Viewers Of Optics

Gunars Taurins has become a dad-sitter in Latvia. He wants to return to France as soon as possible once he has found a caregiver for his father. But it's not that easy and Gunars has to stay in Riga whether he likes it or not.

Iwan Rabcynski, born in St. Petersburg (Florida), writes Russian melodramas under the pseudonym "John F. Romanoff. He gets his inspiration in Brooklyn, his chosen home. His new novel, which is meant to be autobiographical, begins with his Russian great grandfather in St. Petersburg in 1882 and follows three generations as they survive the country's political upheavals.

An unemployed Latvian gets a job as an agent finding a house in France.

Toni, the former theology student from former Yugoslavia, lives in Germany now, he loves the Dutch and Amsterdam and he is a big fan of the mayor of Venice, "because he likes Nitsche." He is not gay but he supports homosexuals "because Wittgenstein was gay." Toni is waiting for a German passport in order to leave Germany and find work in Amsterdam.

A parody of Soviet action films about an author from Brooklyn following in the footsteps of his ancestors, who played a key role in the Bolshevik coup.

St. John’s Night is a traditional Latvian midsummer celebration where family and friends get together to build bonfires, drink and have a good time. According to a legend, on this night lovers and those who wish to fall in love can search the woods for the "magic fern".

Jackies' quiet life as a housewife and English teacher ends abruptly when her husband informs her that he is leaving her for a younger woman. In a quest for revenge, Jackie makes arrangements with a plastic surgeon for a general overhaul with the goal of landing a younger husband. A newspaper leads her to Peter who is as bored by his insurance job as he is by the young women he has been dating. Written by John W. Wrist

Summer 1999, in the center of Vienna: two very distinct parades took place simultaneously on the same street. One was a policemen's parade; the other a celebration of gay pride. Because the policemen didn't want to march hand in hand with the Gay Movement, a typical Austrain solution was found: while the gays marched clockwise, the policemen marched counter-clockwise.

Varying characters in historical and local transformations recount cheerful mystical stories of the city where death found its home. It is about primal human fears and the desire for love, security and loneliness.

A city, a man, a woman. This time it's glittering Zurich. The protagonists: Karl and Lisa. They fall in love. The usual. But Karl is a so-called 'loser'. Does drugs, borrows money and is in debt everywhere. Responsibility is alien to him. He lives day to day, detests relationships and he's heading straight for the abyss. Finally, when he loses Lisa, too, he has a major breakdown and finally begins to fight for both her and himself. Lisa is disappointed by Karl's way of life, even though she isn't a shining example of responsibility herself. Both are running from reality. And what was that about 'devotion', 'freedom' and 'trust'? This is a film about love. Not the conquering-all kind but real love. With all its weaknesses, its volatility, and its egoism.

Short film.

A fragment of the Berlin Wall in the centre of Riga.

Short film.

Short film.

A travelogue about India. But it is more than a video about a foreign place. We follow the director's itinerary and witness his chance encounters with people and also public events, some of which continue to shape India's politics today.

Short film.