Mistrus Media

Edith is a curiosity-driven journalist and single mother. Solo parenting proves to be complicated, but when the identity of the man who donated the sperm that got her pregnant surfaces, she seeks him out under the false pretext of interviewing him about his company.

It is 1991 in Latvia and nineteen-year-old aspiring cinematographer Jazis’s whole world is thrown into chaos as he is dragged into the people’s peaceful protests against the Soviet Army’s attempted takeover of power in his country.

Lithuania, 1948. War is over, but the country is left in ruins. 19-year-old Untė is a member of the Partisan movement resisting Soviet occupation. They do not fight on equal terms, but this desperate struggle will determine the future of the whole population. At the age of discovery of life, Untė discovers violence and treachery. The lines are blurred between the burning passion of his youth and the cause for which he is fighting. He will invest himself wholeheartedly, even if it means losing his innocence…

Hardly anyone would have predicted that Žanis Lipke would miraculously become a hero. He was a completely ordinary Latvian blue-collar worker. In order to be able to support his family under wartime conditions, he worked at the German military aviation warehouses and supplemented his income by smuggling at night. This film attempts to answer the question whether Žanis’ courage stems from his adventurous and daring spirit, stubbornness, or a sense of responsibility towards people in need.

As a young Soviet student in 1978, Ieva could not have predicted that a holiday visit to her father, Imants Lesinskis, then working in the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York City, would irreversibly split her life in two. Entangled in a dark spy game, Ieva is forced to leave her former life behind, never to see her mother or her homeland of Latvia again. Pulling back the curtain on the shady behind-the-scenes world of the Cold War, this film tells a daughter's dramatic story of her double-agent father, exploring their relationship against the backdrop of events which have their roots over four decades ago. In order to find herself and understand the game she was part of, Ieva sets out on a journey to the past, confronting family secrets, lies and betrayal.

Lost in remotest part of Eastern Europe, Sam is a foreigner, searching for his biological father Lagzdins where a minor road accident leads to a chance meeting with a pig-farmer's daughter, who captures him and makes him a forced laborer on the farm.

The 14th of June 1941, Soviet-occupied Latvia: Without warning, the authorities break into the house of Melanie and her husband Aleksandr and force them to leave everything behind. Together with more than 15 000 Latvians, Melanie and her son get deported to Siberia. In her fight against cold, famine and cruelty, she only gains new strength through the letters she writes to Aleksandr, full of hope for a free Latvia and a better tomorrow.

15 August 1990. Viktor Tsoi, the Soviet Union’s most famous rock star, leader of the band Kino, a symbol of freedom and change, dies in an accident on a Latvian highway. The bus driver who was involved in the tragic accident will bring his body back to Leningrad. A party of mourners – Tsoi’s wife and her new boyfriend, his mistress, his producer, his young son and an obsessed photographer – are part of the trip back. This is going to be a long trip, the perfect occasion for an agonizing unravelling of love, jealousy, ambition, and greed.

A boy's body is discovered in a peat field, and a local drunk confesses to a decades-old murder. Policeman Broze reopens the case and is forced to confront his own role in the tragic game played by boys 30 years ago—a day he can't remember or forget.

The only novel written by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard (Il Gattopardo, 1958), just like its screen adaptation by Luchino Visconti, is considered a masterpiece. This film tells about the life of Tomasi and his German-Baltic wife Alexandra von Wolff-Stomersee – their unusual love story. The chaos of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and World War II forced Alexandra to leave St. Petersburg and later on – the family's castle in Stāmeriena, Latvia. During the war, in 1943, she fled to her husband in Palermo, where she would live until the day she died.

About how Gūtenmorgens, unwilling to celebrate Jāņi, defends Latvian traditions and finds a fern flower. Gūtenmorgens tries to dampen his friends' enthusiasm for celebrating Jāņi, until Bērziņš finds him a foreign journalist to be his partner for the celebration. Becoming a defender of Latvian traditions against the foreigner's desire for entertainment, Gūtenmorgens discovers the mystery of Jāņi and meets his future wife.

Gutenmorgen is an eccentric family man who tends to see his life in bright colours. In order to improve his failing eyesight, Gutenmorgen decides to open a third eye. Gutenmorgen begins mediating with a self-proclaimed guru and hopes that this unconventional activity will make his family and friends appreciate him just a little bit more.

Upon hearing her beloved grandmother is dying, a young woman returns to rural Lithuania, where she must confront a past she’s tried to forget. Sharunas Bartas unflinchingly examines family fractures, capturing unspoken tensions and simmering resentments within a rural household isolated by geography and emotional distance.

A story of the journey to success of a young sportswoman who, with the support of her family and great determination, has already become the best Latvian skier of all time and is gradually moving towards her goal - to be among the best cross-country skiers in the world. The film documents the gruelling training, tough competition, sweat, tears and responsibility to her loving family. The film is about a woman who wants to reach the top and is willing to pay the ultimate price by dedicating her youth to the sports.

World War II, occupied Soviet Union. István Semetka is a simple Hungarian farmer who serves as a Sub-Lieutenant in a special unit scouting for partisan groups. On their way to a remote village, his company falls under enemy fire. As the commander is killed, Semetka has to overcome his fears and take command of the unit as he is dragged into a chaos that he cannot control.

Trying to make a professional impression, the teacher of the 9th grade Dārta organises a parents' school meeting, but the parents' childish behaviour turns the gathering into a disaster, becoming the biggest challenge of Dārta's career so far. The new teacher prepares for the meeting, while the parents arrive late - so does the businessman Jānis, the president of the parent's school council Žanete arrives with flowers and a gift; the spouses of an open marriage Valts and Laine playing "truth or dare", while the recently divorced Maija and Raivo exchange barbs. The planning of the children's graduation turns into an absurd escalation of conflicts between the parents.

'Vadātājs' is an ancient Latvian mythological creature that leads people to Nowhere. As Latvia has been declared the most superstitious country in the EU, it is important to understand – what do we believe in? Three young filmmakers – a director, cinematographer and sound girl – question if Latvia is a lost country and if a Vadātājs has achieved enormous power by leading Latvian society into confusion. A search for a contemporary Vadātājs*, and the understanding of the origins of confusion within people in the 21st century.

The film tells the story of an artist avoiding a confrontation with power and the artistic and personal consequences of this choice. A powerful historical drama on the true story of Maria Leiko, famous actress who late in her career has to decide between fame and love for her grandchild, between her ideals or the lies of Stalin’s totalitarian regime.

Almost 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union we can observe the return of rhetoric of a strong person of the totalitarian era. Could this be facilitated by the remains of totalitarian subservience in our heads and minds? The Director of the film Ivo Briedis and journalist Rita Ruduša, both born in the USSR, are going on a journey to explore the phenomenon of “Homo Sovieticus” and to discover whether a human being of the totalitarian mindset has specific geographical boundaries.

Seven versions of Riga, the city on the Baltic Sea, and its features as seen by outstanding European film directors: Sergei Loznitsa (The Old Jewish Cemetery), Ivars Seleckis (On Ķīpsala), Audrius Stonys (Riga Boats), Jaak Kilmi (Littering Prohibited!), Jon Bang Karlsen (Cats in Riga), Rainer Komers (Daugava Delta), and Bettina Henkel (Theatre Street 6).