It’s a wrap for the Lielais Kristaps Latvian National Film Festival, one of Latvia’s foremost film events. This year, the festival ran from 7-12 November, and showcased 25 films in competition and out-of-competition screenings. The closing ceremony, held yesterday at Riga’s Splendid Palace cinema and broadcast by Latvian Television, saw the triumph of Juris Kursietis’ Oleg [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Juris Kursietis
scheda film], which won three prestigious prizes – namely, Best Feature Film, Best Supporting Actor and Best Cinematographer.

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Oleg revolves around a young man of Russian descent who moves from Latvia to Brussels. His non-citizen status makes it hard for him to hold down a job. When he is fired from his job in a meat factory, Oleg becomes dependent on the Polish migrant-worker mafia and tumbles into a deep abyss. After its premiere in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, Kursietis’ drama had a very successful festival run, winning prizes at Palic, Brussels and Valletta, among others. The other big winners at this year’s edition were two Latvian films: Gatis Smits’ 1906 and Janis Abele’s Jelgava ’94.

The festival was organised by the Latvian Filmmakers Union in cooperation with the National Film Centre and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. The event also received support from Riga City Council, Baltic media firm Hannu-Pro and the Canadian Embassy in the country.

Here is the list of the main award winners:

Best Feature Film
Oleg [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Juris Kursietis
scheda film] - Juris Kursietis (Latvia/Belgium/Lithuania/France)
Special Mention
1906 - Gatis Smits (Latvia)

Best Documentary Feature
Putin’s Witnesses [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Vitaly Mansky
scheda film] - Vitaly Mansky (Latvia/Switzerland/Czech Republic)
Special Mentions
Spoon [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laila Pakalnina
scheda film] - Laila Pakalniņa (Norway/Latvia/Lithuania)
2018 - Dainis Kļava (Latvia)

Best Short Film
Riga’s Lilac - Lizete Upīte (France/Latvia)

Best Animated Film
Away [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gints Zilbalodis
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Best Debut Film
Choir. Conductor. Kamēr… - Emil Alps (Latvia)

Best Screenwriters
Alise Zarina and Marta Elina Martinsone - Nearby (Latvia)

Best Feature Director
Janis Abele - Jelgava ’94 (Latvia)

Best Cinematographer
Bogumil Godfrejow - Oleg

Best Actress
Kristine Nevarauska - Nothing Can Stop Us Now (Latvia)

Best Actor
Jacob Reinis - The Red Forest (Latvia)
Special Mention
Bruno Bitenieks - Jelgava ’94

Best Supporting Actress
Ieva Puķe - Jelgava ’94

Best Supporting Actor
David Ogrodnik – Oleg

Best Documentary Director
Kaspars Goba - Inga Can Hear (Latvia)

Best Documentary Cinematographer
Valdis Eglitis - Sixth Day (Latvia)

Best Animation Director
Edmunds Jansons - Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] (Latvia/Poland)

Best Composer
Rihards Zalupe - 1906

Best Sound
Anrijs Krenbergs and Saulius Urbanavičius - Spoon

Best TV film or TV series
The Red Forest - Normunds Pucis and Armands Zvirbulis

Diena Special Award
Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs - Edmunds Jansons

Kino Raksti Special Award
Alise Zarina - Nearby

Lifetime Achievement Award
Varim Braslam