Association “Riga International Film festival” together with the Donorstate partner from Norway – Norwegian Federation of Film Societies Norsk filmklubbforbund till July 16, 2023 realized the project “RIGA IFF Film Club”. After the project implementation it is time for the project story:
RIGA IFF Cinema Club is an educational platform for every student and teacher in Latvia, where Latvian film professionals talk about the role of their craft in filmmaking in 10 video lessons. The video lessons help to understand how cinema is made and to consolidate the new knowledge by completing creative tasks on worksheets and watching films from Norway available on the platform. The topics of the 10 video lessons are:
These video lessons are conversations with animation director Edmunds Jansons; film director Alise Zariņa; scriptwriter, film and theatre director Marta Elīna Martinsone; film, set and costume designer Kristīne Jurjāne; costume and set designer Berta Vilipsone; actress Anta Aizupe; cinematographer, photographer and President of the Latvian Cinematographers Guild Gints Bērziņš; sound designer, director and cinematographer Verners Biters and sound director Ernests Ansons; editor Jurģis Ločmelis; film producer Alise Ģelze.
After watching the RIGA IFF Cinema Club lessons, teacher of Latvian language and literature Alise Zita Zeidaka (Riga State Gymnasium 2) and student Ume Zēberga (15) shared their thoughts.
Alise Zita Zeidaka, teacher: We decided with my students that they would – in groups – make short films about Latvian writers of their choice in the spring of the last school year. Films were intended to be like portraits that would allow the historic figures to come to life in nowadays. As our knowledge about filmmaking was limited to filming different episodes by our smartphones, we watched RIGA IFF Film Club in order to understand from where to approach making the films.
Ume Zēberga, student: My interest about film does not limit itself with mere film watching. I am interested in things behind the scenes about which I often even don’t think about.
Alise Zita Zeidaka: We were watching episodes about direction, script writing and set design in the classroom. Other episodes students could watch at home. Many students said that they found especially useful the episode about scriptwriting, as that helped them to understand from where to start working on the short film. Some even had made the idea grid, as suggested in the episode. The video lectures are really high quality – they really target the youth audience and do a good job in captivating their attention which is a really hard task to do! The lectures “talk” to them in a language they can understand. Some also recognised and appreciated the visual reference [to Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”].
Ume Zēberga: Video lectures are very interesting – the format is very original and I like that alongside the series there are European films available.
Alise Zita Zeidaka: It is hard to say, I think I already answered it in the previous question. Personally I liked the episode with set designer Kristīne Jurjāne, but these are my subjective thoughts.
Ume Zēberga: I enjoyed the episode “What do the looks reveal” [on the role and work of make-up artists], as I would like to work in this domain.
Alise Zita Zeidaka: Yes, I already have recommended RIGA IFF Film Club to several colleagues (not only those who teach literature and basics of culture but also English). I emphasised how the content captivated the attention of the students and how interesting it was for myself too! I also suggested to consider taking on study tasks that involves filmmaking.
Ume Zēberga: I would definitely suggest “RIGA IFF Film Club” to people who are interested in cinema; that would allow them to learn about all the processes of filmmaking. I would also suggest the Film Club to teachers – for their students to get acquainted with European films.
Alise Zita Zeidaka: Hard to answer! Anyhow the video lectures inspired to get to work! At the end of the day we had our very own short film festival with a jury, nominations and prizes – as it is done!
Ume Zēberga: How big industry film actually is – how many people from different domains have to work together to make one film!
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