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DAY 3
Thursday 16 May 2019

audiences are those which are suitable for a family.”
While domestic success has been intensely satisfying, there FIVE FILMS TO WATCH
has also been increasing interest in Latvian films on an
international scale. One of the highlights of the year will A CITY BY THE RIVER
undoubtedly be Oleg, directed by Juris Kursietis, screening
as part of Directors’ Fortnight, and produced by Tasse Film. Director, Viestur Kairish; Producer, Guntis
The Latvian, Lithuanian, Belgian and French co-production Trekteris; Production Company, Ego Media, 2020.
follows the titular character who gets a job in Brussels only to FIVE PRODUCERS TO WATCH Told from the late 1930s until the end of World
find his non-citizen status will mean that he will sink to some War II, the lm tells the story of a sign painter
of the lowest depths. AIJA BĒRZI A who must do the bidding of whatever regime
Finnish, Latvian and Czech co-production Dogs Don’t Wear AND ALISE ELZE nds itself in power. A story of how to stick to
Pants, directed by J-P Valkeapää, will also screen in Directors’ TASSE FILM one’s principles without actually betraying
Fortnight. The film — a minority co-production with Tasse anyone.
Film — was shot in Latvia. With Oleg due to screen in Directors’ Fortnight,
“This year’s Cannes will provide a great opportunity for the alongside the minority co-production Dogs
industry to discover more from talented Latvian director Juris Don’t Wear Pants, Tasse Film is set to have a JELGAVA 94
Kursietis whose film Oleg follows 2014’s Modris, which was very successful and visible Cannes. Looking to Director, Janis Abele; Producer, Antra Cilinska;
also a huge success on the festival circuit,” Rietuma says. build upon the success of the likes of Mellow Production Company, Juris Podnieks Studio.
“We’re also delighted that Inese Boka Grube of Mistrus Media Mud (2016) which screened in Berlin’s
was selected by European Film Promotion to be part of Generation 14Plus — where it took home the Taking us into the life of teenagers in a small
Producers on the Move.” Crystal Bear — Tasse Film has a reputation for Latvian city during 1994, the lm follows the life
Outside of Cannes, Latvia is looking forward to more producing fi lms that resonates with a diversity of Jānis who is trying to nd his place in the
international visibility over the coming year. Fresh from a of international audiences. world. is is not only a coming-of-age story but
May retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the the portrait of the 1990s generation in Latvia that
aforementioned Laila Pakalnina will release her latest INESE BOKA GRŪBE grew up as the country entered its ‘second
documentary The Spoon, due to play in competition at a AND GINTS GRŪBE independence’.
major European film festival that will be announced in the MISTRUS MEDIA
coming weeks. NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW
Mistrus Media’s slate has already had an
FESTIVALS BOOST DOCS impressive showing on the festival circuit over Director, Andris Gauja; Producer, Andris Gauja;
Another major name in documentary filmmaking will also the past few years with Breathing into Marble Production Company, Riverbed, 2019.
fly the flag for Latvia over the coming months. Ukrainian- (2018) premiering in Karlovy Vary’s East of the After falling for his intern, Ralfs, an eccentric
Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky, who now resides in Latvia, West competition in 2018 and The Chronicles music producer, convinces his wife, lover and
recently had his film Gorbachev. The Last Word funded by of Melanie debuting as part of Tallinn Black teenage daughter to live together under the same
the NFC. The film comes hot on the heels of the massive Nights Film Festival in 2016. Their latest roof. When Ralfs’ wife nds out that his lover is
success of Putin’s Witnesses. feature is The Mover (2019), a World War II pregnant, his relationship experiment turns into a
Mansky is also famous for organising the Artdocfest, a festival story of a an ordinary Latvian man who ruthless psychological battleground and Ralfs is
showcasing the very best Russian documentaries. This is now shelters persecuted Jews, that has already forced to decide what he’s willing to sacri ce in
brought to Latvia every year as the full Artdocfest competition screened in Munich and Moscow and will order to retain custody of his daughter.
is shown as part of the Riga International Film Festival, the screen in the Cannes market on 16 May.
country’s largest film festival which also has a fulsome WHAT SILENT GERDA KNOWS
programme of features, shorts and industry events. ROBERTS VINOVSKIS
“Documentaries are also well served by Baltic Sea Docs, LOCOMOTIVE Director, Yevgeni Pashkevich; producer, Yevgeni
organised by the National Film Centre for over two decades. PRODUCTIONS Pashkevich, Nida Filma, 2019.
The international and established platform for documentary e lm is set in the present day in a cultural and
filmmakers screens films as well as bringing many important Visnovkis has forged a strong relationship with ethnographic reserve in Latvia, where the
movers and shakers in the documentary world to the region,” director Aik Karapetian who has released a material world and atmosphere of the 1930s has
Rietuma says. number of genre fi lms, something of a rarity been recreated as fully as possible. Upon entering
Animation is also an integral part of the Latvian film industry, for the Baltic regions. Among them are the the retreat, guests are required to leave behind all
with two features ready for 2019. These are Edmunds Jansons’ psychological thriller Firstborn (2017) and the the accessories of modern life — clothing,
Jēkabs, Mimi and the Talking Dogs, the very first Latvian- bloody horror The Man in the Orange Jacket vehicles and means of communication. A sudden
Polish co-production which has already sold to numerous (2014). He will also produce My Love Affair summer heat wave drives the guests into madness,
territories. The Estonian-Latvian co-production Lotte and the with Marriage (2019), the eagerly awaited and the surreal and burlesque situation turns into
Lost Dragons, directed by Heiki Ernits, Janno Põldma, follow-up to Rocks In My Pockets (2014) from the opposite of drama.
continues the popular franchise as it unites the animation teams renowned Latvian animator Signe Baumane.
of two Baltic countries. Gints Zilbalodis’ 3D feature Away, BLIZZARD OF SOULS
described as a one-man animation project, will make its debut JĀNIS KALĒJS
in competition at Annecy. AND IVO CEPLEVIČS Director, Dzintars Dreibergs; Producers, Dzintars
Like its Baltic cousins, Latvia continues to court international FILM ANGELS PRODUCTION Dreibergs and Inga Pra evska; Production
productions and offers strong incentives for people to come Company, Kult lma, 2019.
and film in the country. Indeed, Latvia was the first of the Film Angels has been behind a number of e love story of sixteen-year-old Arturs is
Baltic countries to introduce a cash rebate in 2013. Since then domestic successes including Homo Novus interrupted by the World War I and — after
more than 40 international projects have been completed (2018) — the biggest domestic fi lm of 2018 facing tragedy — he joins the army. But war is
with the support of Latvia’s two cash rebate funding sources — and the upbeat comedy Sangarid (2017). nothing like Arturs imagines as he discovers his
operated by the National Film Centre and Riga Film Fund homeland is just a playground for other nations.
(part of Riga City Council). After approving new regulations SABĪNE ANDERSONE
from the beginning of the year, it is now possible to combine ATOM ART
the funds from NFC’s Cash Rebate Scheme with the Riga
Council’s Riga Film Fund funding. This rebate can reach up Known for its success with animated shorts,
to an impressive 50%. Atom Art will look to move into the feature-
The biggest cash rebate project in 2018 was the TV show fi lm world in 2019 with the release of
Heirs of the Night from Lemming Film in The Netherlands, animated feature Jacob, Mimmi and the
which saw an expenditure in Latvia of around €3m. The Talking Dogs by Edmunds Jansons.
project was serviced by Tasse Film.✦

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