The Artdocfest president Vitaliy Manski (back left) and the jury (L-R): Polish historian and journalist Adam Michnik, Latvian theatre director Viesturs Kairišs and Russian actress Chulpan Khamatova.
ArtDocFest Riga
Artdocfest 2024 was a showcase for films that show the reality of the war in Ukraine, and the spread of Russian politics to neighbouring countries.
Mavka in Mavka: The Forest Song.
Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo
Sometimes I feel that after Chernobyl our land is cursed. Hearing about French children watching Mavka in a Parisian cinema, I felt hope.
Refugees from Ukraine arrive in the Czech Republic.
Tomas Vynikal/Shutterstock
The things that people are able to bring with them often take on a heightened significance, reflective of both their old and new lives.
View from stage of Moscow’s Vakhtangov Theatre.
Pavel L Photo and Video/Shutterstock
Theatre has now been fully instrumentalised by the Russian state in line with its new patriotic cultural policy.
A Ukrainian soldier carries a rocket to fire towards Russian positions on the frontline.
Libkos/AP
There are no polemics in Serhii Plokhy’s book about the Russo-Ukranian war. The Ukranian historian lets the facts speak – showing remarkable restraint.