Inviting audiences to indulge in a carefully curated feast of short-form cinema, the Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF, 15–25 October) announces its Short Film Competition programme. Over three days, audiences will have the chance to discover an unconventional corner of the short-film landscape as 31 stories by filmmakers from Latvia and around the world meet on the big screen. Tickets to RIGA IFF Short Film Competition screenings are available at rigaiff.lv and and through Biļešu Serviss. More information: rigaiff.lv/shorts.

In the realm of cinema, the short film is the most precise and daring mirror of its time, offering to discover uncharted dimensions of cinema and fresh points of view in a form that is both brief and concentrated. From several thousand submissions, the RIGA IFF Short Film Competition selection committee – film curator and script consultant Chantal Lian (France) and film journalist Nanako Tsukidate (Japan) – together with the competition’s long-standing curator Léo Soesanto, have selected 31 works works, multifaceted in their form, themes, and textures. Soesanto introduces this year’s competition:

“Once again, the short film competition programme is about very good films – obviously – and the bigger picture they form when put all together. About how they dialogue with each other and what they tell us about the many possibilities of cinema.

In the national competition programme, there’s definitely a nice balance between thought and action, self-reflection and movement: Latvian filmmakers want to take us on poetic rides – especially through the streets of Riga – and to take some time to investigate their roots and family histories. In both cases, moving forward or backward allows them to get a clearer view of the future – for the directors and for Latvian cinema.”

The three-day feast of short-form cinema will open on 21 October with the Short Film National Competition screening. This special event – a unique cinematic experience accompanied by conversations with the filmmakers – will bring love letters to Riga, searches for one’s true path, and heartfelt portraits of family ties and stories from the past to the big screen.

The Latvian films selected for the competition span a broad spectrum of animation, including Lines of Riga (dir. Andrejs Brīvulis) and Gazing at Sunsets (dir. Kalvis Rudzītis), as well as finely observed documentary cinema – in Portrait of Granny (dir. Ieva Ozoliņa), The Informant (dir. Arnis Kalniņš) and yolo (dir. Tīna Zariņa) the worlds of the filmmakers’ own family members unfold on screen. The programme also features the surreal exploration of a mother-son relationship Home Address – Womb (dir. Justīne Silakaktiņa), alongside Slush (dir. Aivars Šaicāns, Jēkabs Okonovs), named the best Latvian short film of the year in February. These seven films, five of which will celebrate their National premieres at RIGA IFF, will compete for the Short Film National Competition’s main prize – a EUR 1,000 cash award provided by Laik/a Casting, one of the leading actor and talent casting agencies in the Baltics.

On 22 and 23 October, the focus will turn to the Short Film International Competition, with 24 films from Iran, Canada, Japan, Somalia and almost every corner of Europe presented across four thematic screenings. The competition programmes Pains, Trains and Other Mobiles, No Utopia is a Utopia, Take Two and Hard Truths set out on journeys more important than their destinations – and explore the emotional baggage we carry along the way; play with our longing for ideals and out-of-reach heavens; remind us that it takes only two to make a world; and uncover an uncomfortable truth, that in this world nobody knows anyone else.

Eight of the films in competition will have their World premieres at RIGA IFF, while the others will celebrate their Baltic, European or international premieres. As always, following the competition screenings, audiences will be invited to join conversations with the filmmakers in attendance. Describing the works competing for the EUR 2,000 cash prize, Soesanto says:

“The international programme is bookended by the words “utopia” and “truth”, which define the world we live in: it’s about how we should always hope for better lives together and elsewhere. And then there’s truth, not just facts and statistics, but the kind that’s stranger than fiction.

As always, we have our share of discoveries – eight shorts will celebrate World Premieres at RIGA IFF. But we also wanted to welcome directors who’ve already made successful features but don’t hesitate to go back to making shorts – Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, Mo Harawe or Natsuka Kusano have had films at Berlin, Cannes and Rotterdam, but know that the short form is the boldest way to express their ideas.”

The films will be evaluated by a jury of film industry professionals, who will present the festival awards, including a nomination for the prestigious European Film Academy award European Short Film 2028 – Prix Vimeo. The jury comprises Aurelia Aasa, founder of the film studio AAA Creative and one of Baltics’ most prominent new-generation animation producers; Vincent Förster, curator and programme manager of Short Films at Berlinale Generation competition; and Nina Rodriguez, Head of Programme Operations at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, film festival and industry programmer of 20 years.

Tickets to the Short Film Competition screenings on 21, 22 and 23 October are available at rigaiff.lv, Forum Cinemas website and box office as well as through Biļešu Serviss.

The biggest celebration of cinema in Latvia, RIGA IFF, will take place from 15 to 25 October at the festival’s home, Splendid Palace, as well as Forum Cinemas, the National Library of Latvia, the Rothko Museum in Daugavpils, Kino Cēsis, Siguldas devons and other venues. Over 11 days and more than 100 screenings, the programme, guided by the motto “YOU ARE HERE”, will serve as a reliable guide beyond the familiar film landscape, inviting audiences to discover unique stories, vivid emotions and highlights of contemporary cinema.

Follow festival news at rigaiff.lv and on RIGA IFF’s social media channels, or subscribe to the RIGA IFF newsletter. RIGA IFF is made possible with support from the State Culture Capital Foundation, the EU programme “Creative Europe – MEDIA”, Riga City Council, the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, and the National Film Centre of Latvia.