Atom Art is an award-winning 2D animation studio established in 2001. They are known for their auteur short films and animated films for children. The studio works in a variety of animation genres: magical realism, animated documentary, musical, absurd, children’s film and others. The studio mainly works in the computer cut-out animation technique, but films are also made by traditional drawing, drawing on glass, sand animation, animation with charcoal and even puppet animation.

 

Most-significant films:

 

Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs /Jēkabs, Mimmī un runājošie suņi

Edmunds Jansons, Cut-Out, 2D Computer Animation, 70 min, 2019, universal audiences, with dialogues.

Adventure story about two kids who spend summer in city suburb, where together with talking dogs they rescue the romantic wooden-house neighborhood from reconstruction.

 

Hush Hush Little Bear / Čuči čuči

Māra Linina, Author technique – cut outs of wool on the glass , 5 min, 2022, Latvia, preschool-aged children, no dialogues

While the bear parents are away looking for berries and honey, the baby bears stay at home with the sheep. The bear cubs have a good time playing merrily with a ball of yarn, but soon enough the cubs find themselves all tangled up and everything is turned upside down! Luckily the sheep help them put everything in order again. The film is based on the traditional Latvian lullaby “Hush Hush Little Bear” (‘Aijā, žūžu, lāča bērni’).

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Works online

infinityBOX is established in 2012. They base their creative work on various combinations of art, technology and technique and also invite other artists and animators when the pace of work becomes more intense. The studio has tried out all possible animation techniques, gradually developing and defining its own specific style: a combination of classic animation, plasticine animation and chiaroscuro on various textured backgrounds. 

 

Most-significant films:

 

Ievads epilogam / Introduction to an Epilogue

Plasticine, tracing paper, 9 min, 2018, adults, no dialogues

An allegorical animated film about the fear of death, which, it turns out, is in fact a narcissistic emotion. The film reflects man’s transformation at truly difficult life moments and his ability to accept the inevitable and understand that life is always just one life long.

 

Awesome Beetle’s Colors

Plasticine, acrylic, pastels, 3 min, 2016, children’s film, dialogues

A colourful, surreal animated film that presents the English alphabet three times. The film received the Cristal Award at Annecy and has been screened at more than one hundred festivals on five continents.

Works online

STUDIJA KOKLES is a film studio born during the Covid-19 economical crisis. It is headed by producer Sniedze Kāle, while its creative work is carried out by director and screenwriter Kārlis Vītols. A multi-layered story, cultural and historical references and unique visuals are the values that drives studio toward the animated film industry.

 

Most-significant films:

 

The Northern Star / Ziemeļu zvaigzne

Kārlis Vītols, Cut-Out, 2D Computer Animation, 72 min, 2026, Latvia, 6+, with dialogues

 

At a time when the residents of Riga look at the ideas of the Enlightenment with suspicion, the young pharmacist Himsel decides to fight against the closure of Riga. He must convince the ignorant head of the city, Strauss, that contacts with the outside world benefit the city and its people. To achieve this, the young man sets out to find answers on a Grand Tour to the cradle of Western civilisation – Italy.

 

The End / Beigas

Kārlis Vītols, Cut-Out, 2D Computer Animation 11 min, 2019, Latvia, adults, no dialogue

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The crisis of a middle-aged man who finds himself trapped in his memories, trying to cope with the physical and mental feeling of the impending end. The End was made as the last part of a trilogy of non-narrative films, in which a Count experiences three different settings and moments from his life. 

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Works online

Studio Krasivo Limited was founded in 2006. Krasivo was inspired by the names of movie director Jurgis KRASons and scriptwriter IVO Briedis. Limited means limited beauty, because, as we know, unlimited can be just an ideal. Making of animation films, design of art exhibitions, service of costume department for feature films are the main activities of the studio. The studio is working on a combination of 2D and 3D computer animation and they have various of explored themes.

 

Most-significant films:

 

Kā es atmetu smēķēšanu / How I Gave Up Smoking

3D computer animation, 11 min, 2016, a film for adults, no dialogues

The habit of smoking will truly be broken by the end of this film. At the beginning of the film, however, a Scandinavian woman almost dies because the main character lights a cigarette at an airport.

 

Norīt krupi / To Swallow a Toad

Together with Rija Films, classic animation, 9 min, 2010, adults, no dialogues

Once upon a time, the rotund intellectuals lived in a small town. They were smart, good-natured, prescient and successful. And this success was based on their ability to...swallow a toad. In other words, to swallow their pride, or overcome offence. The square, practical workers also lived in this same town. They were pragmatic realists who rewarded good with good and evil with evil and did not swallow any toads. A peaceful coexistence. But one day one of the squares inadvertently found out that the rotunds swallowed toads.

