Starting from 17 July, inviting the audiences to mark their calendars for the Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF, 16–26 October), festival passes – the key to all RIGA IFF screenings – and a limited number of early bird 10-ticket packages will be launched, granting access to festival screenings for a bargain price. An overview of the upcoming festival programme and the first tickets to the opening night screening on 16 October – the national premiere of the animated film Dog of God, by brothers Ābeles –  are now available on the festival website.

In less than 100 days, cinemas in Riga will be taken over by the biggest celebration of cinema in Latvia – RIGA IFF. With the motto SEE. SHIFT. BECOME., offering bold and fresh visions from European and world cinema auteurs, in over 100 unforgettable screenings, the programme will invite the spectators to be immersed in exquisitely selected adventures of the big screen. To begin the countdown, starting from 17 July, a limited number of special early bird 10-ticket packages will be launched on the festival website tickets.rigaiff.lv, granting access to festival screenings in October for a bargain price. Also available will be festival passes, a favourite of film lovers and the key to the multi-faceted cinematic experience of RIGA IFF spanning 11 days.

Along with the early bird offer, tickets are also available to RIGA IFF Opening Night. This year, the honour to kick-start the festival has been entrusted to the provocative, visually saturated animated film for adults, Dog of God, by Lauris and Raitis Ābele. The daring mystery of the Dog of God or werewolf, blending the pages of a Livonian history book and audacious elements of fiction, will celebrate its national premiere on 16 October, 19:00, at the festival’s main venue, cinema Splendid Palace, Large Hall.

Starting from 22 July, tickets to other fall programme screenings will be available, among them a special celebration of Latvian cinema – the world premiere of director Jānis Ābele’s documentary detective The Last Will. Tickets will also be available to the Cannes audience favourite, the separation story framed by the Icelandic landscape, The Love That Remains, the opening film of the section devoted to urban charm Architect’s Cut – Cannes’ featured The Great Arch, the regionally unique RIGA IFF Baltic Music Video Competition, the cult coming-of-age tale by Sofia Coppola, The Virgin Suicides, in the festival retrospective section In Kino Veritas, and to many more films of the RIGA IFF 12th edition programme. Information, descriptions, and trailers of these and other announced films are available on the festival website rigaiff.lv.

Until the full festival line-up announcement in 16 September, RIGA IFF will continue to reveal other significant and highly artistic works of this year’s programme and announce their ticket sales. Films awarded at Rotterdam, Berlin, Cannes, Venice, and other film festivals, as well as bold hidden gems of contemporary cinema will unite both local audiences and international guests 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 on rigaiff.lv and 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.