There is a popular Latvian folksong which begins with the phrase "I was singing out high on a mountain". The irony of it is that according to physical geography there are no mountains in Latvia. So what exactly is the place where the Latvians are "singing out"? It may be safely said that it's the same place where they are skiing. That's how we make mountains out of molehills...Snow-covered mountains, to be sure.
This documentary deals with faith, human aging, a struggle to fulfill your vision and above all - one particular building. In its poetical minimalism the film observes the construction of the new Latvian National Library, which has become a metaphor for a temple, a boiling-point for an entire nation.
Sixteen year old student Jānis has been given an interesting home work assignment – to draw his family tree and tell about it. The story of his family begins with his great-great-grandfather, who burned down the manors of German landowners during the 1905 revolution. My Family Tree takes us on a journey to various countries and political regimes, showing Jānis’s ancestors to be people with diverse fates and life stories. A rich Latvian trader, a red rifleman loyal to Lenin, a carpenter at the KGB and war refugees in Sweden are only a few branches on his family tree, and the boy has heard something unusal and unforgettable about each and every one of these people.
During a rainy day, an old Japanese man boards a ferry heading towards an unknown island. As he looks out over the water, the falling rain leads him back in time towards two moments from his past. The only constant is the rain, a woman and Mount Fuji.
A man continues to throw rubbish into the forest, to the great annoyance of both the forest ranger and the forest animals, but when he refuses to stop, more drastic measures have to come into use – and this is where the forest ranger luckily gets the help of a dog, a cat and a mouse, who have had enough of the litter lout.
Documentary about economic changes in Latvia in early 90-ties and banking crisis, viewed through fate of director's father: bank owner. After bank collapses he flew Latvia and is found only after 17 years.
The young Jekabs, Linda and Rihards enjoy the spring full of romance and bohemian way of life. The apple-trees are in blossom in Riga and the war unavoidably approaches.
In April 1969 Ilya (Eliyahu) Rips, then a young student of mathematics, tried to burn himself in a public square in Riga, Latvia protesting against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He was stopped and eventually sent to a psychiatric hospital for two years. Thanks to international pressure from the mathematical community in 1972 he was allowed to emigrate to Israel.
The old gardener works day to night in harmony with the nature’s rhythm and the wisdom of the ancient Latvian lives. His happiness and fulfillment is a garden, which no longer belongs to him, but he feels like it does – a big contribution.
The feature "What Nobody Can See" is a psychological drama with elements of science fiction. The story is based on the relationship of the nurse Elsa with her patient Nicola who has fallen into deep coma after experimenting with creation of artificial intellect. He has to go through a long and hard period of recovery, complicated by the artificial intellect "Anna", eager to keep Nicola just for herself.
During these winter holidays five years old girl Pigtail wants to learn skating the most. However, shortly before the Christmas Pigtail’s baby brother appears to the world and turns everything upside down. Pigtail’s parents are fully occupied with him and her Grandma who has specially arrived from the countryside doesn’t know how to skate nor is any good at reading good-night-tales. So Pigtail together with her imaginary friend, Mr. Sleeplessness, come up with a plan to send Grandma and Baby Brother to the Moon in order to save the holidays and win back parents attention.