The first weekend of the festival is planned to be extraordinarily splendid, starting with film screenings and continuing with virtual reality hackathon and discussions about the current developments in Baltics' animation industry.

Virtual reality is a rapidly growing audiovisual medium that expands the possibilities and boundaries of cinematic language, for these matters festival once again has teamed up with the interactive production house Story Hub, to host the second edition of RIGA IFF GOES VR, which will include inspirational lectures and Magnetic Latvia hackathon.

In the meantime, taking place from October 18 to 19,  BALTIC ANIMATION MEET-UP will be held, including animation studio and individual filmmaker portfolio presentations, as well as panel discussions on the acute issues currently confronting the animation industry in the Baltics.

Not to mention that this year RIGA IFF has the honour of hosting the European Film Academy Board Members for their annual board meeting. Some of EFA’s members, including the director Agnieszka Holland, will also participate in MAGNETIC LATVIA FILM CONFERENCE lectures and discussions. The conference hosted by Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) will be dedicated to film market development in Northern Europe. The first day of the conference and the arrival of EFA Board Members will be celebrated at RIGA IFF FORUM NETWORKING EVENT, where international guests and Latvian film industry professionals will have an opportunity to get acquainted.

The RIGA IFF FORUM Baltic short film presentations for experts will take place on 24th and 25th of October. SHORT RIGA: TEST SCREENINGS are closed screenings of short films by Baltic directors, after which an international panel of experts provide evaluation and recommendations. In addition to Test Screenings, the SHORT RIGA guests and Baltic artists who are working in short moving image format will be invited to SHORT RIGA: WHAT'S UP? –  an informal event with no protocol and only one rule: 5 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for questions.

More information about each event and registrations: forum.rigaiff.lv