As Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF, 17–27 October) is preparing to host the third co-production market, RIGA IFF SHOWCASE, a line-up of contestants for its pitching competition has been selected. The festival has chosen 16 projects – 8 feature films and 8 series from the Baltics and Eastern as well as Central Europe. This year, RIGA IFF SHOWCASE will emphasize Latvian projects, with the momentum of 2024 which has been a landmark year for Latvian cinema internationally.

The line-up will feature the second season of the acclaimed TV series Soviet Jeans, created by Staņislavs Tokalovs. It will also include the latest work by the internationally acknowledged arthouse film director Laila Pakalniņa, Cat on My Mind, as well as the upcoming feature film Times New Roman by the Ukrainian director Philip Sotnychenko, whose debut film La Palisiada has recently been announced as Ukraine’s entry for the Oscar bid.

Projects included in the RIGA IFF SHOWCASE line-up will be evaluated by an international jury – Frédéric Lavigne, artistic director at Series Mania; Daria Badior, Kyiv Critics Week co-curator and film critic; Marija Razgutė, M-films founder and producer; and Geoffrey Macnab, film critic at The Independent and Screen International, as well as Jānis Kalējs, producer and co-founder at Film Angels Studio. The winning project will receive a cash prize of EUR 5 000. The jury will also select the project to be presented at NEM Zagreb in December 2024.

RIGA IFF SHOWCASE participants:

Curtain (Zavisa), dir. Valeria Sochyvets

Cold (Šaltis), dir. Domas Petronis, Tiago Guedes

The Wedding Day (Līgava), dir. Marta Elīna Martinsone

Patchwork Kingdom (Szmatkowe Historie), dir. Małgorzata Bosek

Cat on My Mind (Es domāju par kaķi), dir. Laila Pakalniņa

Times New Roman, dir. Philip Sotnychenko

Filter (Filtr), dir. David Semler

Things Washed Ashore (Pludmalē atrastas lietas), dir. Jānis Ābele

Boring as Hell (Līdz nelabumam garlaicīgi), dir. Marta Selecka, Andra Doršs

Soviet Jeans 2 (Padomju džinsi 2), dir. Staņislavs Tokalovs

Couriers (Kullerid), dir. Liis Lindmaa

Kingpins (Visiem vajag naudu), dir. Kristians Riekstiņš

Skein (Loza), dir. Alina Panasenko

Roar (Gurkit), dir. Artem Sharapko

Atomic Reaction, dir. Emmanuel Rouglan

Regular, dir. Ondřej Erban

Three Mothers (Tre Madri), dir. Enrico Lando (NEM Zagreb finalist)

RIGA IFF SHOWCASE will take place from 24 to 26 October, continuing with its compact, straight to the point format and a carefully selected audience consisting of producers, sales and festival representatives. The festival’s co-production platform provides international audiences with the opportunity to meet professionals from the local and regional industry – a steady force in both creative and service partnerships in European cinematic landscape.