Janu Nakts (St. John's Night) is a traditional Latvian celebration during which family and friends gather to build bonfires, barbecue, drink and generally have a good time. According to legend, lovers and those who would like to fall in love, can search the woods for the "magic fern" on this night. This magic fern serves as the focus and pivotal point of the six stories in "Midsummer Madness" It is also a metaphor for the film's underlying theme - finding love. "MIDSUMMER MADNESS " is reflected in the recurring element of the magic fern, a metaphor (both in the film and in real life) for love. The question posed by the film is: can a search for love ever be successful? Each story deals with this question. An answer is provided at the film's conclusion in a humorous and unforgettable way: we see the legendary fern, glowing magically in a meadow. It exists after all! Then a cow ambles along and eats it. The deeper message, which is not obvious to the audience, is therefore: Yes, a search for love can be successful, though we are generally unaware of how to deal with it.
Cast: Maria de Medeiros, Dominique Pinon, Orlando Wells, Tobias Moretti, Chulpan Khamatova, Gundars Abolins, Aurelija Anuzīte, Janis Blums, Birgit Minichmayr
Directed by Alexander Hahn
Four directors trying to capture simple, yet quintessential experiences of a single individual in different periods of his life - childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. The four loosely related segments form a single interwoven narrative, where each one of the depicted events provides reference points for the others.
Cast: Igors Suhoverhovs, Kārlis Spravņiks, Ints Teterovskis, Liubomiras Lauciavicius
Directed by Jānis Kalējs, Gatis Šmits, Jānis Putniņš, Anna Viduleja
Mirta, an old woman from the countryside, wins a car in a lottery and suddenly has to play host to a houseful of scarcely-seen relatives. Her nephew Ēriks, his wife Dagnija and son Uģis, and her former daughter-in-law Olita, husband Viktors and daughter Lāsma would all like to get the car, and each tries to influence Mirta. But before dying, she remembers her old admirer Pigalu Prīdis.
In 1995, during the festivities marking 100 years of cinema, Limousine the Colour of St. John's Night was recognized as the best Latvian film of all time.
Cast: Lilita Bērziņa, Uldis Dumpis, Olga Dreģe, Gundars Āboliņš, Baiba Indriksone, Boļeslavs Ružs, Diāna Zande, Līga Liepiņa, Romualds Ancāns, Ēvalds Valters
Directed by Jānis Streičs
Scriptwriter: Māra Svīre
He fought in Afghanistan and went missing in action there. 21 years later he returns to Estonia to attend his father’s funeral. Estranged from the Western society and converted to Islam, his only bond to life there is the memory of his daughter, Angel, whose crying he believes he once, long ago, heard on the telephone. Ever since he has been writing letters to her into his dog-eared notebook. The town that used to be his home and where he begins to look for his daughter and his wife now feels like a ghostly and alien place. Slender young women dictate its life and rhythm, yet something has gone hopelessly astray in their lives. When the man whom they thought for years to be dead arrives, the women see him as someone who could resolve their troubles.
Cast: Tõnu Oja, Tiina Tauraite, Ragne Pekarev, Mirtel Pohla, Katariina Lauk
Directed by Sulev Keedus
Scriptwriter: Sulev Keedus
One of the most impressive films in the history of Latvian documentary cinema – a monumental film, shot by four different crews in the whole Soviet Union under the supervision of director Uldis Brauns. Referencing the number of inhabitants of the massive country in its title, the film contrastingly captures the most important moments in the life of an individual as well as the society, seeking the personal and the intimate as well as scope and the sensational in the scenes of the mass events.
Directed by: Uldis Brauns
A small village on the Baltic coast. Three guys - Andzha, Boga and Paleface spend their days drinking beer, killing time and picking up fights with neighbouring villagers. Andzha`s marriage proposal sends his girlfriend Simona on a quest for true love. Their relationship is tested when Andzha`s brother Guido unexpectedly arrives. A film about two brothers and their illusions of women.
