The closing ceremony of the 4th International Documentary Film Festival Artdocfest/Riga will take place on the 7th of March at 19.00 at Splendid Palace, where the winners of the two competition programmes "Baltic Focus" and "Artdocfest Open" will be announced.
The Baltic Focus program jury, which will decide on the main prize HERZ, is composed of film director Giedre Zickīte, film critic and US Golden Globe juror Dmitro Desiaterik and TV journalist, theatre critic and screenwriter Henrietta Verhoustinska.
The Artdocfest Open program jury, which will decide who will be awarded the Grand Prix, includes Adam Michnik, international award-winning historian and editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's largest newspaper; Viesturs Kairišs, theatre, film and opera director and artistic director of the Dailes Theatre; and Chulpan Hamatova, theatre and film actress.
The winners of both competition programs will screen their films on the last day of the festival - 8th March at 18:00 (Baltic Focus winning film) and at 21:00 (Artdocfest Open winning film).
The final film of the festival is Lithuanian director Arturas Jevdokimovs' “The Life and Death of a Christmas Tree”, which highlights the ethics of environmental sustainability and lifestyle in line with his debut film about the second-hand clothing industry. The film follows the surprising Christmas tree business between Denmark and Georgia. It turns out that the seeds of the fir cones are harvested in Georgia in the autumn and then sold to Denmark, where the seedlings are grown for sale all over Europe. But these spruce trees can be as tall as 60 metres, and to get to the best cones, collectors have to climb to the very top. Sometimes they lose their balance and fall. Is the multi-billion Christmas tree business worth the lives lost by cone pickers?
The film premiered at the Tallinn International Film Festival "Black Nights" (PÖFF). The film manages to make the audience laugh and cry, giving a full range of emotions and making us think about the meaning of this festive day, which has become oriented towards a culture of consumption.
Screening at Splendid Palace on the 7th of March at 19:00.
The International Documentary Film Festival Artdocfest/Riga is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation, the Embassy of Israel, the Danish Cultural Institute, Radio SWH, Skrīveru saldumi, Neighbourhood Riga, Meduza, LiveRiga, Artdoc.Media, Zuzeum Art Centre, LSM. lv, portal Delfi.lv, magazine "Kino Raksti", cinema Splendid Palace, German TV channel "Deutsche Welle", US TV channel "Current Time TV", US radio organisation "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty", hotel "Pullman Hotels and Resorts", TV channel "TV Rain".
Artdocfest/Riga film screenings will take place at the festival's traditional home venues - the Splendid Palace cinema and the Zuzeum art centre.