Due to the pandemic, the Cannes International Film Festival was changed for two years – the 2020 festival was not held at all, but in 2021 it was postponed to July. This year, one of the oldest festivals in Europe is taking place for the 75th time and returns to the traditional dates of the second half of May (May 17-28).
Latvia’s participation in the festival is now traditionally marked by the Latvian pavilion, which will feature representatives of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA), the National Film Center and the Latvian Film Producers’ Association. Specially for the Cannes Film Market to work with film distributors and other international partners, the NCC has prepared a catalog of the latest and upcoming Latvian films, but in cooperation with the Latvian Animation Association, a publicity publication has been created that summarizes the latest Latvian animated films and projects.
Latvia’s participation in the Cannes Film Festival is often associated with neighboring Lithuania and Estonia, as the three leading film institutions in the Baltic States co-operate, following the principle that joining forces makes them more visible in the international industrial arena. That’s why the Marché du Film Producers Network, which brings together more than 500 producers from around the world for 16 years and has become an internationally important collaboration platform, is taking the opportunity to focus on all three countries together, with two producers from each country. Latvia will be represented in this selection of professional, active and promising producers this year by Marta Romanova-Jēkabsone and Matīss Kaža, the Baltic focus in Cannes is planned for May 22.
Producer Inga Praņevska has entered another path of international competition on the Producers Network. France) in the international selection.
The ladies’ gorgeous costumes at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021
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Within the Cannes Film Market 23-27. short film sections will take place in May Cannes Short Film industry forum The Short Film Corner, where a collection of Baltic short films will be presented to festival programmers and film distributors. In the selection of seven films, Latvia is represented by Anna Ansone with the short film Can’t Help Myself and Indra Sproģe with the animated film Where is the key? / Where Is the Key? The forum will address the program for the first time New Producers Room, for which 10 producers have been specially selected, including Alise Rogule from Latvia. Representatives of the short film section of the Riga International Film Festival (Riga IFF) Leo Soesanto and Lauma Kaudzīte will take part in The Short Film Corner. Baltic Shorts – a network that unites the Lithuanian short film agency Lithuanian Shorts, the Tallinn Festival POFF Shorts, the Riga International Film Festival (Riga IFF), the Latvian Animation Association and the Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS. The association’s participation in the Cannes Film Festival is supported by the National Film Center.
This year, a completely new, unique initiative has been launched at the Cannes Film Festival – the cooperation of the Cannes Classics program with European film schools, and this opportunity is also used by the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture with the support of the National Film Center. The idea of the project is an initiative of Cannes Classics programmers to integrate the young generation of cinematographers into the processes of world cinema classics, giving them the opportunity to watch a high-quality offer of cinema history and expand their knowledge of cinema contexts. This year, 11 students from the National Film School, who have been selected through a creative competition, will receive accreditation for the Cannes Clasics Film Festival.
