Best Latvian movies

Flow (2024)

A solitary cat, displaced by a great flood, finds refuge on a boat with various species and must navigate the challenges of adapting to a transformed world together.

The Rifleman (2019)

The love story of sixteen-year-old Arturs is interrupted by the First World War. After losing his mother and his home, he finds some consolation in joining the army, because this is the first time national battalions are allowed in the Russian Empire. But war is nothing like Arturs imagined – no glory, no fairness. It is brutal and painful. Arturs is now completely alone as war takes the lives of his father and brother. Also, no progress is made in the promised quick resolution of the war and timely return home. Within the notion that only he alone cares about returning home and that his homeland is just a playground for other nations, Arturs finds strength for the final battle and eventually returns home to start everything from scratch, just like his newly born country.

The Pagan King (2018)

On his deathbed, the reigning king bestows power to an unexpected heir who must find strength within himself to unite his people against the violent crusades which threaten their freedom.

Away (2019)

After suffering a plane crash on a mysterious island, a young man embarks on an epic journey through forests, deserts and mountains trying to escape the shadow of a huge dark spirit.

Oasis (2017)

A boy is afraid to leave his oasis because of the spirit waiting for him outside.

Duna (2018)

A young woman gets flashbacks from her previous lives - flashbacks of how she died. Is her fate doomed to repeat itself again?

Grandad's Honey (2002)

A lonely old man lives in the countryside. The only thing left for him is to wait for the end of his days in the company of his family - his bees.

Rocks in My Pockets (2014)

The personal story of a woman struggling with an inherited illness, as told by Signe Baumane, the Latvian director-animator living in New York City. With humour and courage, the director sets out on a challenging journey to discover her family’s best-kept secret. Featuring five stories about the courageous women in Signe’s family and their battles with madness, visual metaphors, surreal images and director’s narration.

The Dissidents (2017)

In Soviet-era Estonia, three young mavericks drop everything and flee to Sweden, but soon learn the free world is not all it's cracked up to be.

Oleg (2019)

Oleg, a young Latvian butcher, arrives in Brussels in the hope of getting a better salary in a meat factory. His experience turns short after being betrayed by a colleague. Alone in a country where he doesn’t belong, he quickly falls under the yoke of Andrzej, a Polish criminal.

The Foundation of Criminal Excellence (2018)

Imants Veide is writing a script about con artists and their schemes. Together with his friend Harijs Kuharjonoks he's trying them out for real for greater authenticity, but gets too entangled in real criminal schemes. More and more colorful characters appear on the horizon, but Imant's main adversary on the road to criminal excellency is his Neighbour, a true iron lady with balls bigger than all those involved combined.

Swingers (2020)

A light comedy about building relationships – with passion and funny misunderstandings. All characters of this movie are in desire for flirt.

River of Fear (2022)

A local guide is asked to lead a group of influencers along the river of a remote valley. As they get deeper into the wilderness, their venture takes a frightening turn.

Dramatic Ending (2019)

The participants of a ritual are performing a rhythmic energy discharge. Suddenly, a vibration sound comes from outside. Spectators are hurrying back to their places. A dramatic ending can begin.

The Latvian (2007)

A testament to the power of film – a witty summary of the entire history of Latvia from ancient to modern times in eight minutes.

Mellow Mud (2016)

Siblings Roby and Raya after the death of their father and being abandoned by their mother, are forced to live with their dominating grandmother in a small country house owned by their family. Things change after the sudden death of their grandmother. The teenagers have to face a tough choice: either to report the accident and submit themselves to a life in an orphanage or hide the dead body and live as if nothing has happened.

Six Feet Above (2015)

The young Jekabs, Linda and Rihards enjoy the spring full of romance and bohemian way of life. The apple-trees are in blossom in Riga and the war unavoidably approaches.

The Python (2003)

An absurdist farce centering around a school in post-Soviet Latvia. After a rather disgusting prank (someone defecates in the school attic), the tyrannical headmistress deems that no one can leave until the culprit is caught. When the photographer's pet python escapes, havok breaks loose.

Insomnia (2004)

She comes at night, quiet as a cat, to take his sleep away until he feeds her. All she needs is milk brought by him somewhere between sleep and reality. Her name is Insomnia.

Lost In Snow (2007)

In winter some people go ice-fishing. Excitement intensified by freezing temperatures and strong drinks lead to unpredictable consequences.

Us and Them (2006)

The existence of two parallel communities – one Latvian, the other Russian, is the reality of present day Latvia. After the establishment of an independent Latvian Republic in 1991, the Russian speaking community began to see themselves as a threatened minority and started to depict themselves as oppressed. Where does the truth lie? Are there victims? Or is it simply that the idea of integration, for both sides, does not work properly?

Nude (2008)

Some people collect family albums. Sarmīte Sīle, an accomplished arts scholar, takes a nude photo of herself every ten years. Behind this unique series of nude photos that span a lifetime, is her story.

Komandas mūzika (2020)

Firefly (2003)

Otis, a young firefly, is in trouble. He wants a girlfriend and he can't get his light to shine as bright as the others.

81 Meters (2022)

Spring 2021. A cinephile invites you on an intimate trip through the last surviving cinema houses in Latvia. This documentary essay, shot on super 8mm, opens the locked doors to picture houses during a Covid-19 lockdown, perhaps the most difficult time in the history of physical cinema space.

Nord Express (2024)

A documentary detective film about the construction of a 870 kilometres long highspeed railway line that started with a dream to connect the Baltic States to rest of the Europe when in 1991 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania regained their independence from Soviet Union. Filmmaker Kārlis Lesiņš becomes a ‘citizen-investigator’ and goes on the road to find out why after 30 years and with only few years before the intended launch of the Rail Baltica railway line, the construction of this EU-funded project is significantly behind the schedule, over the budget and may never be finished at all. Kārlis follows the trail of Rail Baltica project, trying to get the answers - what has happened and what is happening? Traveling through all the involved countries, he meets officials, military personnel, investigative journalists, people whose land will be expropriated, employees implementing the project and potentially benefiting entrepreneurs, who open up to him with their versions of the story.

Martian (2015)

A little boy pulls out one Martian toy from a vending machine and it turns into a real alien who takes him to his planet, where he is surronded by the toys from the vending machine, but much bigger.

Defenders of Riga (2007)

The film dramatizes November 11, 1919- a crucial date in the battle for Latvian independence. A year after the end of the official hostilities of WWI, a renegade German general and troops remain outside the Latvian capital. Latvian riflemen, most of them inexperienced volunteers, somehow managed to defeat a larger, better-armed force of German and Russian mercenaries.

Homo Novus (2018)

Riga in the 30s. Wild bohemian lifestyle is the name of the game for every artist worth his salt. A young man from the countryside, poor but ambitious, arrives in the capital, where he hopes to make his mark in the artistic circles. What follows is a string of events, fraught with confusion and misunderstanding, hilarious and heart-warming at the same time.

My Favorite War (2020)

Ilze Burkovska, a little girl who is obsessed with stories of World War II and will be a filmmaker in a distant future, lives in Latvia under the totalitarian boot of the Soviets and the ominous shadow of the many menaces and horrors of the Cold War.