Aleksandrs Grebņevs

The five heroines of "Women without men" are ordinary Ukrainian women - mothers, daughters, wives who have fled because of the war. Women from all corners of Ukraine. They probably would have never met in their lives if fate hadn't brought these women together in Latvia. How they decided to go to a foreign land, how they got out of the territories occupied and bombed by Russia, how they were greeted in their new lives, how to find a place in this new reality, how to be alone in charge of everything, to find a place to live, a job. How to deal with your internal crisis, how not to go crazy longing for your home. What to say to your own children, what it means to hear from a husband once a day at a certain agreed time and what happens if he doesn't call. How to find the strength to continue... They seek answers to these questions as they try to learn to learn to live anew.

This is an intimate and personal story about women who were supposed to be the children of complete and total socialism, about the environment they grew up in, their youth and their life now. Teacher Lapaine’s class reunion happens every year on March 21. This year is no different. Just like 25 years ago, when director Una Celma first documented her classmates in a film under the same title. The traditional table is set with beverages, cakes and candy, and the yearly photo taken. Nowadays, they are mothers, aunts and grandmothers. Their fates have changed, but what about themselves?

Diana, a woman in her early 40s, struggles to end an abusive relationship with her husband while also trying to protect the only possession their family have left – an apartment in a luxurious part of the city. As the couple’s daughter Astra gets involved in the conflict, Diana will have to make a choice between Astra’s wellbeing and her own goals and convictions.

Anastasia is 13 and her sister Diana is 11. The two sisters live in a Latvian orphanage. When they find out that an American family is ready to adopt them, Diana cannot wait to move to the States, while Anastasia is less excited about the idea of leaving her home.

Laine is a college girl from a bland middle-class suburb in Latvia. As Laine’s father distances himself from his crumbling marriage and his family, Laine is unable to cope with the separation and discovers the edgy Riga party scene, where she falls in love with seasoned raver Gunda. Going from rave to rave, the girls journey into a drug-fuelled underworld of anarchy, freedom and exploration.

Three sisters, dead broke and disconnected from each other, travel around Europe with their mother’s corpse on top of their van, trying to minimize transportation costs. The trio has to talk, reminisce and maybe even admit that underneath their fantasies of perfection — these are women in a desperate search for freedom.

An investigative journalist decides to take down an esoteric organization based around the implementation of structured water.

Despite a Covid-19 lockdown in Riga, an illegal party is taking place at a loft. This party is secretly being watched through the window of the opposite house. When the observer is noticed by one of the party-goers, events take an unexpected turn.

A runaway bride, a young peasant, mysterious illusionists and a manic investigator become entwined in a murderous affair at a Baltic German baron's manor.

The actors of the amateur theatre troupe in the Eastern part of Latvia (Latgale) live from the heart. In their daily life they are rooted in their own land, but on stage – true to life and funny. They are so strong they enjoy laughing at themselves. In the plays of their director Danskovīte, they do not act, they live for real. Portraits of the members of the Baltinava amateur theatre troupe “Palādas”, rehearsals and behind-scenes of staging the plays. “Determined Amateurs” is the last film by director Olafs Okonovs, after his death completed by his son, director Aleksandrs Okonovs, following Olafs’ idea.

In one long take lasting nearly an hour and a half, three well-known Latvian actors re-stage scenes from renowned Soviet Latvian movies made under the Riga Film Studio. As they progress from film to film, their re-enactments lead them to discover the undeniably funny personalities and unbelievable circumstances under which these films were made. Blending documentary, theatre and fiction film, this is a comedy about the cinema and the actor, and a heartfelt homage to the Riga Film Studio.

A problem that every film director has faced – how do you film something that does not exist? A director is making a documentary about an actor and his stalker – but the stalker never appears. As the deadline approaches, unusual steps must be taken.

Through the prism of three distinct characters, the 24-year-old director conveys an intimate and sensitive portrait of his own generation, wanderers looking for their place in the new and uncertain world. Dancer Tanya moves to Mississippi where she finds love with a paraplegic wheelchair basketball trainer who is more than 20 years her senior. App developer Tomass abandons the life he had before and becomes a world-travelling digital nomad. Avant-garde publisher Valters collects toilet seats in a poetically performative attempt to overcome past trauma.

Under-appreciated by his wife, a charismatic music producer forces his wife, his teenage daughter and his lover to live together as a family, under one roof.

