Matīss Gricmanis

Rule of the Heart

A future husband has been chosen for Princess Alda; it is Prince Magnus. The King is getting ready for his daughter’s wedding and handing down the crown to his future son-in-law. Government ministers and advisors are making preparations for the royal nuptials. A circus troupe also arrive for the celebrations. A chance meeting between the Princess and a circus artist in the palace garden threatens to disrupt the wedding plans. The stranger gives the Princess a heart as a gift – because she does not know what that is. There is order in her father’s kingdom, and there is security – but no-one has a heart. The heart allows the Princess to talk with the grass, the trees and toads, and the silenced child inside her starts to remember her late mother. When the King discovers that, he gives an order to cut it out of her chest, but the royal husband-to-be hides the girl to fight for her new-found heart.

Grandfather's Father

In this film a young man and his curmudgeonly grandfather are going 1,800 km to northern Russia in an old Zhiguli car, hoping to find the grave of their great-grandfather, who was deported. The grandfather Andris is sceptic over the lofty quest, initiated by his grand-son, as it’s not known what awaits them at their destination. Andris thinks they won’t find anything and will come back to Latvia without ever learning what happened to his father. However ever-optimistic Kārlis wants to use the journey not only to find answers about the past but also become closer to his grandfather who raised him. They both lost their parents as children.

2018

During Latvia’s centennial year, 15 filmmakers created each his own film portrait of a person living in Latvia on the background of centenary events. Documentary 2018 combines these stories into a unique poetic vision based on analogy with the documentary 235 000 000, a classic of the Riga school of poetic documentary cinema. This film is an attempt to make sure whether the codes of the poetic cinema are still relevant and accessible today.

Under the Upturned Moon

“Under the Upturned Moon” is a documentary that tells an outstandingly gripping story of two journalists investigating the depths of Islamic community in a country as small and seemingly insignificant as Latvia.

Sabiedrotais

The film tells the story of the situation after World War I, when the newly established state of Latvia had to engage in a political and military struggle for its existence. The support of the Western allies (Great Britain, France, and the United States) played a significant role in Latvia's struggle for independence. Great Britain was the first to get involved in the fight for Latvian independence, with its warships reaching the Latvian coast in December 1918. The film's script is based on historical documents, including reports to the British government on the situation in Latvia by Austin Keenan, head of the British military mission, and British diplomat Herbert Grant Watson, as well as other historical evidence. The film's visual narrative consists of reenactments, photographs, and newsreels.

Project: Moving

Project: Moving sees a young professional explore and debate the trend of young people leaving Rīga for somewhere more suitable for living, particularly the town of Cēsis in the scenic Vidzeme region. "We are simply showing that right now Cēsis has become the hipster capital, and it's not bad at all. It's like a different kind of gentrification, and it affects not just a single quarter, but the entire town."

The Mover

Žanis Lipke, an ordinary blue-collar worker in Latvia, embarks on a covert operation. Despite his family’s hardship under successive Soviet and German occupations, Lipke tries to save local Jews from Nazi persecution and certain death, moving them from the Riga ghetto to an underground bunker hidden on his property.

I Find Myself in You

A couple that does not fit into society’s accepted norms regarding women and men. Routine problems of everyday life that tend to take on immeasurable amplitudes push the film’s leads into a most intimate confinement, one in which thoughts and the answers to problems lead to dreams.