SHORT RIGA
This includes the International competition and the Baltic student short film programmes, the Baltic music video competition programme and... lots of parties! Because it makes no sense to watch a whole lot of incredible cinema and leave without having a chat about it afterwards. Look for the "S" sign (or is it a snake?) for adventure – cinematic, social and just fun!
A young director’s attempt at her first film using her own sexual experience.
The old gardener works day to night in harmony with the nature’s rhythm and the wisdom of the ancient Latvian lives. His happiness and fulfilment is a garden, which no longer belongs to him, but he feels like it does. Younger house owners, desiring to make the gardener’s life easier, get a new gardener. Old gardener’s love of garden and an unwillingness to share it with anyone makes him decide an inevitable decision to stay in the garden of his family forever.
With the shade around her waist / she dreams on her balcony, […] Under the gypsy moon, / all things are watching her / and she cannot see them. A surrealist journey through colours and shapes inspired by the poem Romance Sonámbulo by Federico García Lorca. Visual poetry in the rhythm of fantastic dreams and passionate nights.
A tree is always complete in its own being. Human beings, on the other hand, always aspire to become something more, doing their best to hold back time in pursuit of eternal love, youth and beauty. In Hollywood, two lost souls seek to become heroes under the shade of a lonely palm tree.
Laurie Anderson is one of the world’s coolest musicians and artists, and American musician Lou Reed’s wife. Here she shines in a personal, essayistic film about death, love, language and a dog.
The eleven-year-old Rick is tired of everyone’s gossiping about his father and him. They move to a new place which grants an opportunity to change this – Rick, after watching a gangster movie, begins to tell everyone his father is a mafia boss. But lies always fall short and soon Rick finds himself in an unenviable situation. Recommended age: 6+
The story of the film is told through tales that are based around the myths, legends and old beliefs that are part of the Finnish mythology. The first-person narrator, who is the main character of the story, is the daughter of Ahti and Vellamo, the god and goddess of the sea. She is Ahitar, the maiden of water. This sea maiden is a spirit born in a spring who has her own tale in the Finnish mythology. There are five acts in the story, and the different times of year follow the different acts.
Maria is a young and caring nurse who wants to break free. Niels is an incurable patient who wants to travel to Switzerland to commit assisted suicide. Together they embark on an intense journey that will bring them closer to each other but also closer to their dreams.
The film is based on the M.L. Stedman’s novel “The Light Between Oceans”. A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.“I’ve essentially made exploring relationships and families my life’s work to this point,” director says. “I feel as if my mission as a filmmaker is to explore the most intimate relationships in both private and expansive ways.”
