Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS ( lv, Rīgas Starptautiskais īsfilmu festivāls 2ANNAS) is the only annual short film festival in Latvia. Founded by its current director Viesturs Grazdanovics (Viesturs Graždanovičs) in 1996, the festival has since taken place every year in late May, until in 2013 it moved to late October in Riga (Latvia). Screenings take place in several film theaters as well as popular alternative entertainment venues and non-conventional screening venues.
Delfi.lv. Originally created to promote

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, the festival has widened its range by adding a feature film competition program in its 2014 selection.
cineuropa.org.

History

The first 2ANNAS film festival took place in 1996 at the Center of Creative Learning ANNAS 2 (CCL) as the only youth and experimental

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

in Latvia. The program consisted of only 10 short films and its goal was to support and promote interest in film art in Latvia.
Annas 2 official web site. Gradually the festival grew, and in 2005 the film selection crossed the Latvian border, thus 2ANNAS became an international film festival. The transition led to a change of strategy for the festival and in 2006 it highlighted the new criteria for festival selections - quality, flexibility, innovation and openness. In 2007 2ANNAS introduced many changes and updates. One of them is the sub-festival "Green Anna" - an international competition program consisting of short films made by filmmakers under 18. Another addition to the festival was a separate Baltic competition program for filmmakers from

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, Latvia and Lithuania, which is closely connected to the foundation of the

Baltic Film and Media School Baltic Film, Media and Arts School of Tallinn University (BFM) is a film and media school created in 2005 (as Baltic Film and Media School) as a college of Tallinn University, one of the biggest educational institutions in Estonia. BFM offers ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

(Estonia) in 2005. The festival also adopted a one-week event format. In about ten years the festival evolves from a small independent event into one of the biggest film festivals in Latvia with a film selection consisting of 31 short film from 9 different countries (2007). In 2008 the festival starts to position itself as the largest short film festival in the

Baltics The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

. Festival's 2009 selection consists of 42 short films from 18 different countries.

Competition programmes

International competition started alongside the festival's transition from a national to an international film festival in 2005. It offers a selection of high-quality short films that have already gained recognition or are on their way to fame. Short films represent all genres ( fiction, animation, documentary,

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, etc.). Every year 2ANNAS competition program includes short films that have been nominated or awarded in high-rank film events such as

Cannes film festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

and the

Academy awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. Baltic competition was created as a separate competition section due to the increasing film quality in the

in 2007. It offers the latest work of Baltic

directors Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

which reveals the short film genres. Green Anna competition also created in 2007 for Latvian and international films and videos created by

filmmakers Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

under the age of 18. The competition however lived to its end in 2009.

Jury

The Festival Jury includes filmmakers, theoreticians,

film critics Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

and journalists, film festival program representatives,

art historians The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic visu ...

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, etc. from both Latvia and other countries.

Winners

In 2007 Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS establishes cooperation with the leading system integrator company in the Baltic states "Hannu Pro" which gives the opportunity to award the winner of the festival main award "Grand Prix Golden Anna" with a cash price.
Hannu Pro official website. Grand Prix Golden Anna winners

Related events

Latvian tour: The details differ every year, but the concept stays the same: the festival team takes a tour around Latvia and shows some of the films from previous year's competition to promote the festival and to educate the audience about the latest development in the film genre.
apollo.tvnet.lv. Special programs: Alongside competition programs, 2ANNAS likes to delight its audience with guest programs. In 2013 the festival decided to take it more seriously and created a special non-competition program. 2013' program WOMAN: AN AVANT GARDIST. A HOUSEWIFE. A PROSTITUTE. focused on a woman not only as a filmmaker, but also as an actress, a muse, an inspiration, an object of research, an idol, a legend, a queen and a servant. In 2014 the festival has decided to go even further and sets its eye upon feature films. The program TRANSGRESSORS consists of young filmmakers' debut work (first or second film) and focus on the films and filmmakers that continuously challenge the way we as the audience engage with the film.

References

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External links

* http://www.tjn.lv/isfilmu-festivals-2annas/ * http://www.delfi.lv/temas/2annas/ * http://www.cineuropa.org/it.aspx?t=interview&l=en&did=255555 * http://apollo.tvnet.lv/zinas/filmu-festivals-2annas-dodas-latvijas-ture/646260 Film festivals in Latvia Recurring events established in 1996 1996 establishments in Latvia