What is a music video? We raise this question every year, and every year we discover something we never thought of before. However, the essence of the answer does not change: a music video is an audiovisual event that must be experienced together. Sometimes it can be a space for bold experiments, at other times the format can reach new technical peaks and redefine the possibilities of the genre. And then there are those videos that, although they use a familiar audiovisual language, manage to say something completely unexpected. With this festival section we want to explore and get to know this ever-changing field where image and music interact in a unique way.
The BALTIC MUSIC VIDEO Competition screening invites viewers, festival guests, filmmakers, and musicians to come together and experience music videos in all their glory and craziness. A screening event you are sure to remember!
Event in English.
The BALTIC MUSIC VIDEO Competition (BMV) endeavours to uphold the belief that the music video is an independent and powerful short format in its own right. The RIGA IFF curators look for videos that challenge the audience and push the boundaries of accepted formats, contents, and artistic expression.
The screening of this programme is designed as a special event in itself – it is a lively meeting between music video creators, musicians and composers, curators, the members of the international jury, and the audience.
Entries
BMV seeks out videos that are daring, innovative, and experimental. Submissions must have been produced in Estonia, Latvia, and/or Lithuania (the origins of the music is not a criterion to the selection). Only official music videos are accepted. There are no restrictions on length. Videos must have been completed after 1 June 2020. Both the creative team and the musicians featured in the selected videos will be invited to attend the festival. RIGA IFF especially welcomes submissions that have not yet had their world premiere.
Prize
The Silver Grass Snake Award (a silver pin featuring the Latvian symbol for the grass snake) and a monetary prize of EUR 1,000 will be presented to the winner of the competition during the RIGA IFF Award Ceremony, which takes place on the second Saturday of the festival. The international jury is made up of music video creators, music video curators from international film festivals, musicians, music journalists and professional music event managers. All participants are invited to attend the jury’s official screening giving them an additional opportunity to receive feedback.
Deadline
The call for submissions opens on 22 March 2022 and closes on 30 June. The results will be announced by 10 September 2022.
Katrīna Neiburga is one of the most outstanding and prolific contemporary Latvian artists. She has received several awards, including the prestigious Purvitis Award in 2009, and has represented Latvia at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 (“Armpit” together with her husband artist Andris Eglītis; curator Kaspars Vanags). In terms of disciplines and media in Neiburga’s oeuvre, she has made videos (including music videos), films, projections for the stage design in opera and theatre, installations, objects, performances, photographs. Out of the broad spectrum of media, the moving image – be it film or video – can be considered Neiburga’s key medium and mode of expression.
Otto Kylmälä
Otto Kylmälä is a Finnish filmmaker, film critic, who has served as a jury member for short film and music video competitions, as well as an artistic director for several film festivals. His latest work as a producer, The Moonshiners (2017) was nominated as the best short film in the Finnish Oscar's.
Besides working as a film director, he is also the Artistic Director of Loud Silents Festival and he also curates for various other international film festivals around Europe.
Arnaud Dumatin
After having worked for various festivals and cultural structures, Arnaud Dumatin became the general manager of the La Rochelle Cinema Festival in 2004 and has been its co-president since 2018.
Arnaud Dumatin is also an author, composer, performer, notably within the group "Institut", whose latest album "L'effet waouh des zones côtières" was released in March 2021.
Adam Donen
Described by BBC News as “either a genius or a madman”, Adam Donen invents art forms, writes, directs and composes. Recent works include Symphony to a Lost Generation, the world's first fully holographic drama, and Nixon in Agony, the world's first binaural audio drama. Last year saw the release of his first feature film, Alice, Through the Looking, featuring Vanessa Redgrave and Steven Berkoff among its ensemble cast, and premiering at Tallinn Black Nights. A second feature, set to film in Latvia, is currently in development.
He has written libretti, directed traditional theatre works, composed for major orchestras and soloists and released 4 albums of songs. As a result of his groundbreaking work with holograms, he is also commissioned (by Kanye West among others) to resurrect the dead.
Vidmantas Čepkauskas
The creative brain behind internationally acclaimed Opium Club and gallery 1986 in Vilnius, founder of Ant Bangos Festival and Alfavilnius Festival, conceiver of Silence Music, Best Kept Secret and Le Temps Perdu Records, recording artist known under the names of 'Vidis' and 'V', restless DJ and all around music enthusiast, Vidmantas Čepkauskas has stayed at the forefront of Lithuanian Electronic Music scene for more than 20 years.