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The tenth Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF), which will take place from 12 to 22 October, is announcing the RIGA IFF Short Film National Competition programme and jury. As the festival will be celebrating its first decade this year, ten short films have been selected for the competition. The screening on 18 October will bring together representatives of the Latvian film industry, filmmakers and audiences for cinema and conversation and features the national premieres of short films by both established and emerging directors.<\/strong><\/p>\n This programme has the ambition to say a lot in a concise way, and to outline the landscape of Latvian cinema and its ability to move audiences through different forms \u2014 direct, poetic, live-action, and animation. Introducing the competition programme, RIGA IFF Short Film Programme Director, French curator and film critic L\u00e9o Soesanto says:<\/p>\n “Some say that cinema is a beautiful lie so it\u2019s not surprising to find the theme of truth running through some of the shorts selected for the programme: how to find it, welcome, and embrace it in its complexity, and sometimes having to fight it.”\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Armands Za\u010ds’ short film Resistance is Futile<\/i><\/a> tackles an emotionally strained and fragile friendship while offering a portrait of the millennial generation. Steeped in the atmosphere of the horror genre, the family living in the countryside in Upurj\u0113rs <\/i><\/a>(Sacrificial Lamb<\/i>) by U\u0123is Olte faces mysterious trials. Meanwhile, Ksenija <\/i><\/a>(Ksenia<\/i>), Ren\u0101te Saul\u012bte’s intriguing documentary portrait, tells the story of a young woman confronting the justice system, revealing how society functions in the process.<\/p>\n The competition selection will also allow you to escape from, or tame the world: existential impulses are captured in beautiful, analogue form on 16mm film, creating magical and hypnotic works such as St\u0101sts par \u016bdens noz\u012bmi<\/i> <\/a>(Importance of Hydration<\/i> by Toms \u0160\u0137\u0113le and J\u0101nis \u0100bele), Tanatofobija<\/a> <\/i>(Thanatophobia<\/i> by Ieva Balode and Michael Higgins), and Silvas metode<\/i><\/a> (The Silva Method<\/i> by Mersedes Margoit). Meanwhile, T\u012bna Zari\u0146a’s latest short film Limo<\/i> is a thrilling journey into the future. Ilze Ance Kazaka’s animated short film Gruzis <\/i>(Debris<\/i>) conjures up an appealingly serene chaos, while Beigu beigas<\/i><\/a> (In The End<\/i> by Linda St\u016bre) celebrates the mysterious proximity of life and death. Finally, summing up all the emotional states of these short films, Ieva Norvele’s situation comedy Mir\u016b iem\u012blas<\/i><\/a> (Miru Falls in Love<\/i>) takes us through the ups and downs of the life of a theatre assistant. Every year, the competition programme is like a dawn that shines its light on the diversity of local talent \u2014 they keep testing our dreams, hopes, fears, doubts, and the language of cinema itself.<\/p>\n\n