This was reported by Ukrinform with reference to: Press service of Riga IFF.

Olha Zhurba’s documentary Songs of the Slow Burning Country (2024) was made as a co-production with Denmark, Sweden and France. Its world premiere took place at the Venice Film Festival in early September (where it appeared against Anastasiia Trofimova’s propaganda film Russians at War).

The Riga IFF jury awarded the main prize to Zhurba’s work in the feature film competition with the following statement: “A film that depicts the brutal reality of war away from the front line, with endurance, honesty and dignity.”

The grand prize at Riga IFF’s International Short Film Competition was won by Oleksiy Radynski’s 15-minute film Where Russia Ends.

The jury’s statement on this victory: “An important work to revive the archives and collective memory, painstakingly assembled to preserve the visibility and history of Russia’s indigenous peoples from the erasure of imperialism and environmental destruction – issues of urgent importance for today’s Europe.”

Ukrainian-Polish project Zavisa, directed by Valeriia Sochyvets. won the shooting competition At the Riga IFF Showcase. It has been described as “a sharp, challenging relationship drama featuring two strongly written protagonists.”

According to the Riga IFF Showcase jury, this project “promises a new and strong female voice in contemporary European cinema, which will be the first feature film of a young but outstanding Ukrainian director.”

Like Ukrinform reported Earlier, the 11th Riga International Film Festival takes place from October 17 to 27 at the historic Splendid Palace cinema in the Lithuanian capital.

Photo: facebook.com/RigaIFF