23-10-2018

2018 RIGA IFF FORUM winners announced

    Now in its third year, the Riga International Film festival (RIGA IFF) pitching FORUM  for children's and youth film projects took place from October 18 -19 in the Baltic capital.

    During the 2 days children’s filmmakers pitched their projects to an international audience of producers, distributors and sales agents and got feedback on their ideas by presenting them to a youth jury of 10-14 year olds.

    From the 13 projects pitched at the FORUM two winners were chosen, on the grounds of their creativity, storytelling and commercial potential. The Best Project award went to a BFILM.cz production, family feature film project MARTIN AND THE FOREST SECRET pitched by the Slovak producer Peter Badač, receiving a €5000 prize worth of post-production services or filming gear prize from the RIGA IFF supporters BBrental, while the runner-up prize of €2000 of post-production services for the Best Baltic project was given to TOTALLY BOSS - an Estonian film project produced by “Nafta Films” and pitched by the producers Esko Rips and Diana Mikita.

    The FORUM jury consisted of Danckert Monrad-Krohn, the director and programmer of the largest children's film festival in Norway - Kristiansand International Children's film festival, Gert Hermans - content manager at JE.F (Belgium), Jana Wolff, the marketing and advertising director at the Berlinale European Film Market, Zane Kauliņa, the programme manager at Forum Cinemas as well as Michael Harbauer, the director of the Schlingel International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience.

    When asked how the winners were chosen jury member Zane Kauliņa explains: “As the programme manager of Forum Cinemas I represent the exhibition side of the film industry so my main criteria for choosing a particular project was its originality and the ability to attract a wider audience. Another important criteria was whether the producers would be able to finalise it and bring it to the big screens with or without our support”. 

    For more information regarding the winning projects, please check RIGA IFF FORUM website: rigaiff.lv/2018/en/forum/

    For more information please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

    The fifth edition of RIGA IFF is taking place from October 18 - 31. The festival consists of twelve film programmes, diverse industry events and a selection of thought provoking public discussions.

    The RIGA IFF is supported by the National Film Centre of Latvia, the European Commission’s programme Creative Europe – MEDIA, the National Film Centre of Latvia, and the Riga City Council.