RIGA IFF FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
Films from the Baltic Sea region
Each year, 8 to 10 films from the Baltic Sea region are selected for the RIFF Feature Film Competition. An international jury of film professionals evaluates the contenders to the Riga IFF Prize. The competition does not impose any genre or style restrictions therefore the programme can consist of documentaries as well as fiction films, animation or cross-genre films.
Usually films that stand out with an original director’s style or surprising innovations in storytelling, editing or frame aesthetics are selected for this programme. The Riga IFF Feature Film Competition and the retrospective programme IN KINO VERITAS are the most vivid testaments of changes and current trends in the cinematic language.
In this programme, a heartfelt and contemplative documentary can exist side by side with an example of ‘the new Russian hard-core cinema’ and a deeply personal audio-visual diary with an absurd story of the triumph of Socialism in an apple-pickers camp. It allows the audience more or less step out of their comfort zone without leaving the comfort of the cinema seat.
RIGA IFF feature film competition jury
Artistic director of Midnight Sun Film Festival in Finnish Lapland, a movie critic (tv) in Ilta-Sanomat, the second largest newspaper in Finland and the editor of Filmihullu (Movie crazy), the oldest Finnish film magazine. Has been a leader of the film society in Järvenpää for 48 years, and runs his own weekly film club. He has written a book (with Jari Keränen) about cooking and cinema.
Programme director of the Film Festival Cottbus. Curating and programming for several film festivals, consulting and scouting for the Forum section at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Cinedays in Skopje and the Rügen International Film Festival which will hold its first edition in October 2017. Works also as a moderator and film journalist, currently for the German film magazine Filmdienst.
Head of Department of Film Promotion, Information and Heritage at the Lithuanian Film Centre. Has experience in all aspects of Event Coordinating and International Projects Management. She has initiated many cultural projects and taken organizational part in more than 300 audiovisual events in Lithuania.
Latvian filmmaker, professor, and theorist. He has directed a number of documentary and fiction feature films. Teaches directing and film theory at universities in Riga and Helsinki. His own films have participated and been awarded in a number of festivals around the world – MIFF, CIFF, IDFA, CPH:DOX and many others.
Works in the Programme Department of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; a member of the selection committee and a programmer in charge of the East of the West competition. Also works as a programmer for the Prague Short Film Festival. She had served on the juries at several international film festivals, including Vilnius, Wiesbaden, or Baltic Event at Tallinn IFF.
SHORT RIGA International Jury
Producer, Latvia. Since joining the film studio Mistrus Media, Antra has gained a profound experience in the production of creative and historical documentaries. Alumni of Emerging Producers, an industry flagship project of the Ji.hlava IDFF.
Short film curator, Switzerland. Member of the selection committee of the Swiss Competition at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland’s most significant short film festival. Loves to pass on his passion for film by holding lectures in classes about film analysis.
Moving image curator and project manager for cultural events, Romania. Festival coordinator and associate curator of the Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival BIEFF. Has collaborated with Transilvania IFF and Kunstverein Amsterdam, among others.
Artist, Sweden. Explorer of controversial topics. She has developed a complex artistry, which points out the most poignant issues of gender, power and identity; approaches them with great integrity, making her address accessible to those outside the usual art and film worlds.
Artist, Latvia. A wide-ranging artist who works in various media. A lecturer at the Art Academy of Latvia, founder of the gallery LOW – a place for spontaneous ideas and manifestations of alive artistic process – and member of the artist collective Popper Publishing.
Director of Kommunales Kino CinéMayence in Mainz, Germany.
Member of the Selection Committee at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.
Editor of the online magazine shortfilm.de.
SHORT RIGA #BMV
Baltic Music Video competition
Our music video competition is celebrating its third edition. The featured applicants from the Baltic States present increasingly courageous and powerful works. The best and brightest accomplishments include examples of successful international cooperation. We have sought out those that unify all three dimensions of a music video – music, text, and videography – and ascend to the level of a genuine masterpiece.
Among the contributors – directors, visual artists, multi-artists… – there are seasoned professionals and brave beginners. Some of the entrants have competed already in our previous editions. This year, there is a remarkable diversity of musical genres and songs in the national languages of the region.
In line with the tradition, we will hold a screening with discussions in an informal atmosphere that brings together authors and aficionados, celebrating the Baltic music video community!
Agnese Logina, curator of SHORT RIGA #BMV competition programme
SHORT RIGA #BMV International Jury
Head of Music Video at Camerimage, the IFF of the Art of Cinematography in Poland. Organizes in-competition and out-of-competition screenings, and oversees Music Videos: The Masterclass Series.
Programme and marketing manager in Tallinn’s Kultuuriklubi Kelm. Introduces new tunes from Latvia and Lithuania at Raadio 2 and is the City Stage programme manager at Tallinn Music Week.
Journalist covering music and culture for DELFI.lt, Deutsche Welle and other news outlets. Co-founder of Lithuanian music video competition at Vilnius Film Festival Kino Pavasaris.
Rearranger of pictures and sounds who likes to play, loves fairy tales and logic of dreams. A Latvian journalist who has transformed into a self-taught film director. Makes films and content for the TV box.
Berlin-based Canadian journalist covering art, culture, music and celebrities for The Guardian, VICE, Harper’s Bazaar and The New York Times. She is also a rapper named Snowe White.
RIGA IFF KIDS JURY
RIGA IFF YOUTH JURY