Normunds Kļaviņš

An immersion into the intimacy of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR. The architect of perestroika and glasnost, who was praised in the West but reviled in his own country, still combative despite his advanced age, loneliness and illness, offers his personal and political testament.

A film about one of Europe's best young theatre directors, Latvian-born Alvis Hermanis, and his distinctive method, marked by a renunciation of classic dramatic material.

12-year-old Raimonds tries to cover up a bad note at school and starts a spiral of lies, which spins out of control. He has to venture into Riga’s thrilling night-life to save his saxophone, his friendship and his face in front of his mother. An exciting story about the healing power of truth.

Three young men head to an isolated country house to shoot a film that they hope will bring them fame. They have no experience, but possess the will to change their lives. They make various attempts, but none seem to work. The team comes to a creative impasse, but the stakes are too high to give up. In hopes of drawing out their talents, they spend more and more time chipping away at each other. Previously hidden character traits come to light further complicating their relationship and the making of the film. Soon it's each man for himself. Just when the experiment seems utterly failed, one of them is discovered dead. It's not clear whether it's accidental, suicide or murder, but a real body in the scene satisfies - this could be the start of The Film.

This documentary deals with faith, human aging, a struggle to fulfill your vision and above all - one particular building. In its poetical minimalism the film observes the construction of the new Latvian National Library, which has become a metaphor for a temple, a boiling-point for an entire nation.

Composers are regular people – they drive public transport, do sports, pay their bills. And still – they are very different as they are able to comprehend sound. The documentary film Sounds Under the Sun is an inspiring cinematic journey all over the world to meet some of the world-famous contemporary classical music composers. Visiting Alaskan forests, skyscrapers in Tokyo, and war zone in Georgia, the film gives a glimpse of how the composers share their struggle to create music from the moment of sonic creation till the moment when their music is interpreted for public (the film features composers Sir John Tavener from the UK, Leonid Desyatnikov from Russia, Giya Kancheli from Georgia, Dobrinka Tabakova from Bulgaria, John Luther Adams from the USA, and Ko Matsushita from Japan, and one of the world’s best youth choirs, Kamēr..., from Latvia).

A creative a portrait of Latvian luger and Olympic medal winner, Martins Rubenis, who won the first Latvia's Winter Olympic medal of the games in Turin in 2006. Apart from his success in sports, in the circles of contemporary alternative culture he is known as DJ Betons from the association Varka Kru (Varka – from Russian "boiling", Kru – from English "crew"). Like the medieval knight Lohengrin, Martins Rubenis arrives in his luge to fight a battle - with an adversary, with himself, with time and the world.

Elvis is missing, and five of his classmates decide to go looking for him. While in hot pursuit of his tracks, the children are caught up in a whirl of exciting adventures, encountering all sorts of people and unusual situations.

17-year-old Ria is a sensitive and mysterious young woman. Ria's mother has suffered in a car accident and has stopped speaking since her daughter's birth. The family grows deer for sale, yet, the business is not successful. To earn some money, her father decides to organize a hunt.

Members of a class of the 1980s hold an annual gathering. All together spend one night remembering the passions and hopes of youth and realising what has been achieved or missed.

The characters of the movie are closely twisted. Each of the heroes is a slave to their own passions. Only through strong will and some happy event they will be able to free themselves from their addictions.

A short Christmas tale about happiness that might be passing right by you. And that's when you realise you've just missed. Who's fault is that? Is it fear, is it inability to fight, or is it just a matter of luck?

Viesturs Kairišs’ 2004 documentary The Monument investigates the interpretation of Riga’s Soviet Second World War memorial in the post-Soviet era. The "Victory Monument" was established by the Soviets to celebrate freeing Latvia from Nazi Germany. However, for Latvians, this didn't mean "freedom", it meant the beginning of another occupation of their country - this time, by Soviet Union. Included in the collection "Europe's old new faces : Ten countries, ten young directors. Ten stories about monuments situated somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow".

An emotional and stylistically consistent documentary musical depicting the staging of Bernstein’s West Side Story with deaf youths. The dramatic material is intertwined with life and the emotional scenes of the musical; it creates a distinctive choreography, which is a statement of the deaf people’s craving to love this world and to be open. Reciting to music, which is the way of singing of the deaf, is the strongest and most unexpected witness of the realities of their world.

A teenage boy and his uncle compete for the love of a prostitute.

A tale about a nine-year old boy's relationship with the world around him, shot in one of Latvia's poorest and most beautiful regions - Latgale

A story of a city living in the rhytm of youth, told through four people who are part of the new generation - who've grown up after the regaining of independence from the Soviet Union.

“As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have formed during the last few years such close relationships with this best and truest friend of mankind that death's image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling” - thus said Mozart about death. Mozart died in 1791 and was buried in a mass grave, as standard at the time in Vienna for a person of his social and financial situation. In 2000, 452 of Riga’s deceased — people without relatives, the homeless and the unidentified — were buried at the Jaunciems cemetery. But this film is not about death: it's about Mozart, The Magic Flute, Riga, and love. A short commissioned for the Latvian exhibition at Venice Biennale.

Wedding rituals and a love triangle.

In a Latvian bakery, Aina breaks 40000 eggs per day by hand, and she has done this monotone job for almost 20 years.

The movie shows a young man's life dramatically changed after his friend is murdered. It is ironic - if to look with today's eyes - and nostalgia evoking portrait of marginal society and environment in the early 1990s with allusions to the western cinema - film noir related themes, surrealistic features, avantgard cinema stylization and formal aesthetics.

Erik lives by night. He works in a nightclub and occasionally dresses up as a woman to rob rich clients. One day Erik's father arrives uninvited. It's a surprise visit that brings out memories of complicated childhood.

An ecranisation of an Anšlavs Eglītis's novel of the same title is an ironic story about the Latvian art scene during the 30ies.

Fairytale of the the good girl and the bad girl, who gets the prince?