An intimate portrait of a young couple, Zoryana and Edgars, and their hardships as young, 17-year-old parents, living in the countryside in a remote part of Latvia. The limited job opportunities available in their rural area have left the family mired in poverty. Zoryana becomes a hostage between her two closest people, her mother and Edgars – she must choose between her mother’s advocacy of countryside as the best place for raising a family and life in the city, which would offer more creature comforts and more opportunities to earn a living. Zoryana Horobraya sweeps us along on Zoryana’s journey, as she tries to escape the protective bubble of her mother and define her own family’s happiness and existence.

A dreamlike cinematic collage exploring the life, times and choices of the Russian avant-garde theatermaker Vsevolod Meyerhold. An innovative artist becomes a tool in the hands of the socialist revolution.

After his mother’s death, Dzintars Bumbiers (34) struggles with the large collection of dahlias he has inherited. Dzintars made a promise that he would keep the garden. How-ever, the reality strikes with new challenges and the dahlias hide his contempt. Dzintars considers the commitment to the dahlias is the reason his mother left her sons aside as they were growing up. As a result, two of his brothers have died, one is in prison, while Dzintars was bullied as a child and can’t start relationships with women.

An investigative look at the life of Latvia’s first foreign minister Zigfrids Anna Meierovics is also a chronicle of the inception of the statehood of Latvia. In a time of deep political turmoil, one man had to make the choices and sacrifices necessary to achieve the legitimacy of an entire country.

Two border patrol agents come across a mysterious crashed van near the border of Latvia and Russia.

An actress faces a difficult choice when her teenage daughter gets unwell right before the opening night of a show.

During the soviet time choosing the fate of a rock musician was similar to being a dissident.

Accomplished European scenographer and educator Andris Freibergs paints a self-portrait by shaping the stage for an imaginary production titled “Andris Freibergs”. He transforms himself into a space that contains close to eighty years worth of stunning success, tragic loss, birth and death. It is an attempt to create the perfect empty space – one that would simultaneously encompass everything and nothing, the beginning and the end.

A documentary about a 78-year-old Indian woman in New York who is the world's most passionate theatergoer. Nicki Cochrane has been seeing a play every day for more than 25 years, acquiring free tickets using a variety of ingenious means.

Melānija and Toms are young and in love. Their love is challenged, as it turns out their dreams and ambitions are not the same.

A small town teenage girl Meldra, aspiring to be a writer, heads to Riga in hope to find Rihards, a famous poet, with whom she has fallen in love. She gets carried away by the turbulent life of the capital. While breaking all of her suburban standards, she loses many of her illusions and becomes courageous enough to make her own decisions.

Choosing the fate of a rock musician was similar to being a dissident. From the 60s, the Soviet Union tried to discourage and restrict the expansion of rock music by any means. They called it the “rotten fruit of degraded capitalism, demoralizing the minds of Soviet youth”. Despite that, rock music broke the wall – made a hole in the Iron Curtain – and gained the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of young people.Rock musicians were on the frontline of the rebellion against the Soviet regime. Despite censorship, they managed to deliver, in a hidden, roundabout way through lyrics and music, the spirit of nonconformity and freedom of choice to their audience. A film about Latvian and Soviet rock pioneers, their lives and destinies.

Self-made banker Boriss Osipovs achieves quick success immediately after the collapse of the USSR, but he flees Latvia to avoid arrest for illegal operations. Fifteen years later, his family receives a photograph from Interpol of an elderly gentleman with the same name who resides in a Malaysian mental asylum. Could it be him? Despite the reservations of her family, Osipovs’ daughter, documentary director Ieva Ozoliņa, starts an investigation to find out the truth about the man in the photograph. An emotional story about a man who loses himself in times of change...and the daughter who hopes to find him.

The young Jekabs, Linda and Rihards enjoy the spring full of romance and bohemian way of life. The apple-trees are in blossom in Riga and the war unavoidably approaches.

An ordinary old folks’ home on the Latvian border – one of many, where our parents, grand-parents and other relatives spend their old age. Theirs is the generation whose prime years co-existed with the Soviet Union, and who were promised: work, give all you can, and we’ll take care when you’re old. The system changed and the reality is different. How to live in this reality, accept the current rules, or live in the past and have regrets. We will touch upon their world, and the dreams and hopes of Vilnis, Imants, Alberts and Elizabete.

