Contemporary

Contemporary

2017 · 49 min · Documentary

This film represents a figurative view on the developments of contemporary art in Latvian modern environment by following the path of a piece of art to the audience for a certain period of time and by finding a unified system of characters in the process. One piece of art is advancing the story on the background of a previous piece, the next one is continuing it in another direction just like in a movie two shots alongside create the third one and result in another modern art object – film.

Directed by Dainis Kļava · Written by Dainis Kļava

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MovieDocumentary

It's Latvia on the 20th of September, 2003 - the day of the referendum about joining the European Union. On the day of the referendum, twelve Latvian film directors of different generations portray twelve different characters across the country. Their life stories and environments affect their decision of voting “for” or “against”.

KK2678

MovieScience Fiction

He lives and works in a world that contains only him, or so he thinks. Each day is spent exactly in the same way, stamping boxes, not asking where they come from or where they go. But an unexpected guest’s sudden arrival leads to a dangerous discovery – perhaps outside of his small world there is something more?

Sea of Attractions

Sea of Attractions · 2005

Sea of Attractions

MovieDocumentary

The narrow, sandy strip of the seashore is a neutral zone that belongs equally to the sea and the mainland. This zone possesses an unusual chracteristic, namely, it attracts people with a practically magnetic power, transforming the beach into something like a playground where the old and the new, the primitive and the civilised, the traditional and the modern all coexist.

Áigi (Time)

Áigi (Time) · 2007

MovieDocumentary

A reindeer herdsman’s life is as gently monotonous as the tundra itself. It flows in synchrony with the life of the reindeer herd from one migration to the next. The time between these two points belongs entirely to the herdsman. It’s áigi - the herdsman’s time.

Talkers

Talkers · 2016

MovieDocumentary

The three speakers represent two of the dialects, with the most common one - the middle dialect spoken in Riga and central parts of Latvia - not featured in the film. In intimate surroundings, a farmer, a schoolteacher, and a herder of ostriches talk about perceived differences between Latvian speakers, and about language policy and their lives.

TESA MAN

TESA MAN · 2024

“TESA MAN” is a music film – a poetic exploration of the relationship between collective creativity and the natural world. The film blurs the lines between reality and imagination, inviting viewers into an animistic experience where music performed by the band Tesa in a frozen Baltic landscape attempts to transform air, steam, ash and clay into something much more alive.

Grammar, Girls and All That Jazz

Grammar, Girls and All That Jazz · 2009

Grammar, Girls and All That Jazz

MovieDocumentary

This is a film about the generation of the 1970s, about its teenage dreams, hopes, choices and its adulthood reality. When the director of the film was in year 7 at school, he got a 8 mm film camera from his dad. The first thing he did was film his classmates and record their visions of future. Thirty years have passed. The future is here. Have they succeeded in fulfilling their dreams?

Unfinished Film

Unfinished Film · 1993

Unfinished Film

MovieDocumentary

A tribute to late Latvian documentary film director Juris Podnieks. It was his plan to make this film about Latvia and Russia after the collapse of the USSR.

The Wet Guy

The Wet Guy · 2013

MovieDocumentary

There is a Man, called Mitrais by locals, who is one of the first professional nature inspectors in Latvia. For an older generation people his name is associated with an image of a real ranger, while youngsters who know him highly respect him. Mitrais is sure that among today’s youth there are more idealists than ever before. And they are ready to do something real and tangible, and not surrender to the overwhelming virtual pseudo-reality.

2018

MovieDocumentary

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.

Riga Story

Riga Story · 2011

MovieDocumentary

A film about Riga's more than 800 years of history and the city's development through the centuries. The film serves as a rich source of reference material and an incentive to further explore Riga's cultural and historical monuments, as well as an encouragement to get to know Riga.

The Naives

The Naives · 1992

MovieDocumentary

A documentary on elderly Naivist painters in 90ies Latvia. These people find a lot of joy and harmony in their amazing creations even if they might not know a lot about the conventional art.

Mud

MovieDocumentary

Latvians think through mud and view the world through a “muddy” filter. Where does the mud come from, and why does it invariably remain: in this country, this language, and in our souls? Mud doesn’t just appear from tears falling upon dry earth. Mud also comes from spillover, done out of joy. And the mud itself creates happiness and inspiration for new mud.

Icebreaker Krišjānis Valdemārs

Icebreaker Krišjānis Valdemārs · 2012

Icebreaker Krišjānis Valdemārs

MovieDocumentary

In the Gulf of Finland shipwreck hunters come across the remains of a sunken ship. Having examined the images obtained by an underwater robot, researchers come to a conclusion that the wreck remains are that of “Krišjānis Valdemārs” – independent Latvia´s first icebreaker. The story of an icebreaker allows viewers to the look at the history of Latvia between wars from a new angle and provides insights into the little known, but fascinating episodes of a maritime history.

Lake Lubāns: Squaring the Circle

Lake Lubāns: Squaring the Circle · 2001

Lake Lubāns: Squaring the Circle

MovieDocumentary

Every spring the surroundings of the Lake Lubāns, the largest lake in Latvia, are in flood. The efforts to prevent the floods have been going on since the middle of the 19th century. Today the lake, encircled by dikes, no longer threatens the surrounding homesteads but the seeming safety has been bought for a very high price – destruction of the natural balance. Can the damage be remedied? Two Latvians will travel to the wetlands of Japan in search for a possible solution.

UFO 1st Class

UFO 1st Class · 2026

An experimental film where imagination, creativity, freedom are intertwined. Young people paint in the courtyard of a Riga apartment building. A young man closes his eyes and imagines himself flying over meadows, forests and rivers.

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