<\/p>\n
\u201cExistential threat” \u2013 a term used, even overused, by democrats and dictators alike to describe any threat to the very existence of someone or something. It\u2019s a concept. An ideal. You must therefore defend yourself by all means, the strongest and, hopefully, the most unexpected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The threat always begins modestly, at your parents’ dinner table, as in There\u2019s Plenty of Fish in the Sea<\/i><\/a>, when everyone comments on your life choices to deny who you are. In Big And<\/i> Little Hands<\/i><\/a>, the death of a child is symbolically the death of one village, and poetry and music are the only weapons against a collective sense of dread. In Easter Day<\/i><\/a>, life in wartime Ukraine requires navigating the absurdity of the “new normal” (and remembering to feed your cat).\u00a0<\/p>\n Faced with threats to the environment, saving a marsh means saving the world in The Water Was Here<\/i><\/a>, while one threat to the marine ecosystem calls for desperate measures in Last Tropics<\/i><\/a>. Finally, in order to defeat an artificial intelligence in The Diffusion Pilot<\/i><\/a>, why not expose it to the throes of dementia?<\/p>\n <\/p>","screen_categories":null,"categories":[{"term_id":493,"name":"SHORT FILM INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION","slug":"short-film-international-competition","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":493,"taxonomy":"film_2025_category","description":"","parent":492,"count":24,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","i18n_config":{"name":{"ts":{"lv":"SHORT FILM INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION"}}}}],"film_category_title":"Short Film International Competition","film_category_link":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/en\/programme-2025\/short-film-competition\/short-film-international-competition\/","tags":null,"featured_image":null,"featured_image_id":0,"vertical":null,"horizontal":null,"vertical_compr":false,"horizontal_compr":false,"overlay_image":false,"overlay_image_svg_lv":false,"background_image":{"ID":42182,"id":42182,"title":"Last Tropics Still 9","filename":"Last-Tropics_Still-9.jpg","filesize":1636184,"url":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9.jpg","link":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9.jpg","alt":"","author":"21","description":"","caption":"","name":"f09f82f096d74fc6acc21773909524f4","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":42464,"date":"2025-08-22 22:27:59","modified":"2025-09-04 11:45:11","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1536,"height":1152,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9-250x188.jpg","medium-width":250,"medium-height":188,"medium_large":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9-1500x1125.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":675,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":1152,"large1200":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9-1200x900.jpg","large1200-width":1200,"large1200-height":900,"large1800":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9.jpg","large1800-width":1536,"large1800-height":1152,"small":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9-120x90.jpg","small-width":120,"small-height":90,"uncompressed":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9.jpg","uncompressed-width":1536,"uncompressed-height":1152,"custom-size":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Last-Tropics_Still-9-700x200.jpg","custom-size-width":700,"custom-size-height":200},"acf_attachment":{"top_percentage":"70","left_percentage":""}},"copyright":null,"screenings_merged":[{"month":"october","date":"23","end_date":"","time":"18:30","time_end":"20:02","venue_url_languages":[{"type":"buy","sold_out":false,"closed":false,"free":false,"soon":false,"custom_button_text":"","invitation_only":false,"accreditations_only":false,"guest_accreditations_only":false,"guest_notice_with_icon":"","venue":"forumd","custom_venue_text":"","url":"","bilesu_servisa_id":"479499","custom_tickets_url":"","apply_url":"","subtitle_language":[{"value":"en","label":"English (en)"}],"closed_captions_language":[],"audio_description_language":[],"audio_language":[]}],"tags":[{"title":"With creators","url":"","new_window":false,"show_in_grid":true}],"event_post_title":"Existential Threats","event_post_url":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/en\/screenings-2025\/eksistenciali-draudi\/","event_parent_details":[]}],"buttons":null,"custom_supporter_title":"","supporter":false,"supporter_from_parent":null,"supporter_from_parent_title":null,"jury_title":"","jury":false,"participants_title":"","participants":false,"films_category_title":null,"films_category":null,"films_category_2":null,"tba":null,"link":"https:\/\/rigaiff.lv\/en\/screenings-2025\/eksistenciali-draudi\/","screening_parent_select":null,"films_select":[42398,42405,42408,42410,42413,42415],"additional_content":null,"embed_title":"","embed_text":"","embed_code":"","categories_slugs":"","curators_foreword":"War, climate change, AI, and all the current threats to our very existence and how to survive them."}