On 12 October, the Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF), the biggest cinema event in Latvia, will celebrate the opening of its tenth edition. The programme is curated by a team of local and international curators and will be screened over the course of 11 days in several cinemas in Riga and online across the country. RIGA IFF will present more than 100 specially selected, internationally acclaimed feature-length and short films that highlight current trends and the most important auteurs of contemporary cinema.

The RIGA IFF 10th anniversary season will be celebrated under the motto “10 is just a number. Adventures are limitless.” Liene Treimane, Festival Director, elaborates on the meaning:

Numbers and counting are a wonderful way to make sense of the universe. We count days, months, years, and achievements, celebrate birthdays, and mark the anniversaries of certain encounters. We not only use numbers to measure our time on Earth, but also our chances of survival. Similarly, the festival counts its films, screenings, viewers, and each year tries to calculate new formulas for its continued existence and development.

Yet within everything that can be counted resides the uncountable – the events we have experienced, the people we have met, our expectations, revelations, upheavals, challenging mental exercises, and countless rollercoasters of the most human emotions. As we celebrate the tenth year of the festival, we wish our audiences exactly that – uncountable, enriching, and inspiring experiences both inside and outside the cinema.

As of today, the first films that will have their Latvian premieres and, in most cases, also their only screenings on domestic screens, have been added to the festival’s website rigaiff.lv. Until the full festival programme is announced in September, RIGA IFF will continue to unveil more daring works of high artistic quality, including notable films that have received acclaim and awards at Rotterdam, Berlin, Cannes, Venice and other film festivals.

Among the films that have already been announced is The Old Oak, the final film crowning Ken Loach’s career, which just had its world premiere at Cannes. There are also discoveries from Rotterdam, such as Belgian director Jessica Woodworth’s black and white meditation on fame and power, Luka, based on Dino Buzzati’s novel The Tartar Steppe, and RIGA IFF favourite Norwegian Henrik Martin Dahlbakken’s Munch, which plays with the identities of artist Edvard Munch (1863–1944). In addition, there will be a number of retrospective highlights, including a programme dedicated to the 70th anniversary of American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch.

From 9 June, a limited number of 10-ticket packs will be available on rigaiff.lv, which allow you to attend screenings in October at a particularly friendly price. Festival passes will also go on sale on the same day. These are not only a popular gift, but also the “key” to all festival screenings and a good opportunity to support the making of RIGA IFF.

“In order to bring new energy to the festival’s second decade and to offer audiences the opportunity to see even more internationally acclaimed films as well as outstanding new ones, we are proud to have a long term strategic partnership. Such strategic partnerships play a pivotal role in fostering the significance and success of cultural events like Riga IFF,” says Inga Alika-Stroda, Business Director of Tet TV and Entertainment.

Tet is one of the largest technology companies in the Baltics, creating innovations for both home and work. With a team of 1,700 employees, Tet offers reliable and high-quality TV, internet, electricity and e-commerce services, as well as integrated IT&T solutions for businesses in Latvia and export markets. Read more: tet.lv/par-mums

RIGA IFF receives support from the State Culture Capital Foundation, Creative Europe MEDIA, the National Film Centre, and the Riga City Council.