Films Announced for Baltic Sea Docs Riga

It’s a tradition that there are films screenings to accompany the professional training and pitching workshop of the Baltic Sea Docs. On FB the programme was anounced yesterday, introduced in the following way:

The 19th edition of the Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries will take place in Riga, Latvia, September 2 – 6, 2015! Including a documentary film program “TO BE or TO BE” for the general public and professionals in Rīga and regional centres – Cēsis, Jēkabpils, Liepāja, Rēzekne, Roja, Valmiera and Ventspils.

The Danish “Ekstra Bladet – uden for citat” by Mikala Krogh (English title: The New Room-Off the Record) from 2014 is one the films, highly praised (in Danish) on this site. The beautiful Mexican film “All of Me” (Photo) by Arturo González Villaseñor (2014) is a human story about mothers/women helping migrants with food, when they pass by in thre train hoping to enter the US. “Chuck Norris vs Communism” by Romanian Ilinca Calugareanu is a film that has been on its way for years, succeeded to get to Sundance and win the Grand Jury Prize. I have seen material a couple of times and am truly looking forward to see the final result.

“Dreamcatcher” is a film by Kim Longinotto when she delivers her best with a former prostitute as the charismatic main character, a must-see! I have no idea of what is “Hip-Hop-eration” by Bryn Evans from New Zealand but the description is inviting: “Who said your Grandmother couldn’t be a Hip Hop star? A group of 30 senior citizens, the oldest of whom is 96, are preparing on a small island off the coast of New Zealand for the World Hip-Hop Dance Championship in Las Vegas…”

This one – in quite a different tone – will be even higher on my viewing list: “The Russian Woodpecker” by Chad Gracia, a UK/Ukraine/USA production that has this start of a description: “This harrowing film examines the lasting effects of the Chernobyl disaster through the eyes of Ukranian artist Fedor Alexandrovich, who was four years old on that fateful day. Risking their lives to gain unprecedented access to the site and get closer to the truth, Alexandrovich and the filmmakers uncover the mystery of the Duga, a Soviet radio antenna with frightening abilities, and reveal new layers of the revolution’s painful history…”

… and then of course “Something better to Come”, a hit everywhere, the film by Hanna Polak shot over more than a decade, awarded all over .

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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