The 4th international documentary film festival "Artdocfest/Riga", which will take place from March 1 to 8, presents a seven-film program "Ukraine Above All" dedicated to contemporary Ukraine.
This year, the festival program includes a total of 20 films about Ukraine – its struggle for freedom, the formation of a united nation, people who were forced to leave or lost their homes, those who went to defend their land with weapons in their hands, and those who patriotically maintain a breath of life and hope in a country where everyone is currently risking their lives.
The lenses of the documentary cinema cameras, which have focused on Ukraine for the third year, capture what was unimaginable until relatively recently. It will long serve as a source for research and evidence of the bitter lessons of history in the future, but currently allows to gain a clearer perspective and a sense of participation and witness in those whose conscience and human values prevent turning away, deciding not to delve into it, perceiving as background noise the criminal tragedy taking place very close by, which will inevitably transform Europe.
Each of the films included in the program "Ukraine Above All" focuses on a radically different thematic aspect – looking back at the crucial period after the fall of the Iron Curtain, love during the war, the worldview of children fleeing to safe countries, overcoming traumatic experiences, the Crimean Tatars' resistance to repression, the contribution of Ukrainian architects to the transformation of society, as well as the uneasy questions about the complicity and responsibility of the population in the aggression against their land. The countries of production of these selected documentaries that exhibit high artistic value are Ukraine, Italy, Estonia, the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
The competition program "Artdocfest Open" also includes notable films about Ukraine. These are Ukrainian productions – "Mist", "Position", "In the Rearview Mirror" (co-production with Poland), included in the long list of contenders for the "Oscar" awards, as well as a saga about a family from Mariupol "Photo for Memory", which opened the main world documentary film festival IDFA in Amsterdam.
IDFF "Artdocfest/Riga" will present its screenings in the traditional venues – at the cinema "Splendid Palace" and the Zuzeum Art Center.