The biggest celebration of cinema in Latvia, the Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF) will delight the senses of film lovers with over 100 screenings from 16 to 26 October, offering bold and fresh visions of world and European cinema. Revealing its 12th edition motto SEE. SHIFT. BECOME., reflected in the festival’s visual identity created by Valters Kalsners, the first films of the programme and the opening night screening – the national premiere of the provocative animated film for adults, Dog of God, by Lauris and Raitis Ābele – have been announced.

As every year, shining an international spotlight on the local cinema and film industry, RIGA IFF opens with a special screening of a film made in Latvia. In its 12th edition, the honour goes to the bold film Dog of God by brothers Ābeles – on the evening of 16 October, it will celebrate its national premiere at the festival’s main venue, cinema Splendid Palace. Fresh off the world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, the film blends historical facts and vivid fictional elements, with its story based on the most famous werewolf trial in Northern Europe. The daring mystery of the Dog of God or werewolf is created in the rotoscope animation technique, originally shooting live-action scenes with actors – director Regnārs Vaivars, ex-politician Einārs Repše, actors Agate Krista, Jurģis Spulenieks, Kristians Kareļins, and others, which were later animated and transformed in the mould of the gothic detective genre and graphic novel.

Alongside the audacious opening night screening, RIGA IFF announces the first films of the wider programme. The festivalgoers will get a chance to savour Cannes Best Director and Best Actor winner, the Brazilian detective The Secret Agent. RIGA IFF audiences will also be thrilled by the renowned Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason’s (Godland, 2022) latest creation, The Love That Remains, nicknamed the Scenes from a Marriage of the 21st century, and other striking, award-winning films.

This year’s retrospective section, In Kino Veritas, will focus on the works of the legendary Coppola dynasty, showcasing digitally restored films in exclusive screenings. Cannes main prize recipients in their time, Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Conversation (1974) by the legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, will see a big screen presentation in 4K. The section will also feature the documentary film Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991) co-directed by Coppola’s wife Eleanor, depicting the agonising production of Apocalypse Now in the jungle of the Philippines. Furthermore, celebrating its 25th anniversary, RIGA IFF will screen the debut film of Sofia Coppola, the cult classic The Virgin Suicides (1999).

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Starting on 17 July, a limited number of early bird 10-ticket packages will be launched, granting access to festival screenings for a bargain price. Also available will be festival passes, a favourite gift for film lovers and the key to all festival screenings. The full festival programme and ticket sales will be announced in September.

With the motto SEE. SHIFT. BECOME., this year, the festival team’s focal point becomes the state of being experienced by film audiences, immersing themselves in the festival’s curated cinematic journeys.

“RIGA IFF invites the audiences to surrender themselves to the transformative state of existence offered by the immersive power of film. This year’s visual identity reflects the verge between the initial perception and evolution – a place where seeing is not just a passive act, but a key to a new reality. The audiences find themselves between clarity and the unknown, reality and projection – where film becomes an instrument of internal metamorphosis. The view changes, and the “I” is changing with it.

To see is to open oneself up to whatever is happening in the frame. To change – to allow the unknown to rearrange one’s perception. To become – to leave the film screening different – no more just the spectator, but the co-creator of meaning.

RIGA IFF 2025 invites the audiences to take part, get involved, and surrender to transformation,”

thus the upcoming RIGA IFF is characterised by Festival Director Liene Treimane. The interaction between the spectator and the screen, creating a new level of experience, is reflected in the visual identity of the festival’s 12th edition, created by designer Valters Kalsers:

“Last year, our attention was on the world outside the frame; this year, the focus  is on the act of viewing and the way text and cinematic images affect perception and create a new, changing meaning. The identity is not born of one static image or composition, but rather lives in a composite, reshaping system. Its core lies in movement, interaction between elements, and the ignition of the spectator’s perception.”

Until the full festival line-up announcement in September, RIGA IFF will continue to reveal other significant and highly artistic works of this year’s programme – films awarded at Rotterdam, Berlin, Cannes, Venice, and other film festivals, as well as bold hidden gems of contemporary cinema. Uniting both local audiences and international guests, the programme will be screened over 11 days in October at the festival’s main venue, cinema Splendid Palace, as well as Forum Cinemas, cinema K.Suns, and the National Library of Latvia. Festival updates are published at rigaiff.lv and on RIGA IFF social media accounts.

RIGA IFF is made possible with the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation, the EU programme “Creative Europe – MEDIA”, Riga City Council, the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, the National Film Centre of Latvia and the Investment and Tourism Agency of Riga.