The heroine is a widow and a fiancé who wants to begin a new and happy life. Conflicts in her family’s past prevent it, but she does not give up – she wants to clear away the ruins and do what she can. “Enough of looking for guilt, it’s time to find a solution,” she thinks, and takes action.

The Lesson tells the story of Zane, a devoted teacher mentoring the senior class in a Latvian high school. She tries to live her life in the most meaningful way possible. She takes her mission as a teacher seriously, and works hard to help her students develop their talents. Even so, as a younger teacher it’s hard for Zane to keep her distance from the class – the students soon become a sort of family to her. When she realizes she’s falling in love with one of them, the others start to feel left out. She faces a stark choice between personal happiness and the pressures of society.

Vija Celmiņš – Latvian-American painter and graphic artist, who has gained international recognition thanks to her special signature – reproductions of endless expanses (the sea, sky, desert). Her works have been included in the most significant modern art collections and displayed in retrospectives the world over. For the filmmakers, visiting Vija Celmiņš in New York was a rare opportunity to come in close proximity to this artist’s creative process and unique personality.

A unique, engaging film that combines documentary footage with narrative cinema to tell the story of four generations of a Latvian family. Sixteen year-old student Jānis has been given an interesting homework assignment – to draw his family tree and explain it. The story of his family begins with his great-great-grandfather who burned down the manors of German landowners during the 1905 revolution. My Family Tree takes us on a journey to various countries and political regimes, showing Jānis’ ancestors to be people of diverse fates and life stories. A rich Latvian trader, a red rifleman loyal to Lenin, a carpenter with the KGB and war refugees in Sweden are only a few branches on his family tree, and the boy has heard something unusual and unforgettable about each and every one of these people.

An autobiographical story about a boy who experiences the death of a relative firsthand. The story evolves around the boy’s struggle to find an explanation to death.

Two Latvian actors travel the country and visit different witches and healers to find purpose to their lives after years of alcoholism, which has had a great impact on their personal health. On the way they run into trouble, adventure and many comic, as well as tragic, situations.

Kristaps is a medical student. His father was once a great surgeon. Kristaps wants to become a surgeon as well, but during one of his first operations, he faints... The film is a tragicomic story about dreams and ways to reach them; it is about the belief in oneself, the occasional struggle, family legends and the ability to change ourselves.

'Family Instinct' is a film about incest - an illegal act, social taboo and a violation of religious norms. Zanda is a 28-year-old woman, worn out by hard work. Surrounded by poverty and despair, she is trying to survive with her two children in a god-forsaken Latvian village. Her hardships can be traced back to living in a relationship with her brother Valdis. When Valdis is put in jail, the local community forces her to make a difficult choice: to stay with him or with her children. Despite her ill fortune, she manages to express her love for the children, still hoping to save her family. The film offers a tragicomic but highly authentic insight into the bleak reality of post-soviet era.

A portrait of Lars Vilks, the State Secretary of his own micro-nation Ladonia, a sculptor and a scandal-maker (as an art form), and professor of art theory. He is the only Swede, and also the only Latvian (by ancestry), with a price of $150 000 on his head. But perhaps he has been under-valued. A look at Ladonia, and at the nemesis of Swedish officialdom.

The only thing we can be sure of in this world is that one day we shall die. In spite of that, we tend to live our lives as if it was never going to happen. Yet there are many among us who are deprived of the right to think that way. Victor (31) has a rare form of cancer in an advanced stage; moreover, his wife is about to divorce him. Trapped in the antechamber of death and with his family falling to pieces, he knows that perhaps the most important decisions of his life must be taken here and now.

From a refugee of the WWII to president – that's the story of Vaira Vike-Freiberga. Losing her motherland and coming back to it. Latvian, refugee, emigrant, wife, mother, professor, scientist, president.

Once you stand still, things will come up to you. (Gottfried Benn) Using tableau-like takes of different places of the Muscovite suburb (Moskatchka), a poor quarter of the Latvian capital Riga, the film shows fragments of the choreography of life and combines them to form a picture of reality. Without making any comments, the camera observes the people’s behaviour, which reminds you of the early Flaherty and how his camera “stuck to” his film heroes . It also reminds you of the beginning of film art when the recording of reality on a strip of film was an event, in spite of its accidental character.