Centre for Scientific Research of Latvian Academy of Culture and Riga Film Museum, along with the support of international partners, is organizing an international academic conference “Baltic Sea Region Documentary Cinema: A Social and Aesthetic Phenomenon”. The conference will be held from 14 -16 April, 2016, in Riga.
Documentary cinema has a strong tradition in Latvia, but it is important to look outside the country’s borders and see it in a broader context. Therefore the aim of the conference is to open up the field of research on documentary cinema from Baltic Sea region countries by studying its main movements and creators, doing comparative analysis of various national cinemas, along with covering numerous other topics.
The conference will gather participants from Baltic countries, Poland, United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, and others. The keynote speakers will be Dr. Ewa Mazierska, Professor of Film Studies at the University of Central Lancashire. She has published nearly twenty monographs and edited collections, and is principal editor of a Routledge journal Studies in Eastern European Cinema. A keynote speaker from Finland will be Dr. Susanna Helke. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker (e.g. American Vagabond (2013), Playground (2010), The Idle Ones (2001), White Sky (1998), Sin (1996)) and associate professor at the Film, Television and Scenography Department at Aalto University in Helsinki. The final keynote address will be from Dr. Patrik Sjöberg, an Assistant Professor in Cinema Studies at Karlstad University in Sweden. He is the author of The World in Pieces – A Study on Compilation Film (2001), a contributor to several anthologies on documentary culture, as well as articles and essays in Swedish and English.
All presentations will have simultaneous translation to either Latvian or English.
Entrance is free of charge.
The conference is supported by State Culture Capital Foundation.
Conference programme:
Thursday, 14 April, 2016
(National Library of Latvia, Ziedonis Hall, Mūkusalas iela 3)
9:30 – 10:00 Registration
10:00 Opening of the Conference. Rūta Muktupāvela, Rector of the Latvian Academy of Culture
Session I, chair: Dāvis Sīmanis
10:15 – 10:50 Pēteris Krilovs (Latvia) The Paradoxes of Quest for Substance in Documentary Cinema
10:50 – 11:15 Inga Pērkone (Latvia), Anti-Communist Manifesto by Documentary Filmmakers. Documentary The Frescos of Kuldīga (1966) by Aivars Freimanis
11:15 – 11:40 Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė (Lithuania), What It Meant to Be a Documentary Filmmaker in the Periphery of the Soviet Union
Keynote I
11:40 – 12:15 Ewa Mazierska (UK/ Poland), Polish Documentary Films Made About Collapsed State Farms
12:15 – 13:30 Coffee break/ Lunch break
Session II, chair Renata Šukaitytė
13:30 – 13:55 Audrius Dambrauskas (Lithuania), The Boring Reality: Newsreels and Censorship in Antanas Smetona’s Lithuania, 1926-1940
13:55 – 14:20 Riho Västrik (Estonia), The Socially Critical Documentaries of Valeria Anderson in 1960-1985
14:20 – 14:45 Anita Uzulniece (Latvia), Was It Easy To Be Juris Podnieks (Sisyphus Rolls His Stone)
14:45 – 15:10 Dāvis Sīmanis (Latvia), Fiction as a Tool of Reality in Latvian Contemporary Documentary Film
15:10 – 15:30 Coffee break
15:30 – 17:00 Round table discussion – Documentary Cinema as an Institution for Memory (participants: Eva Näripea (Estonia), Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė (Lithuania), Ivars Seleckis (Latvia), Agris Redovičs (Latvia), Antra Cilinska (Latvia), moderator Pēteris Krilovs (Latvia)