Cast: Iveta Pole, Artuss Kaimiņš, Andris Keišs, Aigars Apinis, Varis Piņķis, Māra Ķimele, Guna Zariņa, Līga Vītiņa, Agnese Čivle
Directed by: Juris Poškus
Jan, a guy in his twenties, and his friend Cracker, are involved in several crimes in their neglected suburb of the city. After meeting the “golden youth” beauty, Sabina, he looks for a fresh start in downtown circles, but finds contempt. His hopes for love, compassion and opportunity are dashed by the even more ruthless rules of the bourgeois, and all he can count on is himself.
Cast: Iļja Ščerbakovs, Semjons Serzins, Mihails Razumovskis, Viktorija Kondratenko, Mareks Marcinkēvičs, Agnese Frišfelde
Directed by: Aiks Karapetjans
Inta is a bruesque, crusty woman who lives alone on the edge of a picturesque marsh. One day her solitude is intruded upon by the arrival of a documentary filmmaker. In his eyes Inta is an outstanding would-be film protagonist but the wild woman would rather put a curse on the importunate intruder than let herself be filmed. But the filmmaker's persistance finally succeeds in melting the ice of Inta's heart... just in order to break it soon afterwards.
Directed by: Ivars Zviedris, Inese Kļava
Inspired by works of Anatole France. According to Oriental legends, Talmud and the medieval books of Cabala, Lilith was not created from Adam's rib like Eve but from clay like he himself.
Lilith wasn't stained by Original Sin. She has no soul, and she is immortal. Lilith assumes different names, she can change her appearance and take possession of men against their will. Once it's accomplished, she leaves her victims forever, marking them for either spiritual, or physical death. Whatever she does is neither Good nor Evil. She is made of an altogether different matter.
The first line of the story is set in the Renaissance era (1664), where Theophilius (Ville Haapasalo), an art dealer from Riga, sets sail to his old business partner Borgraph (Yuri Tsurilo). He becomes possessed bythe mystical housekeeper Nida (Olga Shepitskaya) who, in some strange way, looks similar to the woman from an old painting he is going to sell.
The second part jumps to the 19th century (1883) to be set in Russian Empire and France. The young aristocrat Ari (Danila Kozlovsky) hurries to his mentor Safrak (Lembit Ulfsak) to confess his sins. His passion for the mysterious Persian beauty Leila (Anna Azarova) has led to madness of his good friend Paul (Regnars Vaivars) and suicide of his own bride. After hearing his confession priest's actions seemstrange.
And the last part of the movie takes place nowadays, in Riga (1990), where a middle-aged installation artist Franz (Aleksey Serebryakov) is lost somewhere in-between fantasies, artifacts and real life events. He is avoiding to fall into relationships and does not understand the meaning of his existence. Will he manage to withstand the temptation of "The Daughter of Lilith" – young gypsy Lola?
Oskars (almost 18 years old) and Matīss (already 18 years old) are working as pizza bakers. That’s a temporary job for them. They have huge future plans – studies at e.g. Oxford etc.. But they turn their lives upside down in one evening. Most probably they will be charged guilty even in kidnapping of a child.
Geneva, Switzerland 1935. Europe is struggling to be united as one yet the Woodrow- Wilson’s idea of a united Europe by the means of the League of Nations is being enforced. American missionaries since the 1920’s are trying to introduce the Europeans with the new sport called basketball.
The first European Championship in basketball is about to take place. The national teams are meeting each other for the first time. Each wants the honour of being the first champion.
Meanwhile in Latvia, the coach Baumanis is convinced that he can gather the team and take it to Geneva. However on his journey he quickly learns that triumph and defeat are a part of the game. Baumanis faces many difficulties, as well as unexpected help from those closest to him.
Cast: Jānis Āmanis, Inga Alsiņa, Vilis Daudziņš.
Directed by: Aigars Grauba, Andrejs Ēķis.
An adventurous and touching story of Raimonds, a misunderstood adolescent, who trying to reconcile with his mother, delves into the world of trouble and petty crime.
Cast: Kristofers Konovalovs, Vita Vārpiņa, Matīss Livčāns, Indra Briķe
Directed by: Jānis Nords