The Latvian film industry has already been preparing for Latvia’s centennial since 2014; for this purpose the National Film Centre held the call for application Latvian Films for Latvia’s Centennial. In the final stage of the call for application a special panel of experts evaluated 31 project, granting funding for 16 feature length projects, among them six fiction films, eight documentaries and two animated films, the production of which will start in 2016 but premieres are oncoming in 2018.
The results of the call for application were announced at the press conference held in the Ministry of Culture with participation of Linda Pavļuta, Head of Latvia’s Centennial Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, Dita Rietuma, Director of the National Film Centre, and representatives of the panel of experts.
Funding for production of a film in the framework of the programme Latvian Films for Latvia’s Centennial is granted to six fiction films, among them screen adaptations of the Latvian literature and historical fiction, stories of today and our recent past; several films are targeted at the children, youth and family audience. The fiction films for Latvia’s Centennial will be directed by Varis Brasla, Gatis Šmits, Anna Viduleja, Dāvis Sīmanis, Ināra Kolmane and Madara Dišlere.
In the competition of documentary projects eight feature length films are selected; these films will be directed by Askolds Saulītis, brothers Lauris and Raitis Ābele, Kristīne Briede and Audrius Stonis, Ilona Brūvere, Dzintra Geka, Gints Grūbe, Kristīne Želve, Ivars Seleckis. Two animated film projects are also supported out of four; the films for Latvia’s Centennial will be directed by Roze Stiebra and Edmunds Jansons.
All the applications for the supported projects and information about the call is available for public at the virtual platform of the National Film Centre on www.filmas.lv
Film catalogue is available here.
The programme Latvian Films for Latvia’s Centennial was launched in 2014, in order to contribute to production of films high in quality, diverse in genre and socially significant, promoting themes related to the Latvian history, statehood and national identity, sustaining understanding of the national identity and development of the state of Latvia among the broadest audience. Several rounds of the call for application were held to attain the objectives of the programme, ensuing with granting funding for the project development and preproduction stage.
A special panel of experts was established for evaluation of the projects: poet and writer Māra Zālīte, film director Jānis Streičs, film director and lecturer Pēteris Krilovs, film theoretician Viktors Freibergs, representative of the National Cultural Council Gundega Laiviņa, composer Lolita Ritmanis (USA), patron of culture Boris Teterev and Deputy Director of the National Film Centre Uldis Dimiševskis. At the press conference Jānis Streičs praised “European-like conduct” of the experts whereas Māra Zālīte emphasized that in the process of evaluation of the projects she had sensed the great potential of the Latvian film industry, while Gundega Laiviņa revealed that experts decided to attend the premieres of the supported films in 2018 together.