KIDS
WEEKEND
GREAT CINEMA FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Latvia is a small country. And this is just the fourth year that a festival of such international significance takes place in Riga. We need new and young people to fall in love with the beautiful world of cinema! This is an honest answer as to why it is so important to have a whole weekend dedicated to films for the whole family, why it is important to provide additional captivating pastimes as well… Two fascinating days of a cinematic adventure for schoolchildren, pre-school kids and their kin.
Out of one eye she cries Puccini, out of the other she reprimands me.
The women at the heart of the fight against IS.
A journey to Mozambique in order to find the dear friend Nafta and to shoot a film…
Boring jobs and existential anxiety. The apocalypse is a tempting liberator.
Since he left, the pain and anger had begun to fade.
A mother with her daughter missing, refuses to go gentle into this good night.
A manifesto of manifestos. Homage to the beauty of artists’ manifestos. Cate Blanchett in 13 distinct, must-see vignettes that incorporate timeless, influential and emotional manifestos from 20th century art movements. From anchorwoman to homeless man, from Pop Art to Dogma 95, a chameleonic Blanchett gives a tour-de-force performance as she transforms herself like never before. Rosefeldt weaves together history’s most impassioned artistic statements in this stunning and contemporary call to action. The film draws on the writings of Futurists, Dadaists, Fluxus artists, Suprematists, Situationists and other artist groups, as well as the musings of individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers.
In this futuristic romance, outsider artists create a world in which everything can be designed and controlled, everything but their own feelings. Do the partners truly love one another or are they merely fascinated by their own mirror reflections? An attempt to examine the narcissism of contemporary young people who are part of Poland’s artistic Bohemia in the age of social media and consumption. The film is inspired by lives of two Warsaw based artists. Wojciech Bąkowski is one of Poland’s most charismatic modern artists with a fully developed stage image. Zuzanna Bartoszek creates drawings, writes poetry, and is affected by a number of autoimmune disorders that make her look unique.
Sixty-year-old Pia is intellectually disabled and lives with her aging mother Guittou in a farmhouse on the Danish island of Langeland. She dreams of meeting a man. Pia does exercises and strolls along the beach; she reads books, visits a day centre in the city and looks after her goose Lola with tenderness. Her conversations with her mother focus on the future – how and where will Pia live once she dies? The days come and go. One day Pia meets Jens at the harbour. The two of them get talking and start spending time together… A fictional tale that is based on Pia’s real life and is embedded in her everyday routines.
In 2010, Martha Nabwire and Niki Tsappos took part in the biggest international Street Dance Competition, Juste Debout in Paris. It was the first time ever two women became World Champions in Hip Hop. Both are born in Africa and live in Sweden, yet one of them was adopted by a Swedish family as a baby while the other only arrived in Europe at the age of 14. This film, shot during a 5-year period in numerous cities across the globe, depicts their love of dance – something they treat with pure honesty and that comes across in each and every move. A brilliant documentary about identity and finding the right path in life.
Cecilie Debell, making her debut as a director, reveals a deeply unusual and highly surprising family story – a hardcore adventure. It is just as serious as any look back at a childhood characterised by failure, loss, and chaos, however moving, funny and almost disarmingly vibrant. How to come to terms with the painful things in one’s life? Who are our parents as people? How did they turn us into the people we are? A cinematic epistle about tolerance in an age that sorely needs it. The performance artist Michael Richardt invites his mother to join him on a road trip. The encounters with old friends and sympathetic strangers give both mother and son something they were missing…
The film is based on the life story of Melānija Vanaga, a woman who managed to survive her deportation to Siberia. It is a truthful account of the magnitude of the human spirit and the painful destinies, which were a part of the greatest tragedy facing the nation. It is the story of Latvian women who had to suffer and survive physically and emotionally in order for Latvia to live. To maintain hope, to preserve a person who is stronger than famine, cold, cruelty and even death and is capable of taking on responsibility for another person, to help others – such is the confirmation of Melānija Vanaga, her memories and also this film to the light in the world.
Newlyweds go on a honeymoon to Hungary. Thanks to a man they meet on the train Budapest-Visegrad they end up in a darkly poetic yet creepy castle where it turns out that their traveling companion has an old score to settle with the master of the house… Life and death is but a game for those whose souls have been slain by the self-destruction of Europe. Two legendary stars of the early horror movies – Bela Lugosi (Dracula, 1931) and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein, 1931) – meet for the first time in this film. Director Edgar G. Ulmer, an artist and aficionado of classical music, has created a visually elegant horror story, interwoven with satanic sadism, finding inspiration in the works by Edgar Allan Poe and occultist Aleister Crowley.
Lady Divine (a comic drag queen, international icon of bad taste cinema) and her troupe hold free shows called The Cavalcade of Perversion, said to be the most extreme and truthful exhibits of acts of obscenities. However, the finale is always the same – the audience is robbed and the performers fly the coop. Even the notorious director (Pink Flamingos, 1972) admits that he has gone a little too far with this grotesque tale of betrayal, revenge, perversions, depravity, violence and blood lust. At the time, he mocked the hippie philosophy the same way as he mocks political correctness now. And it is up to the audience to decide if they want to turn away in disgust, admire the extraordinary film or see a prophetic message of maniacs multiplying in the world.
A friendly giant tries to help people but fear keeps them from seeing his good deeds.
Brother and Sister have a hard time getting along. But then Granny gets involved and great adventures begin.
Niilas, 12, has been living with his father in the Netherlands. But this summer, Niilas has to travel to the North of Sweden to meet his mother he barely remembers since his parents are divorced. He is faced with an intriguing and emotional reunion and getting acquainted both with her mother’s new family and the magnificent Northern nature. At first, the unfamiliar surroundings scare Niilas but as soon as he has overcome his fear, this becomes the most adventurous summer of his life.
