Wednesday 28 May 2008

LGBT Film Days Riga (Latvia)

Between 8 and 11 May the film gallery K-Suns hosted the third annual LGBT Film Days in Riga. This event is being organised by me personally in co-operation with a few embassies and foreign cultural representations. Needless to say, an absolute majority of Latvian institutions do not wish to have anything to do with this festival. But hey, I am an optimist - the only way is up!

A total of 26 films was shown - 7 full length feature films, 3 documentaries and 16 short films divided into two programmes - You & Me and Colourful World. To my surprise, the biggest audience magnet turned out to be a German documentary about Indian hijras - Between the Lines/India's Third Gender. Well, maybe I should review it sometime soon then!

This year's poster (as well as the one last year) was designed by Paul Sixta, a Dutch multimedia artist and filmmaker. And this is what it looks like



The film days were opened with "Keillers Park", a Swedish thriller which I reviewed here some time ago. The film's director, Susanna Edwards came to Riga in this connection and presented it to the audience. And this is what she looks like



And here both of us are standing in front of the cinema where all the films were screened



Both photos by Māra Pētersone.