RIGA — Political and social issues feature heavily at this year’s 13th annual Baltic Sea Documentaries’ Forum, which got underway in Riga yesterday.
The forum, which includes industry workshops for documentary film professionals aims to promote local film producers and works related to the Baltic Sea region to an international audience. Filmmakers from across the Baltic Sea region, including Denmark, Finland, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the three Baltic states are attending.
As part of the event, which continues until Sept. 6 Riga cinema house K.Suns, will present public screenings of selected documentary films.
The program entitled “Revolution Starts in the Head,” features a series of dramatic and inspiring films, which helped focus attention to topical social and political events of global significance.
The featured films urge viewers to reflect upon a wider social, historical and political context, as well as each individual’s capacity to influence his or her own destiny separate from outside influences.
Danish director Andres Ostergaard’s acclaimed documentary “Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country” has previously unseen footage of the 2007 Buddhist protests in Burma taken by a group of local reporters.
Included in the program is Danish director Andres Ostergaard’s acclaimed documentary “Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country.”
The documentary follows a group of renegade video journalists who risk their lives daily to maintain the flow of news from their country in defiance of Burma’s military dictatorship.
Avi Mograbi’s controversial look into Israeli wartime brutality “Z32” is included, looking at crimes committed against Palestinians.
Providing a lighter take on a serious subject is John Webster’s award-winning “Recipe for Disaster” that explores issues of climate change and oil addiction. The film follows the comedy of errors that ensue after Webster’s own family undergo a year-long oil detox and attempt to eliminate fossil fuels from their daily lives while maintaining their middle-class suburban lifestyle.
International film distributors, as well as representatives of 20 leading European and Latvian TV networks and culture channels will be among those to attend this year’s event, organized by the National Film Center of Latvia, Media Desk Latvia, European Documentary Network, Latvian Association of Cinema Production and the Danish Cultural Institute.
Respected directors Jaak Kilmi, Kiur Aarma (“Disco and Atomic War”), Webster and Ostergaard will also take part.
Throughout the forum, there will also be opportunities to meet with film directors and engage in group discussions. The forum has become the most important yearly event for documentary professionals from the Baltic Sea region, providing them a platform to reach a wider audience.
The films are screened with English subtitles. Tickets are available at K.Suns cinema box-office, 83/85 Elizabetes Street. For a full program listing visit www.nfc.lv.
