Artdocfest/Riga Reveals Exciting Competition Films for 2024

Today, 13:28 Authors: LSM English (Latvian Public Media) The sixth international documentary film festival Artdocfest/Riga, which will take place from February 28th to March 8th, has announced the films selected for the festival's Artdocfest Open and Baltic Focus competitions, according to the organisers. Festival producer and curator of the Baltic Focus competition Vaiva Bauze was quoted: “The Baltic Focus programme reveals the Baltic region as a sensitive seismograph of European upheavals, where personal stories become testimonies of an era, and documentary cinema becomes a way of understanding both the past and today’s reality.” In total, 10 films will compete for the Herz Award in the Baltic Focus competition: Sailors, dir. Milja Viita, Finland (DocPoint; Midnight Sun Film Festival (Sodankylä); Festival ECRÃ of Experimental Art and Cinema (Rio de Janeiro); Archivio Aperto (Bologna); European Film Festival Scanorama; Experimental Superstars (Novi Sad) — Best Documentary Award, among others) The Naked Truth, dir. kito kato, Latvia (World premiere) Laguna, dir. Šarūnas Bartas, Lithuania, France (La Biennale di Venezia; Doc@PÖFF; Lisboa Film Festival) Edge Of The Night, dir. Vladimir Loginov, Estonia (Doc@PÖFF) Mr. Nobody Against Putin, dir. David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Denmark, Czechia (Sundance SFF; PÖFF) Overman, dir. Ivars Tontegode, Latvia (World premiere) Notes from the Woods, dir. Riho Vastrik, Estonia (PÖFF 2025; MAFF 2025) Sabat – The Disappearance of a Diplomat, dir. Anna Maria Beeck, Germany (DOK.fest München; Filmkunstfest MV Schwerin, among others) Silver, dir. Natalia Koniarz, Poland, Norway, Finland (Krakow Film Festival — Audience Award and FIPRESCI Award; Ji.hlava) The Fish, dir. Karolina Breguła, Sweden (International premiere) The Artdocfest Open competition includes the following films: 2000 Meters to Andriivka, dir. Mstyslav Chernov, Ukraine (Sundance SFF; CPX:DOX Award winner; nominations at IDFA, Hot Docs, Sheffield Doc/Fest, among others; shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film) Memory, dir. Vladlena Sandu, France (IDFA; Doc@PÖFF; European Film Academy shortlist) A little gray wolf will come, dir. Zhanna Agalakova, Croatia, Netherlands, France (Sheffield Doc/Fest) The Doors Are Closing, dir. Yana Isaenko, France (Message to Man IFF) Shards of Light, dir. Mila Teshaieva, Germany (Sheffield Doc/Fest) IMAGO, dir. Denis Oumar Pitsaev, France, Belgium (IDFA; Semaine de la Critique, Cannes) Notes of a True Criminal, dir. Aleksandr Rodnyanskiy, Andriy Alferov, Ukraine (La Biennale di Venezia; DocPoint; Tromsø IFF) When I Get Jailed, dir. Anastasiia Vedenskaia, France (IDFA) Better Go Mad in the Wild, dir. Miro Remo, Czechia, Slovakia (Winner, Karlovy Vary IFF; DOK Leipzig, among others) My Grandmother Is a Skydiver, dir. Polina Piddubna, Germany, Ukraine (La Cinef, Cannes; KISFF) Mr. Nobody Against Putin, dir. David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Denmark, Czechia (Sundance SFF; PÖFF) Traces, dir. Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk, Ukraine (Berlinale, among others) Politzek: Voices That Defy the Kremlin, dir. Manon Loizeau, Ekaterina Mamontova, France, Belgium (Deutsche Welle) The dogs, dir. Aliman Toktogulova, Karash Zhanishov, Kyrgyzstan Electing Ms Santa, dir. Raisa Razmerita, Moldova, Romania (PÖFF) Welded Together, dir. Anastasiya Miroshnichenko, France, Netherlands, Belgium (Sheffield Doc/Fest) Trillion, dir. Victor Kossakovsky, Norway, USA (IDFA; Göteborg IFF) A Letter to David, dir. Tom Shoval, Israel, USA (Berlinale; Karlovy Vary IFF, among others) Winter in March, dir. Natalia Mirzoyan, Estonia, Armenia, France, Belgium (La Cinef, Cannes; Academy Award qualification in the Short Film category)