Patriot Week on filmas.lv: free Latvian film programme available worldwide online
Latvia's National Film Centre, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will run a free online festival on filmas.lv from 11 to 19 November, accessible anywhere with an internet connection. The programme includes six feature films, two documentaries and a selection of animated shorts.
In November, the month of Latvia's national holidays, the National Film Centre (NKC) is organising the traditional Patriot Week online festival on the filmas.lv portal, in cooperation with Latvia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The selection of Latvian films will be free to watch from Lāčplēsis Day, 11 November, until 19 November, anywhere in the world with an internet connection. Films are available from midnight to midnight in each country's time zone.
The programme
This year's line-up has six full-length feature films: contemporary titles for children, families and young people, as well as golden-age classics. They are joined by two historical documentaries about Latvia and a selection of animated shorts for younger viewers. The animation episodes come from director Jānis Cimmermanis's series "Avārijas brigāde" (Emergency Brigade), whose first films turn 35 this year.
According to the organisers, the programme tells a story of important periods and turning points on Latvia's road to the present, covering children of different eras, historical events, Latvian landscapes and the thoughts of a young person today. A detailed list of films will be announced next week, shortly before the festival begins.
Language and support for the diaspora
The films will be shown in Latvian without translation, because in the context of the national holiday it is important to support Latvians living abroad and help them preserve their national identity, including their language. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has helped organise the celebration on filmas.lv for the fourth year. The festival is also supported by the State Audiovisual Archive of the National Archives of Latvia and the Culture Information Systems Centre (KISC).
The filmas.lv portal
The site filmas.lv has for more than ten years offered a legal way to watch Latvian films free of charge. Most of them are available only in Latvia, but since 2019 the site has regularly hosted festivals open to viewers worldwide. Almost 30 such online festivals have been held in seven years. Their diaspora audience is growing, with viewers not only in Europe and America but also, for example, in Ukraine, Chile, Turkey, Mexico, Georgia, India, South Korea, Gambia, Argentina, Kenya, Egypt, Guernsey and Morocco.
