RIGA: The historical coming of age drama Blizzard of Souls / Dvēseļu putenis directed by Dzintars Dreibergs, produced by Kultfilma, received the highest number of Latvian National Film Awards (Lielais Kristaps). The ceremony was broadcast on Latvian Television on 15 November. Blizzard of Souls was the record-breaking film of Latvian box office in 2019, and has also been distributed internationally.

RIGA: The award-winning Ukrainian director Alina Gorlova’s third feature documentary This Rain Will Never Stop completed postproduction ahead of its world premiere in the IDFA First Appearance Competition. The film is produced by Maksym Nakonechnyi at Tabor (Ukraine) and coproduced by Ilona Bičevska at Avantis Promo (Latvia) and Patrick Hamm at Bulldog Agenda (Germany).

RIGA: Latvian director Matīss Kaža is in postproduction with his third fiction feature Neon Spring / Neona pavasaris produced by Dace Siatkovska and Kaža at Deep Sea Studios. The film will be presented at Baltic Event Work in Progress taking place as part of this year’s online one-week summit for film and audiovisual industry professionals, held during the Black Nights Film Festival PÖFF, on 23 - 27 November 2020.

RIGA: Latvia has announced a partial COVID-19 lockdown effective 9 November to 6 December 2020, which will close all cinemas.

RIGA: The historical drama The Sign Painter / Pilsēta pie upes (previous English title City on the River) directed by Viesturs Kairišs, produced by Ego Media (Latva) and coproduced by 8Heads Productions (Czech Republic) and Artbox (Lithuania), has signed a North American distribution deal with Menemsha Films, ahead of its international premiere in the Black Nights Film Festival's Official competition section.

RIGA: The first stand-alone edition of International Documentary Film Festival Ardocfest / Riga will run from 26 November to 1 December 2020 with screenings to be held at the cinema Splendid Palace. The festival will have two competition sections: an International Competition with 21 films and a Baltic Focus competition with eight films. All competition films will be Latvian premieres.

RIGA: The Riga International Film Festival concluded its 7th edition on 25 October 2020, handing its main prize to Ivan I. Tverdovsky’s Conference, which was coproduced by Estonia’s Nafta Films. The festival took a hybrid form this year with film screenings taking place in cinemas and online, screening 129 films in 10 thematic programmes.

Ieva Ūbele is participating in the 2020 Emerging Producers programme of the Ji-hlava International Documentary Film Festival, which runs 27 October – 8 November 2020.

RIGA: The historical drama The Sign Painter / Pilsēta pie upes (previous English title City on the River), directed by Viesturs Kairišs, produced by Ego Media and coproduced by 8Heads Productions (Czech Republic) and Artbox (Lithuania), leads the Latvian National Film Awards (Lielais Kristaps) with 15 nominations. It is followed by Dzintars Dreibergs’ The Blizzard of Souls / Dvēseļu putenis, produced by Kultfilma, which was the record breaking film of Latvian box office in 2019, with 11 nominations.

RIGA: Ināra Kolmane’s third feature Soviet Milk / Mātes piens began shooting its first sequence on 15 September 2020.