laila Pakalniņa 5 films), Varis Brasla, Juris Podnieks, Vladimirs Leščovs (4 films each), but in the categories of film professions the leaders in terms of awards are composer Mārtiņš Brauns (8 awards), sound director Anrijs Krenbergs (7 awards), cinematographers Dāvis Sīmanis seniors and Gints Bērziņš (6 prizes each), filmmaker Ieva Romanova (5 prizes), editing director Liene Bāliņa (4 prizes), actor Andris Keišs (4 prizes) and others. After the closing ceremony of this year’s “Great Kristaps”, the section of the National Encyclopedia will be added to the list of new winners.
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