The fourth International Documentary Film Festival Artdocfest/Riga took place in Riga, Latvia from 1 to 8 March 2024. There were two programmes of competition at the festival – Baltic focus and Artdocfest Open.
In total, the jury evaluated 28 documentaries from the Baltic Focus and Artdocfest Open competition programs.

4 IDFF Artdocfest/Riga prizes were awarded to:

BALTIC FOCUS
Grand Prix — Once we were pitmen (Directors Christian Johannes Koch and Jonas Matauschek)
Best Director — Agnieszka Zwiefka (Vika!)
Special Prize — Gravediggers (Director Ivars Zviedris)

ARTDOCFEST OPEN
Grand Prix — In the Rearview (Director Maciek Hamela)
Best Director — Marianna Kaat (The Last Relic)
Special Prize — The Accidental President (Directors Mike Lerner and Martin Herring)
Jury Special Mention Award — The Dmitriev Affair (Director Jessika Gorter)
Jury Special Mention Award — The Last Summer (Director Vitaliy Akimov)

The 5th Festival will take place from 1 to 8 March 2025.

The Artdocfest programmes have been shown in Riga already since 2014, as for 5 years they were organised in collaboration with RIGA IFF as a part of the festival’s documentary section. The founder of the IDFF Artdocfest/Riga is a non-governmental association “Artdoc Fest & Media”. The partners of the festival are national and international institutions and foundations and media from around the world.

Within the framework of the festival a symposium – a creative meeting of documentary filmmakers and theoreticians was held with the aim to create a temporary, inspirational space of thought - transferring the knowledge, highlighting the tendencies and discussing the developments and significant trends in documentary. Every year a prominent guest – important in the World of Documentary is invited to take part in symposium.

Awards & Prizes

Artdocfest Competition:
Grand Prize (Money prize)
Best Director (Money prize)
Special Jury (Money Prize)
Special mention

Baltic Focus:
Grand Prix HERZ (Money prize)
Special Jury Prize
Best Directing

Rules & Terms

IDFF ARTDOCFEST/RIGA

‘Artdocfest Open’ programme is open to submissions from all over the world, with an accent on documentary cinema and processes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Films in the premiere status for Latvia are allowed to participate in the competition. The selection committee may make an exception to this rule, but not more than one film per year. When forming the program, preference is given to films in the status of "world premiere" and those that have not previously been shown in the Baltic countries.

‘Baltic Focus’ – for this competition section, the Festival considers films produced in the countries of the Baltic Sea Region (Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia*, Sweden) or co-produced with any of these countries.
A Latvian premiere status at the Festival is a mandatory condition. During the film selection process, preference is given to films having Baltic or World premiere status.

* The Festival does not accept films financed by the Russian government or its related companies

The completed form and a link to the film must be available to the Festival’s Board by December 15, 2024.

If one submitter is submitting several films, an online form must be filled out separately for each film.

The submitter should provide a link to an online screener. There must be only one film placed on the link specified in the application form. Films submitted otherwise will not be considered. If a link to Vimeo or YouTube has been provided, the option to download it must be available. If the specified link to the website does not work, or the submission application contains false/erroneous information, the Festival’s Board reserves the right to reject the submission.

Films may be submitted to the Festival by production companies, independent producers, sales agents and distributors, or other copyright holders.

Details - in regulations IDFF ARTDOCFEST / RIGA https://artdocfest.com/en/content/reglament-artdocfest-riga/

NB! Please read the technical requirements for submitting copies of films to be considered for programme inclusion.

2 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Maros Pulscak

    Thank you for having me. I truly enjoyed my stay, met nice people and most importantly inspired.

    April 2024
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  • Kalli Paakspuu

    This festival was a great excuse to visit Riga.My screening of "Maestro Roman Toi beautiful songs I dedicate to you" had some scheduling issues as the online schedule was not consistent with other printed materials or the actual scheduling of films. The hospitality was first rate.The main cinema was full to capacity.

    March 2024
    Helpful