Writing
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”.
A young guy from impoverished family moves to the big city and by unlikely chance falls in love with a girl who has a wealthy father. When planning their wedding, he asks his father-in-law for a significant amount of money and decides to keep a part of it for himself. To have the wedding on the cheap, he hires inexperienced wedding organizers and asks them to make it look as posh as possible for the low cost. His plan ultimately backfires when the organizers overdo it.
Smiles belong only to humans. Perhaps some animals can smile, but I'm not sure about that. A smile is a sign of a warm heart, said the Dalai Lama when he met with Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga. Unique, rare footage from the president's press service video archive. A smiling president and an emotional conversation about eight years of presidency in Latvia.
"19 Latvians and 1 Russian citizen, previously unknown to each other, travel through Latin America in fire trucks for 100 days..." - but the film is not about traveling in the classic sense. The beautiful natural scenery serves only as a backdrop for the film, with the main focus on human relationships in a confined space.
Rūjiena is the northernmost town in Latvia. Life here flows slowly, with a unique, flowing spirit of sincerity, love, and a certain sense of civic pride. The people of Rūjiena are proud of this. An attempt to trace the history of Rūjiena and its people is a visual essay by three residents of Rūjiena: Ivars Zviedrs, Valdis Celmiņš, and Krišs Ozols.
