Artdocfest/Riga Symposium is a gathering of documentary filmmakers and theoreticians and aims to create a temporary, inspirational space of thought: transfering the knowledge, highlighting the tendencies and discussing the developments within the field. The context of the region, Zeitgeist, films presented at the festival and visions of future perspectives are important and taken into consideration.
Documentary Film Symposium Artdocfest/Riga 2022
5-8 March 2022, Riga
We are documentary filmmakers and we are used to work with what is important and not what’s been planned and written in the scenario. Today there is War situation like we have never experienced before and we will speak in the context of this situation.
With our films and our discussions – seeing and scanning our world, creating our narratives, sharing them with the people.
Discussions Using the “Hamburg protocol”
5th-8th of March, 10.00 – 12.30
Hotel AC Hotel by Marriott Riga, Dzirnavu iela 33
The event was open to accredited filmmakers and film theoreticians
Over four mornings the films included in the Artdocfest / Riga program was discussed, using a format known as the "Hamburg Protocol" discussions.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, classical or Greco-Roman wrestling tournaments took place in many countries, yet over time, they had evolved from competitions into performances that brought revenue to tournament organizers and arena owners. They had realized that most of the spectators didn't find it interesting to watch wrestlers, tired out from many hours trying to flip each other onto their shoulders. However, it was much more interesting to watch a tastefully designed performance, in which a series of beautiful throws are played out on the carpet! The public, who naively believe that the fight is real, are satisfyingly entertained.
Yet how can the true strength of a wrestler, in such a case, be determined? Viktor Shklovsky, a prominent Russian writer and literary scholar, gave a legendary hint about this in 1928, publishing the book "Hamburg Protocol", which began with the words: "The Hamburg Protocol is a very important concept. During a normal fight, all the wrestlers cheat and crash to the floor on the orders of the entrepreneur”. Once a year, however, the strongmen gather in a Hamburg inn. They fight behind closed doors and blanketed windows. Long, ugly and heavy. The true level of wrestling is determined here – excluding any pretence. Thus arose the legend of the "Hamburg Protocol", which simply means - pure truth, without deception; an assessment, free from the effects of temporary circumstances and selfish interests.
Time schedule
5 March, 09.00-10.30
Discussing: We used to sing (dir. Lidia Morozova), My Mother the State (dir. Ieva Ozoliņa), I’ll Stand by You (Virginija Vareikyte, Maximilien Dejoie), Sisters of Longing (dir. Elita Kļaviņa)
6 March, 10.00-12.30
Discussing: This Rain Will Never Stop (dir. Alina Gorlova), Beyond the White (dir. Evgeny Kalachikhin), Survive (dir. Lara Milena Broze)
7 March, 10.00-12.30
Discussing: When the Flowers are not Silent (dir. Andrei Kutsila), The Balcony Movie (dir. Pawel Lozinski), Hippodrome (dir.Vladimir Loginov)
8 March, 10.00-12.30
Discussing: Mara (dir. Sasha Kulak), Cotton 100% (dir. Michael Borodin), Lost Island (dir. Svetlana Rodina, Laurent Stoop), Longing for an Island (dir. Laetitia Farkas)
ROUND TABLE DISCUSSSIONS
Splendid Palace Cinema, Festival centre, Elizabetes iela 61
Entry with accreditation
7 March
13.30-15.00 (in English, live transmision)
"The War, Documentary Cinema and Filmmakers" I - what can we do? Old, new concepts – what does work, what does not? - about the possible or impossible role of documentary cinema within all it. Choices, opportunities, concepts.
With the participation of Pawel Lozynsky (PL), Audrius Stonys (LT), Aleksandra Kulak (BY), Andrei Kutsila (PL/BY)
Online participation: Alina Gorlova (UA) – if possible!, Simon Lereng Wilmont (DK), Orwa Nyrabia (DE), Vitaly Mansky (LV), Viktor Kossakovsky (DE)
15.30-17.00 (in English, live transmision)
"The War, Documentary Cinema and Filmmakers" II - what can we do? - about the possible or impossible role of documentary cinema within all it. Choices, opportunities, concepts.
With the participation of Ilze Burkovska – Jakobsen (LV), Trond Jacobsen (NO), Svetlatna Rodina (CH), Jerzy Sladkowski (SE), Laurent Stoop, Anton Dolin (RU), Audrius Stonys (LT), Uldis Cekuls (LV)
8 March
Splendid Palace Cinema, Big Hall
11.00-13.00 (in Russian, simultaneous translation in English)
Philosopher Uldis Tīrons talks with Dmitry Muratov, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize, who is a member of the Artdocfest/Riga festival Jury this year.
8 March
Splendid Palace Cinema, Festival centre, Elizabetes iela 61
14.30-16.00 (in Latvian, live transmision)
Future Commission
Young and upcoming directors, actors, philosophers, critics who travel freely around the world, speak foreign languages, study and work online, will discuss the current situations and a number of very different festival films, each reflecting a significant but vastly different reality of life, from their points of view. They will make predictions about the future - how the world and cinema will evolve over the next ten years, their role in the process, and what they see in today's range of documentaries - what is missing, what doesn’t address them and vice versa.
With the participation of Frederiks Anosovs, Sofija Anna kozlova, Gerds Lapoška, Emīls Zavelis, Eduards Taurens (LV)