The submission of films to the National Film Award “Kristaps the Great” has ended on August 15, according to the organizers – the Latvian Cinematographers’ Union. Compared to the previous year, there is a slight decrease in the number of applications in almost all categories. A total of 65 applications have been submitted for evaluation this year, which is 30 less than before.
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According to the representatives of the Latvian Cinematographers’ Union, the applications include feature films, short feature films, documentaries, animation and student films.
The organizers say that this year the range of applications stands out with its diversity – both films that have already gained wide audience recognition and niche films – artistic works. Among the applications are also several interdisciplinary works – documentary animation (Ilze Burkovska-Jakobsen’s “My favorite war”), feature film with the features of a documentary film (Matīsa Kaža’s “Cinema and we”), musical documentaries (Aija Bley “We wanted to change the world” , Mārtiņš Graud ‘s “Tree Opera” and Alexander Okonov’ s song chamber “I Go to War”). Several films will start their journey to Latvian audiences in the autumn – “My Favorite War”, feature films “Change” (dir. Reinis Kalviņš) and “What Knows the Silent Gerda” (dir. Jevgenijs Paškēvičs), documentary “Homo Sovieticus” (dir. Ivo Briedis) ) and other.
10 feature films (previously 14) have been nominated for the National Film Award, two of which are minority co-produced films – “Invisible” and “Motherland”. The Latvian producer for both films is “Studio Locomotive”. Among the applications are also debut films – Reina Kalvins “Shift” and Kārlis Lesiņš “Despair”. This year, eight short feature films have been submitted to the competition (previously 11), five of which are directors’ debut short feature films. It should be noted that within the framework of “Big Kristaps” in the category of the best debut film, the director’s first independent film in general can apply for the award, regardless of the type and length of the film.
10 full-length documentaries (previously 19) and 13 short documentaries (previously 10) have been submitted in the documentary film categories, five of which are directors’ debut short documentaries – debut Aleksandrs Okonovs, Arnis Slobožaņins, Pauls Dombrovskis, Andra Doršs, Katrīna Tomašicka Laura Melke.
12 films (previously nine) have been submitted in the animation category, one of them is a full-length animation and one is a series of series. Two of the submitted films are the directors’ debut in animation – Anna Zača is making her debut as a co-author in tandem with Nila Skapāns and Marta Selecka.
12 films (previously 21) have been submitted to the student film competition, they represent the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture, the Latvian Academy of Arts and Riga Stradiņš University.
The nominees for this year’s National Film Award will be announced in early October, and the selection committee nominating the nominees has already begun its work. This year Daira Āboliņa (Latvian branch of the International Association of Film Critics FIPRESCI), Aija Bērziņa (Latvian Association of Film Producers), Jānis Eglītis (Latvian Guild of Cinematographers), Jānis Kalniņš (Latvian Guild of Film Artists), Arvīds Krievs work in the National Film Award Selection Commission , Kristīne Matīsa (National Film Center) and Ieva Viese (Latvian Animation Association). Experts will be required to watch all submitted films with a total screen time of more than 50 hours.
The National Film Award will take place this year from November 13 to 16 at the Splendid Palace cinema, and the award ceremony will be held in person or live on Latvian Television on November 15.
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