In the beginning of November, two important European film festivals will begin in two German cities – Cottbus (November 3) and Nordic Film Days Lübeck (November 4) – where this year Latvia's presence will be especially significant, coming into focus with the opening film of each festival. At the Cottbus festival, which will open with the feature film "Escape Net," Latvia is a focus country with around 20 films in various programs and serious participation in film industry events; Nordic Film Days Lübeck will open with the feature film "Ulya”.
Published: 30.10.2026.
Cottbus International Film Festival (November 3-8) is one of the leading festivals highlighting contemporary Central and Eastern European cinema; it was founded in 1991, and this year has included 147 films from 43 countries in its program. Latvian films are especially highlighted in the focus program Close-Up: Latvia, with eight feature-length films and six short films selected. The Cottbus focus selection confirms the diversity of Latvia's film spectrum – Dzintars Dreibergs' film, chosen for the festival's opening screening, will be followed by Ulya by Viesturs Kairišs, Laila Pakalniņa's Cat on My Minds, Reinis Kalviņš's The Bog Alise Zariņa's Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart, Oskars Rupenheits' Red Code Blue, Dāvis Sīmanis's Maria’s Silence and Gints Zilbalodis’s Flow.
In cooperation with the Latvian Short Film Agency, the selected short-format program includes four internationally recognized films by young directors – Where Does the Sun Sleep at Night? (Ildze Felsberga), My First Funeral (Līva Klepere), Dusty Doomsday (Alvīna Jansen), and Slush (Aivars Šaicāns, Jēkabs Okonovs), and two animated works – Wandering Dot and the Blank Square Page Universe (Ieva Lība Ratniece) and The Film Film (Artūrs Vobļikovs).
Latvian films and co-productions can also be found in other Cottbus festival programs – for example, the EcoEast section will screen director Krista Burāne's documentary film All Birds Sing Beautifully (2025), the Children's Film program will feature director Edmunds Jansons' animated film Born in the Jungle (2026), and the Latvian studio Air Productions in both programs, they participate as minority co-production partners – in the Lithuanian documentary Baltic UXO and in the five-country co-production feature film Extraordinary (2026). Another Latvian minority co-production, co-produced by Mistrus Media studio, has been selected for the Cottbus Masters program – the feature film Back to the Family (2025) by Lithuanian director Šarūnas Bartas.
The historical program, dedicated to the political events of the 20th century before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, includes the legendary documentary film by Juris Podnieks Is It Easy to Be Young? (1986).
Latvian projects and film professionals will also participate in the Connecting Cottbus industry section of the Cottbus Film Festival, where cocoPITCH includes the feature film Tongues by the upcoming director Tina Zariņa (producer Alise Ģelze, White Picture); producer Līva Vernere will work in the young professionals section cocoLAB; and a broad discussion about Latvian cinema is planned in the discussion panel. The roundtable discussion is scheduled for Friday, November 6, and will include directors, producers, and film policy makers – director and producer Dzintars Dreibergs, directors Alise Zariņa, Oskars Rupenheits, director and rector of the Latvian Academy of Culture Dāvis Sīmanis, National Film Centre representative Inga Blese, Latvian film co-creators from Poland – Uly's co-producer Malgorzata Staron, cinematographer Wojciech Staron, and Martin Pabst from the Baltic States Department of the German Cultural Forum. The discussion will be moderated by film scholar Zane Krūmiņa, who will also serve as a jury member of the Cottbus FIPRESCI film festival.
On Wednesday, November 4, another important Europe-wide festival will open with the German premiere of directors Viesturs Kairišs' feature film Ulya at the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck, an ancient Hanseatic city located in northern Germany, in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. For the 68th time, the only film festival in Europe dedicated specifically to Northern European cinematography will take place there; this year, it will take place from November 4 - 8. Film will have four screenings at the festival, as the directors Linda Olte's feature film The Child. In the Young Audience competition program, the festival's youngest viewers will be treated to Latvian animated films – director Edmunds Jansons' Born in the Jungle and director Dace Rīdūze Sphinx Alberta's Smile – as well as the short film My First Funeral by young director Līva Klepere.
Nordic Film Days in Lübeck also include film industry events, where this year animation director Ieva Lība Ratniece was selected for the young talent platform Future North, while it has been a long-standing tradition since 1991 to receive the Baltic Jury Award, whose recipients will be chosen by representatives of Baltic film institutions; National Film Centre of Latvia will be represented on the jury by NKC's festival coordinator Margarita Rimkus.
As well, from October 26 to November 1, an international film festival is also taking place in the German city of Leipzig – DOK Leipzig, which focuses on documentary cinema and animation; there, Latvian director Edmunds Jansons serves on the jury of the international animation competition.