According to Marlene Dietrich, chanteuse Edith Piaf's voice was "the soul of Paris." This French drama explores the often troubled life of the singer as her fame took her from the City of Lights to America to the South of France. Abandoned by her mother, Piaf grew up in her grandmother's brothel and her father's circus, which is hardly the fun one might imagine. While singing on the streets of Paris as a teen, Piaf (played as an adult by Marion Cotillard, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT) is discovered by club owner Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu), and this chance encounter changes the woman's life. Her powerful voice takes her all over the globe, but it can't guard her from the pain and suffering she can't avoid.
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Gérard Depardieu, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jean-Paul Rouve
Directed by Olivier Dahan
"Kinoautomat" is the world’s first interactive film - a black comedy satire on democracy - whose plot and story are determined by the audience. A naked woman, an apartment building in flames, a car chase, and it’s always up to you what happens next! The action stops at nine points, and the audience has to choose between two scenes; following the vote, the chosen scene is played. The film, made in 1967 in Czechoslovakia, has since been screened exclusively only a handful of times, and has attracted thousands of excited spectators. The film will be screened in Riga twice as part of the Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS.
Cast: Karla Chadimová, Miroslav Hornícek, Jan Libícek
Directed by: Radúz Činčera
A Royal Affair is a gripping tale of brave idealists who risk everything in their pursuit of freedom for the people, but above all it is the story of a passionate and forbidden romance that changed an entire nation.
Snowpiercer is set in a future where, after a failed experiment to stop global warming, an Ice Age kills off all life on the planet except for the inhabitants of the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe and is powered by a sacred perpetual-motion engine. A class system evolves on the train but a revolution brews.
Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world.
A politically-charged serial killer thriller set in 1953 Soviet Russia, "Child 44" chronicles the crisis of conscience for secret police agent Leo Demidov, who loses status, power and home when he refuses to denounce his own wife, Raisa, as a traitor. Exiled from Moscow to a grim provincial outpost, Leo and Raisa join forces with General Mikhail Nesterov to track down a serial killer who preys on young boys. Their quest for justice threatens a system-widecover-up.
Youthful dreams, the best years of her life, health, home, husband, son, homeland – the Soviet regime took it all away, yet she survived. She survived to write it all down, so that generations to come would never forget the story that was forced on all of us.
Film based on the memoirs of Latvian writer Melanija Vanaga "Suddenly, a Criminal: Sixteen Years in Siberia".
In 1939 Poland, Antonina Żabińska and her husband, Jan Żabiński, have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing under his stewardship and her care. When their country is invaded by the Germans, they are forced to report to the Reich's newly appointed chief zoologist. To fight back on their own terms, Antonina and Jan covertly begin working with the Resistance – and put into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, with Antonina putting herself and even her children at great risk.
Alice Racine lives a quiet life in London. Once the best interrogator in the CIA, Alice failed to unlock a prisoner, prompting her to leave the field. When the CIA apprehends a suspect who is believed to have direct knowledge of an imminent terrorist attack, Alice is called in unexpectedly. Quickly realizing she has been set-up, she narrowly escapes, and finds herself on the run. Alice must turn to the few she can trust as she tries to prevent a deadly biological attack on the city.
A sweeping tale of love and loss, myth and fate, based on the timeless Celtic myth of star-crossed passion. First separated by countries at war, and now by loyalty to King and country, Tristan and Isolde must suppress their emotions for the sake of peace and the future of England. But the more they deny their passion, the more fiercely it burns. Despite their efforts to stay apart, Tristan and Isolde are driven inexorably together, risking everything for one last moment in each other's arms.
Cast: James Franco, Sophia Myles, Rufus Sewell, David O'Hara, Henry Cavill, JB Blanc, Jamie King
Directed by Kevin Reynolds
English language with latvian and russian subtitles.
The iconic monsters from two of the scariest film franchises ever, battle each other on Earth for the first time on film. The discovery of an ancient pyramid buried in Antarctica sends a team of scientists and adventurers to the frozen continent. There, they make an even more terrifying discovery: two alien races engaged in the ultimate battle. No matter who wins, we lose.
An extraordinary, lonely yet spiritually strong little girl attempts to comprehend the adult world, which in her eyes is very contradictory, and to prove her own value despite the ignorance and lack of appreciation by her family in late 1930s. Bille tries to find an escape in her vivid imagination.
This autobiographical family drama based on a best-selling book by the award-winning Latvian author and a Nobel Prize candidate Vizma Belševica.