PLAY

Riga Pasaules Film Festival is opening its call for films for its 12th edition, to be held at Kino Bize from April 23 to 27, 2025.

The festival’s curating team is calling for documentary films that engage with “play” as an approach to filmmaking and as a theme of inquiry. We are interested in stories that capture the ways in which life is constituted through play. Our approach is informed by ideas that approach the creative process as simultaneously ludic and serious, real and fantastic, individual and collective, pleasurable and productive, structured and free. We are interested in the performative aspects of play, where players wilfully engage with each other through pre-established conventions in the process of constructing a project for their future.

Ultimately, we are interested in the ways in which filmic realities are constructed through forms of play. We seek films with distinctive setup or rules, or a triggering gesture that sets the way for the spectator to enter the worlds of the film.

NB: RPFF 2025 has a 3 EUR submission fee.

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rigapasaulesfilmfestival

Visit the Kino Bize website for information on the 2025 edition of the festival: www.kinobize.lv/en/rpff

The RPFF team

Awards & Prizes

RPFF is a non-competitive festival.

Rules & Terms

RPFF does not pay screening fees.

Submissions that are not in English must be subtitled in English.

If your film is selected, in order to provide a translation into Latvian we will require an .srt subtitle file.

Screening formats accepted by Kino Bize: DCP or HD video file (preferably .mp4, 1080 and higher).

By submitting a film, the holder of the copyright agrees that the preview copy of the film will remain within the festival archive at the Department of Social Anthropology of Tallinn University, as part of their research and educational film collection and that the film can be used for non-profit screening events with no screening fee, organised by the Department of Social & Cultural Anthropology of Tallinn University.
10 Reviews
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  • Jana Raschdorf

    I had a great time at the Riga Pasaules Film Festival 2024. It was such an honor to be selected among other talented documentary filmmakers. The cinema is such a beautiful and cozy space and having my film screened in it was a wonderful and intimate experience. Everyone was very nice, too and Q&A sessions invited to dive into the movies even deeper and connect with the directors and crew members.

    September 2024
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  • Mauro Bucci

    An amazing festival with filmmakers and scholars focused on ethnographic filmmaking and screenings of many interesting documentaries. Besides it is an event with an engaged and competent audience in documentary cinema.
    Thanks to Carlo Cubero, Festival programme curator, and all the Festival Team!

    May 2024
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  • Matthew Lancit

    This is a great festival. The programming is carefully thought out and well put together. The films are always interesting discoveries. And, most of all, it's just a really intimate atmosphere with warm and friendly people who are passionate about what they are doing. Also, it's the kind of festival where you actually get to spend time talking with the other filmmakers. A shared experience.

    May 2024
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  • Tomáš Vynikal

    Superb festival and mainly excellent organisers. An unforgettable experience for me.

    August 2023
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  • Liivo Niglas

    A very nice and cozy film festival. Good films, great discussions and friendly people.

    September 2021
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