NFC announces results for film production funding 2024

National Film Centre (NFC) has confirmed the results of the 2024 film production funding – with the funding available of EUR 1 800 158, a total of 14 films will begin production – six feature films, six documentaries and two animated short films.

Of the funding available, EUR 1 113 660 has been allocated to feature film projects, supporting very different, wide-ranging themed and stylistic ideas for different audiences. This year's regulations called for special attention to be paid to films for children and young people, and two adventure stories with elements of mystery and fiction have been selected from several applications to support this year's production – director Linda Olte will make the film Kad Tīne un Bīne satika Juhanu / Secrets of the Great Bog (Air Productions, producers Antra Gaile and Līga Gaisa), while director Aiks Karapetjans will use the knowledge gained in his art history studies by making the feature film Burvja acs / Sorcerer’s Eye, whose characters find themselves in the world of antique paintings (Mistrus Media, producers Inese Boka-Grūbe and Gints Grūbe). The main character in adolescence is also conceived in the feature film Tabita / Tabitha (directed by Juris Kursietis, producer Alise Ģelze, White Picture), in a sensitive story about the psychological experiences that a child with special needs creates in the family. 

Other supported projects promise vividly expressed qualities of different genres – director Andrejs Ēķis and actor Jēkabs Reinis will jointly make a historical spy thriller Tumšā robeža / Dark Border, in which the action takes place in 1939 on the border of Latvia and Russia, and director Marta Elīna Martinsone in the film Līgava / The Wedding Day (Ego Media, producer Guntis Trekteris) will implement her extensive knowledge and passion for the musical genre. Director Laila Pakalniņa and cameraman Gints Bērziņš will also start making a new feature film, their project Čuksti pagrabā / Whisper in the Cellar in a specially designed cinematic language and visuality will tell a conditional story about wartime refugees hiding in the basement and dependent on rescuers, who may also have their own complications.

Almost all feature film projects are intended as international co-productions, so some projects plan to start filming when the co-financing is also approved by the funds and institutions of the partner countries.

Documentary film projects have been granted EUR 544 133, and this competition also has stylistic diversity and socially relevant themes. Director Madara Dišlere will make a documentary film Dejojošais tukšums / The Dancing Void, which will tell about the emotionally difficult work of Dr. Clowns in Latvia and elsewhere (Sunday Rebel Films, producers Dace Siatkovska and Kristele Pudane), director Stanislav Tokalov will make the film Kas ir Velta Ivanova? / Who is Velta Ivanova? (Ego Media, producer Guntis Trekteris); the idea of the film was born while working and filming for a long time in a Mežciems nursing home. The historical theme will be explored by the director Normunds Pucis in the film Vai te var dabūt alu? Post Scriptum / Can I get beer here? Post scriptum, with the help of documentary films, archival footage and animated graphics, solving the spy story of the post-war years, which also inspired the novel of this name by Anšlavs Eglītis. Authentic and unpublished archival films will also be used  in the film Vēstules manam radītājam / Letters to My Creator (VFS Films, directors Ivo Briedis and Alex Shiriaieff, producer Uldis Cekulis); the story of the film was initiated by the world's first gender reassignment operation, which was performed in Riga in the 70s by surgeon Viktors Kalnbērzs.

Today's continuing relevance is reflected in the upcoming film Karš tālumā / Time to the Target, the director of which, documentarist Vitaly Mansky, who lives in Latvia, films his hometown of Lviv, will centre the changes caused by the war around the everyday life of the military orchestra. Geographically, all sorts of points and unexpected milestones are promised by the project Es tevi mīlu, Leks Frīdman! / I Love You, Lex Fridman (Trickster Pictures), where producer Matīss Kaža and actress Iveta Pole will become co-directors, documenting the personal quest of a creative woman in Latvia, Germany and America.

This year, 142 365 EUR are allocated to animated film projects, two short films are supported. Director Anna Zača and artist Oskars Pavlovskis will make the puppet animated film Ligzda / Nesting (VFS Films), which figuratively and attractively plays on the changes in the life of a young couple from the moment a crib appears at home. Director debutant Ella Mežule is making the two-dimensional drawn film Paisuma daba / The Nature of Tide (Studio Kokles), which will centre on the relationships, memories, disappointments and misunderstandings of a young woman.

On January 25, 2024, the National Film Center (NKC) announced the 2024 Film Production Competition with the aim of supporting the production of new feature films and animated and documentary films of all lengths. The submission of the projects closed on 29 February, with 15 projects of feature films, 5 animated films and 10 documentaries submitted to expert commissions with a total request of EUR 3 967 357 for 2024.

Public presentations of the projects submitted took place at the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture on March 28, April 2 and 3, the projects were evaluated by expert commissions and advisory representatives of the public. The expert commission of feature films includes director and educator Pēteris Krilovs and film critic,  creative director of the Riga IFF festival Sonora Broka, documentary film commission – film scholar Zane Balčus and producer Ieva Ūbele, animated film commission – director Māra Liniņa and film critic Kristīne Simsone. Each expert commission also consists of one representative of NKC, Inga Blese in the feature film commission, Kristīne Matīsa in the documentary film commission, Agnese Zapāne in the animated film commission.   

For several years now, representatives of the public have also been attracted to the film production competition, who provide recommendations to experts, supporting the allocation of public funding for such projects that are relevant and significant for different audiences in Latvia. In the evaluation of the projects this year participated - Zane Valeniece,  a representative of Latvian Television, a representative of the cinema Splendid Palace, film critic Daira Āboliņa and the head of the cinema Kino Bize, social anthropologist Māris Prombergs,

In the planned schedule of competitions for the film industry within the year 2024, the competition for the support of minority co-productions (submission of projects open till 16.04.) is currently relevant,  and a competition for the development of film projects is still planned  (to be announced in August). Two competitions have been opened almost throughout the year – with NKC funding for the support of films in production and support for other film industry projects, the projects submitted in these competitions are reviewed once a month.