Directing
Several very different characters – a pioneering physicist, an acclaimed minimalist composer, an intensive care doctor and a crematorium director – each in their own way find a strikingly similar answer to the cliché question: what is the universe made of? According to them, the ultimate source of reality is essentially empty space, which spontaneously manifests what we call matter in a magical display.
Over the past year, three young scientists have found unusual colored frogs in the wild in Latvia that are not typical for our region. A green frog with unusual orange and black coloring—seen for the first time—as well as a strange red frog. Scientists are trying to determine the cause – whether these are "natural errors" in a few specimens, or whether the entire frog population is affected – with environmental pollution being cited as one of the reasons. In a parallel story the scientists are conducting research on the restored tree frog population, observing the results of a project implemented in the 1990s – at that time, the extinct tree frog species was successfully restored and is once again found on the Kurzeme coast.
Astronomers look through telescopes and see that the universe has a structure — it’s shaped like a web. Slime mold researchers look through microscopes and see that the tiny organisms form similar patterns. In their quest of discovering the nature of things, they both show the beauty of curiosity.
A colorful and slightly comical portrait of a group of people and a snapshot of an era, telling the story of Lucavsala, a green oasis in the center of Riga. Unique in Europe, this allotment garden colony, located almost in the city center, brings together a wide variety of social groups: modern flower children, city dwellers caught up in their daily routines, organizers of spiritual festivals, homeless people, and pyromaniacs, whom the director contrasts with urban planners working in air-conditioned offices. Each of them strives to realize their dreams on the island, which are as contrasting as the characters in the film themselves.
'Family Instinct' is a film about incest - an illegal act, social taboo and a violation of religious norms. Zanda is a 28-year-old woman, worn out by hard work. Surrounded by poverty and despair, she is trying to survive with her two children in a god-forsaken Latvian village. Her hardships can be traced back to living in a relationship with her brother Valdis. When Valdis is put in jail, the local community forces her to make a difficult choice: to stay with him or with her children. Despite her ill fortune, she manages to express her love for the children, still hoping to save her family. The film offers a tragicomic but highly authentic insight into the bleak reality of post-soviet era.
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Stories about Tartu and Southern Estonia, capturing the tricks and mysteries about the arts of survival. Renowned filmmakers from Estonia and abroad bring us uniquely wild tales of people, communities, and the culture they live in. In these stories, we meet peculiar vehicles known as “karakat” from Peipsi, charming non-places of Tartu, the wild German woman living an off-grid life without water and electricity, mischievous goats and crazy village parties, the diverse Annelinn residents and nostalgic Petseri, slime mould and space exploration, and of course, the artists of survival from today and past.
Ernests (70) and Alvine (64), two married postal workers, have developed a scheme to win a trip to Rome, but Alvine's rapidly progressing Alzheimer's disease complicates their plan.
Three sisters, dead broke and disconnected from each other, travel around Europe with their mother’s corpse on top of their van, trying to minimize transportation costs. The trio has to talk, reminisce and maybe even admit that underneath their fantasies of perfection — these are women in a desperate search for freedom.
Victor (31) has a rare form of cancer in an advanced stage; moreover, his wife is about to divorce him. Trapped in the antechamber of death and with his family falling to pieces, he knows that perhaps the most important decisions of his life must be taken here and now.
Among hundreds of other ethnic groups, Jews have always had a special status. Some admire them, others hate them, and everyone has their own opinion about Jews. This is a story about Latvian Jews who try to observe ancient Jewish traditions and preserve their Jewish identity. It is not an easy task, living in the 21st century, so far from the Promised Land.
Under-appreciated by his wife, a charismatic music producer forces his wife, his teenage daughter and his lover to live together as a family, under one roof.
The Lesson tells the story of Zane, a devoted teacher mentoring the senior class in a Latvian high school. She tries to live her life in the most meaningful way possible. She takes her mission as a teacher seriously, and works hard to help her students develop their talents. Even so, as a younger teacher it’s hard for Zane to keep her distance from the class – the students soon become a sort of family to her. When she realizes she’s falling in love with one of them, the others start to feel left out. She faces a stark choice between personal happiness and the pressures of society.