LUNOHOD animation studio was founded in 2007 and located in Riga, Latvia. Studio is led by Vladimir Leschov. In 1970 Soviet space robot-moonwalker Lunokhod-1 accomplished it's amazing journey on the surface of the Moon. In the same year Vladimir was making his first steps discovering the planet Earth. Lunohod specializes in author animated short films production, they do not have a specific favourite genres and they tend to discover variety of techniques.

 

Most-significant films:

 

Electrician’s Day / Elektriķa diena

Classical animation, 8 min, 2018, adults, no dialogue

An accident happens during repairs at a psychiatric hospital. As a result, an electrician loses consciousness and finds himself on the other side of the wall.

 

Villa Antropoff

Vladimirs Leščovs and Kaspars Jancis, classical animation, 13 min, 2012, adults, no dialogue

An ironic story about dreams and losing dreams. Inspired by a real event, when both directors found themselves at a strange wedding celebration in the villa of former USSR leader Yuri Andropov near Pärnu in Estonia.

 

Works online

Film studio Locomotive Productions produces fiction, creative documentaries and animation. Founded in 1999, in recent years it has become one of fastest growing, most creative and productive film studios in the Baltic Countries. The director of Locomotive Productions is producer Roberts Vinovskis, who has been active in the film industry since the early 1990s. Locomotive works in various techniques and genres.

 

Most-significant films:

 

Akmeņi manās kabatās / Rocks in My Pockets

Signe Baumane, stopmotion, drawn and papier mâché animation, 88 min, 2014, Latvia / United States, adults, dialogue in English and Latvian

A story based on real people and events. The director tells about five women in her family, including herself, and their battles with life’s challenges, depression and mental illness. In this bleak yet funny film, the twists and turns of Latvian history are interlaced with personal experiences and stories about family secrets, love and marriage.

 

Saule brauca debesīs / Before the Day Breaks

Roze Stiebra, drawn animation, 75 min, 2018, Latvia, universal audiences, dialogue.

The Sun and Moon have a baby, and mummers arrive to welcome the Daughter of the Sun. Amid the joyous crowds, no one notices that the Daughter has disappeared, and everyone is suddenly stunned to see an empty cradle. However strong the Sun and Moon are, they cannot find their Daughter nor bring her back home. It turns out they need a human being! 

VFS FILMS is a Latvian production company established in 1997 and best known for its human-interest documentaries, shorts, animation and author-driven television docu-series. Most of our films have travelled around the world and many have received prestigious awards, such as Shanghai IFF Golden Goblet (“Bridges of Time” by Audrius Stonys and Kristine Briede), Karlovy Vary IFF Crystal Globe (“Immortal” by Ksenia Okhapkina), two Best Documentary awards at Warsaw FF (“Wonderful Losers” by Arunas Matelis and “The Jump” by Giedre Zickyte), IDFA Special Jury prize (“Ukrainian Sheriffs” by Roman Bondarchuk), European Film Academy nomination (“Dream Land” by Laila Pakalnina) and
many others. Our Italian-Latvian coproduction “The Rossellinis” by Alessandro Rossellini have premiered at 77 th Venice IFF. In 2021 we debuted at Black Nights IFF with our first feature “UPURGA” by Ugis Olte.

 

Most-significant films:

 

The Rossellinis / Es piedzimu Rosellīni

Alessandro Rossellini, live action documentary, 90 min, 2020, Italy, Latvia, universal audiences, dialogue.

Roberto Rossellini was a genius of the cinema and a distinctly anti-conformist father. His romances filled the front pages of newspapers around the world, scandalous to the rigid morality of the Fifties and generated a numerous, proudly multi-ethnic, and decidedly extended family. Alessandro, the great director’s first grandchild, has had a shaky career as a photographer and a lengthy past as a drug addict. As the first grandchild of a genius, he doesn’t feel he measures up of the surname he bears. So, at 55 years of age he decides to make his first film, taking on the Rossellini saga with wit and pressing his relatives into an impossible family therapy in front of the camera.

 

The Jump / Lēciens

Giedrė Žickytė, live action documentary, 85 min, 2020, Lithuania, Latvia, France, universal audiences, dialogue.

It’s Thanksgiving Day, 1970. The US coast guard sets out to meet a Soviet vessel anchored just off the shore of Martha’s Vineyard. A one-day conference between the two nations has been set to discuss fishing rights in the Atlantic Ocean. While the talks are in full swing, Lithuanian sailor Simas Kudirka jumps across the icy water onto the American boat in a frantic bid for freedom. To his horror, and to the outcry of the world media, the Americans return him to the Soviets and he is tried for treason. The event sets off a series of protests throughout the US begging for his freedom and all hope seems lost, until new information about Simas’ citizenship surfaces.

Through eye-witness reports, rare archival footage and a dramatic first-person re-enactment by now 90-year-old would-be defector Simas Kudirka, director Giedrė Žickytė takes us on a stranger-than-fiction journey that became an inspiration for people, pictures and politics, reaching all the way up to the White House.