28/08/2020 - A selection of eight films will be available to Latvian audiences free of charge, while two physical screenings will run in parallel in Riga

Established in 1997 in Denmark and running for 16 years in Riga every September, the Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries (Baltic Sea Docs) is inviting more than 100 film professionals to Riga for its pitching and training sessions. As has already been announced (read the news), most of the activities of this 24^th edition will take place digitally, and the same goes for the documentaries selected to be screened. The entire programme will be available online to Latvian audiences free of charge.

The online screenings will run from 1 to 6 September, on the platform filmas.lv which is operated by the National Film Centre of Latvia, which is also the organiser of Baltic Sea Docs. A total of eight titles have been selected, and each one will have two screenings during the festival’s running period.

Well-travelled and awarded Romanian documentary Acasă - My Home [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Ciorniciuc
film profile], directed by Radu Ciorniciuc (Romania/Finland/Germany), will open this year’s programme on 1 September, and will exceptionally be screening simultaneously on the digital platform and in the cinema K.Suns in Riga, the usual venue of the forum. After the screening, a recorded conversation between the director and Māris Prombergs, director of the art-house cinema Kino Bize in Riga, will follow.

The rest of the selection includes Tribeca-awarded documentary Scheme Birds [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin (Sweden/UK); ecological mystery The Wind. A Documentary Thriller [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michał Bielawski
film profile] by Michał Bielawski (Poland/Slovakia); Toronto-premiered family relationship drama Love Child [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Eva Mulvad (Denmark), which will also be followed by a Q&A; touching documentary Lessons of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Małgorzata Goliszewska and …
film profile] by Małgorzata Goliszewska and Katarzyna Mateja (Poland); and poetic film Babenco. Tell Me When I Die by Bárbara Paz (Brazil), which won the Venice Classics Award for Best Documentary on Cinema last year. An interview with the film’s director and its producer Mira Babenco will follow the screening.

Moreover, due to the subject matter of the film Self Portrait [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Katja Høgset, Margreth Olin, and Espen Wallin (Norway), about Norwegian photographer Lene Marie Fossen and her life with anorexia, a special discussion on eating disorders will follow the screening of the documentary. Finally, the film Overseas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yoon Sung-A
film profile] by Yoon Sung-a (Belgium/France), will also have a physical screening in an open-air setting at the Spīķeri quarter in Riga, and a pre-recorded Q&A with the director will follow.