Ilona Brūvere

In two monumental symbols of the national awareness sculptor Kārlis Zāle has immortalized his vision about the state of Latvia. Freedom Monument is the statement of the sculptor’s love for his native country. Kārlis Zāle with his characteristic monumental touch sees life in large and powerful lines; the same way he perceives also sculpture that requires much vital force and daring. The full-length documentary “The Wounded Rider” is based on facts from the life of the sculptor Kārlis Zāle and documents on the construction of the Freedom Monument, providing insight in the political and social scene of the age and presenting outstanding figures in the culture and art together with the ideals of that time.

The creative documentary tells a story about the piano player and musician Oscar Strock who was a well known tango music composer in the 1920s Europe. Nobody knew him – only his music was well known. The life of Strock is like a side-show of everlasting debts, long voyages and wild and unlucky love affairs that find their best interpretation through his tango music. The piano player is a man, who barely arranges his life according to the political and economic circumstances in the world. To earn money, he plays for pubs and cinema theatres in Riga, Berlin and Paris, and for lovers, he writes the most romantic tango music.

Futuristic view of life in Pankow, East Berlin. The GDR has turned into a madhouse with serious economic problems.

The film provides an insight into the performance cycle "Ladies' Paradise," which covers the period from 1900 to 2000 in moving images on screen and stage and tells the story of European fashion history. The performance materials are supplemented by interviews with costume designers and actors. Fifty theater and television actors and fifteen costume designers participated in the performances. The performance series was one of the events of the "Riga 2014" program.

The fading romance of the era of train travel is portrayed in the faces of railway workers, at lonely stations where trains no longer stop, on empty tracks where trains no longer run.

Documentary feature about the famous Latvian poet and translator Uldis Bērziņš. The film tells about the everyday life of the poet, his work, his imprisoned son, his family and his best friend, a KGB agent. Includes excerpts of the newest poetry book of the poet, “Idylls“.

The international film festival Arsenāls has been a fixture on the Riga scene for the last 20 years. It has introduced new film aesthetic and was one of the only creatively free events during Soviet times. Over the years the festival has influenced culture and society in Eastern Europe, continually dazzling us with its creativity. The film is a portrait of the director, the father of Arsenals and trusty knight of surrealism.

Gerhart Ramm is a simple minded farmer's son with much an interest what life means downtown. When he tries to spend the night in Hamburg, he gets no attention at first. But there is Chantalle who is kind of amused by Gerhart's behaviour.