The RIGA IFF Short Film International Competition seeks to highlight new auteur films of various genres and techniques from all over the world. RIGA IFF is one of the 30 festivals that nominates one short film as a candidate for the European Film Awards. The curator and the selection committee evaluate submissions, look for individual works at other film festivals, film and art schools, and reach out to independent short filmmakers. There are as many films as there are opinions, and as many creators as there are stories.  The only things the selected films have in common is a maximum running time of 30 minutes and a distinctive voice. Audience members are guaranteed to find reasons to laugh, quarrel, or even shed a tear or two – often together with the filmmakers themselves!

At first sight, this showcase of Latvian talent looks familiar: flawless animation, reverence for analog film, tinges of Baltic melancholy. But a common theme seems to gather them – an energy electrifying the characters, pushing them forwards even if they’re tempted to stick to the past or their habits. That gives us the splendid skiers of Freeride in C, tracing abstract lines in the air. The ice cream vendor who dreams of melting us with his DJ-ing in North Pole. The zany gamers from Moon of the Dead or How I Stop Panicking and Avoid Reality. Then, the poets of Experts of Youth will teach everything about being carefree and literate.  Shedding of the Skin will shake our loneliness in the time of radioactivity. Searching will remind us how we can be lost and found in the movies. Finally, Mourning Dove will make us believe in fairy tales again, and then it’s passion and life in capital letters in Kafka. In Love and Blank-Page Syndrome.