RIGA IFF COMPETITION PROGRAMME
This year the competition showcases 8 titles from the Baltic sea region – the contestants of the Riga IFF Award presented by the festival's international jury. The competition holds no limitations regarding genre or style, thus the programme can include documentaries, fiction, animations or everything in between.
A flame lights up the darkness of a peaceful village. A pyromaniac ignites his first fire. More fires break out and the community panics. An inferno lurks under the surface as a local policeman uncovers the unthinkable truth, the pyromaniac isn´t a stranger, he´s a village fireman.
Summer 1962, Olli Mäki has a shot at the world championship title in featherweight boxing. From the Finnish countryside to the bright lights of Helsinki, everything has been prepared for his fame and fortune. All Olli has to do is lose weight and concentrate. But there is a problem – he has fallen in love with Raija.
Two brothers, Markus and Lukas, live in an old townhouse in the middle of Oslo. The river runs close to their home. A paradise in a big city. And then there’s Smola, where their mother grew up and where summer vacations are spent. We watch them grow up and their dreams and expectations shape.
Natasha, a middle-aged zoo worker, still lives with her mother in a small coastal town. She is stuck and it seems that life has no surprises for her until one day… she grows a tail and turns her life around.
In rural Afghanistan, people believe in the stories they invent to tell each other to explain the mysteries of the world they don’t understand. Even though there are no grownups around, the kids know the rules very well; the main one is that boys and girls are not allowed together. The boys practice with their slings to fight the wolves should they attack the flock. The girls smoke dried branches of wheat and secretly play wedding, dreaming of getting a husband soon.
The final year of the WWI. A German army surgeon is sent to inspect a remote convalescent home for shell-shocked patients. The strange world he encounters in which reality appears more like fiction is quite challenging for his cold rational mind. His fruitless efforts to remodel the place and an unexpected attachment to a mysterious savage boy from the surrounding woods lead Ulrich to discover his one true self. Very soon this turned-out sanctuary will have to make its last stand against the approaching madness of the war.
Spring 1941. Shortly before Nazi Germany’s invasion of Russia, with economic cooperation between the two countries still in full swing, a delegation of German engineers including Hans (Jakob Diehl) travel to the Soviet Union to work on the development of optical lenses in a glass factory. War is in the air and the atmosphere is tense. When Hans accidentally causes the oven to explode and several people lose their lives, the situation escalates. Lieber Hans is an exciting historical drama with a star ensemble of German acting talent, featuring Jakob Diehl, Birgit Minichmayr, Mark Waschke and Marc Hosemann.
This film is a story of itinerant circus performers, cabaret acts and vaudeville and fairground attractions. Circus entertainment, freak shows, variety performances, music hall and seaside entertainment are chronicled from the 19th and 20th century accompanied by an original score from Sigur Ros. Director Benedikt Erlingsson takes us back to the days when the most outlandish, skillful and breathtaking acts traveled the world. This rich visual archive has been created with exclusive access to The University of Sheffield’s National Fairground Archive.
Eini grows up isolated from society in the woods together with her controlling, violent and abusive father, a man afraid of the world and who keeps Eini very close. Stories about her granny and Eini’s invincible fantasy enable her to create a world within from which she can draw her strength to survive. ”If you’re looking for quiet entertainment on a rainy day, look no further than Granny’s Dancing on the Table.” Film-book.com
