On 19-20 October, RIGA IFF in cooperation with the Kyiv Critics’ Week film festival is organising a discussion series on the topic of colonialism in film and media with the participation of international experts. These talks will tackle traits and mechanisms of colonialism in the media and festival structures from the perspective of Eastern European cinema.
Colonialism is increasingly discussed in the contexts of cinema and media, especially this year considering the escalation of Russian military aggression in Ukraine. This has gradually highlighted not only the colonisation of Ukrainian culture, but also of the connection between the Eastern European cultural space and the Russian Federation, formerly the Soviet Union. This has resulted in reflections on sometimes uncomfortable, but vital issues in the field.
The second discussion on 20 October will focus on how Eastern European cinema fits into global cinema: what are the tendencies of soft Western colonialism in film festival structures, and do Eastern European filmmakers consciously or unconsciously adapt their cinematic works to Western European audiences? How difficult is it for people from smaller countries working in the film industry to fit into festival structures and topographies? And what is “the hegemony of A-list festivals” or “the role of superiority”?
Entry – free of charge with no prior registration necessary
Language – English, with no translation in Latvian
The live stream of the discussion will be available on the RIGA IFF website and the festival’s Facebook page, as well as on the LSM.lv portal
FOCUS ON UKRAINE is a project of the Goethe-Institut incorporated into a comprehensive package of measures for which the Federal Foreign Office provides funding from the 2022 Supplementary Budget to mitigate the effects of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Barbara Wurm, German programmer, curator, film critic and researcher. Her current research interests at the Humboldt University of Berlin are Eastern European culture, film history, and theory. She has worked on the selection committees of the Leipzig Documentary Film Festival, the Oberhausen Short Film Festival, as well as many other festivals and cinematheques. Currently, Wurm is a member of the selection committees at Berlinale and the goEast Film Festival in Wiesbaden.
Anikó Imre, Hungarian-born, internationally respected scholar. She is currently a Professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, and an author and co-author of several monographs; among them, East European Cinemas (2005) and Post-Socialist Identities (2009). Her research interests include post-socialism, media in the European cultural space, critical feminism, race and nationalism, post-colonialism, television and film history, among many others.
Marcin Pieńkowski, film marketing and communications expert, lecturer, film historian, editor, and is the co-author of several books. He is the director of the largest Polish film event, the New Horizons International Film Festival in Wrocław, since 2020, having previously worked as its artistic director. He runs the New Horizons Association distribution company.
Laurence Boyce, UK-born cultural journalist, film critic, and programmer, but has been based in Estonia since 2010 where he has worked as a curator at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and the festival’s short film section, PÖFF Shorts. He regularly contributes to the Baltic Sea Region film publications Screen International and Cineuropa, and is a member of FIPRESCI, the London Critics Association, the European Film Academy, and BAFTA.
Matīss Kaža was born in Sweden and raised in Latvia and holds a BA in Film and Television Production from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. One of the most prolific filmmakers from the new generation of Latvian cinema, he works both as a director and a producer. Being only 27, he has already directed six feature-length fiction and documentary films, which have screened internationally.
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