18:30 Lithuanian short films
The Old Man and the Land (Senis ir žemė, dir. Robertas Verba, 1965, 18‘)
Time Passes Through the City (Laikas eina per miestą, dir. Almantas Grikevičius, 1966, 17‘)
Reflections (Atspindžiai, Henrikas Šablevičius, 1968,15‘)
A Trip Through Misty Meadows (Kelionė ūkų lankomis, dir. Henrikas Šablevičius, 1973, 11‘)
The Dreams of the Centenarians (Šimtamečių godos, dir. Robertas Verba, 1969, 17‘)
Friday, 15 April, 2016
Department of Film and Theatre, Latvian Academy of Culture (Dzirnavu iela 46)
Keynote II
10:00 – 10:35 Susanna Helke (Finland), The Reality Market and the Emotive Turn in Scandinavian Documentary
Keynote III
10:35 – 11:10 Patrik Sjöberg (Sweden), Stretching the Frame: Experimental Strategies in Contemporary Swedish Documentaries
Session III, chair Inga Pērkone
11:10 – 11:35 Klara Bruveris (Australia/ Latvia), Documentary or Fiction? Poetic Documentary and Verisimilitude in the Films of Laila Pakalniņa
11:35 – 12:00 Marija Weste (Latvia/ Sweden), Connectivity: the space of documentary within fiction cinema. A Case Study of Three Latvian Films: “Divi” (Two), “Elpojiet dziļi” (Breathe Deeply), and „Ābols upē“ (Apple in the River)
12:00 – 12:25 Renata Šukaitytė (Lithuania), The Culture of Poverty and “Othered” Families in the Documentaries Family Instinct, Father, Lisa, Go Home! and The Worm
12:25 – 13:30 Coffee break/ Lunch break
Session IV, chair Ewa Mazierska
13:30 – 13:55 Magdalena Staroszczyk (Poland), Non-professional Footage as Documents
13:55 – 14:20 Inese Strupule (UK/ Latvia), Latvian Amateur Documentary Films. Family, Community, Work, and Politics in the Films of Uldis Lapiņš, Ingvars Leitis, and Zigurds Vidiņš
14:20 – 14:45 Jari Sedergren (Finland), Finnish Documentary Maker Antti Peippo (1972-1989)
Session V, chair Eva Näripea
14:45 – 15:10 Ivo Juurvee (Estonia), Documentaries in the Service of the KGB and STASI: A case study of two films
15:10 – 15:35 Davide Abbatescianni (Estonia/ Italy), The Estonian Documentary Film Industry: investing in the cultural growth of the country
15:35 – 16:00 Anny Carraro (Italy), The Reception of a European Documentary Film Project Entitled Ilze’s Watching Dolls About Latvian Artist Ilze Jaunberga
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 – 17:30 Presentation: film project Baltic New Wave (Vides filmu studija (Latvia), dir. Kristīne Briede, Audrius Stonys), presented by producer Uldis Cekulis, co-director Kristīne Briede
Saturday, 16 April, 2016
Riga Film Museum (Peitavas iela 10, entrance from Mazā Peitavas iela, Old Town)
(films will be screened in original language with English subtitles)
10:30 – 12:00 Screening of White Bells (1961, Latvia) and guided tour/ walk in the film’s locations in Riga city centre
12:30
Boy of Granite (Graniittipoika, dir. Antti Peippo, Finland, 1979, 10‘)
10 Minutes Older („Vecāks par 10 minūtēm“, dir. Hercs Franks, Latvia, 1978, 10‘)
Frescos of Kuldīga („Kuldīgas freskas“, dir. Aivars Freimanis, Latvia, 1966, 50‘)
14:00
Generation ‘89 (Pokolenie ‘89, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Poland, 2002, 61’)
15:30
Estonian short films
Stony Lullaby (Kivine hällilaul, dir. Valeria Anderson, 1964, 17‘)
Ruhnu (dir. Andres Sööt, 1965, 10‘)
The Long Street (Pikk tanav, dir. Hans Roosipuu, 1966, 10‘)
Tallinn Secrets (Tallinna saladused, dir. Ülo Tambek, 1967, 11‘)
511 Best Photos of Mars (511 paremat fotot Marsist, dir. Andres Sööt, 1968, 15‘)
St.John’s Day (Jaanipäev, dir. Andres Sööt, 1978, 20‘)
Free entrance. Prior registration not required.
All presentations will have simultaneous translation to Latvian/ English.
Conference coordinator: