Ten Latvian films free to stream worldwide until 19 November

A selection of Latvian films is free to stream on filmas.lv from 11 November, Lāčplēsis Day, until the end of 19 November. No registration is needed. The festival is organised by the National Film Centre with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and runs during Patriots' Week, which ends with Independence Day on 18 November. It starts and ends at midnight in each country's time zone, so viewers in Ireland or Canada can watch too.

For families and children

• Avārijas brigāde (The Rescue Team): an hour-long programme of ten animated films by Jānis Cimmermanis, starting with the very first, Gulbis (The Swan, 1991). The series turns 35 this year.
• Bum! (2024, Marta Selecka and Andra Doršs): a school adventure about 13-year-old Hugo, who suddenly gains superpowers.
• Paradīze '89 (Paradise '89, 2018, Madara Dišlere): the Awakening years and the Baltic Way seen through the eyes of four girls.
• Puika (The Boy, 1977, Aivars Freimanis): an adaptation of Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš's The White Book and the first feature to win the Lielais Kristaps, Latvia's national film award.

For adults

• Zeme, kas dzied (The Land That Sings, 2024, Māris Martinsons): a historical epic about the birth of Latvia's Song Festival tradition.
• Nospiedumi (Imprints, 2026, Alise Zariņa): a present-day drama about a young woman, played by Ieva Segliņa, whose estranged father suddenly reappears.
• Akmens un šķembas (Stone and Splinters, 1966, Rolands Kalniņš): a drama about young men conscripted into a foreign army, now 60 years old.

Documentaries

Three documentaries go back even further. Kuldīgas freskas (The Frescoes of Kuldīga, 1966) is a mosaic of small-town summer scenes with no voice-over. The oldest film in the line-up is the 90-year-old educational film Mūsu pelēkais dārgakmens (Our Grey Gem, 1936), a science lesson about limestone that also shows the Mother Latvia statue at the Riga Brothers' Cemetery. It is paired with last year's short Grestomātija, about the film's screenwriter, the teacher and collector Jānis Greste.

The films are shown in Latvian without subtitles: the organisers say the festival's main audience is the diaspora. Filmas.lv has run online festivals like this since 2019.