Valdone Rudenkiene/Tie2.lt

Dita Rietuma, head of the Latvian Film Centre, is not only the director of Latvia’s film fund—the National Film Centre—but also a film historian, academic, critic, and jury member at various film festivals. She acknowledges that state film funding in Latvia is complex—money is always scarce, yet there is no shortage of talent worthy of investment. However, the success of Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis at prestigious film awards convinced the government of the importance of cinema, leading to additional funding.

We spoke with Dita Rietuma about how to identify the one talent among many who is truly deserving of trust and financing, and how it is possible to achieve cinematic heights with a minimal budget. “We took a big risk,” she said, recalling the beginning of state funding for the ,,Flow” project.

A great year for Latvian cinema—congratulations! Have you noticed increased international attention following Gints Zilbalodis’ success, crowned with an Oscar?

The years 2024–2025 were extraordinarily successful for Latvian cinema, especially in animation: from the Golden Globes to the Oscars. This is a significant achievement not only for Latvia but for the entire Baltic film scene. It is also a major victory for independent, low-budget animation. However, it is still too early to fully assess the impact of this success on Latvian film culture. That said, we are already seeing practical changes. Our government, recognizing the importance and financial needs of cinema, has increased funding. Latvia’s state film budget is one of the smallest in the Baltics, but after the Golden Globes, we initiated negotiations with the government and secured an additional one million euros, specifically for animation. A competition for new projects is currently underway, including animation. Results will be announced by the end of April. There are many strong projects, including Gints Zilbalodis’ new work, with a budget of 5 million euros. For comparison, Flow cost 3.5 million euros—small by American or major European standards, but the most expensive film in Latvian history.

Latvia, as in Lithuania, are film projects evaluated by experts?

Yes, Lithuania’s film financing system was modeled after Latvia’s. The Latvian Film Centre was established in the 1990s, while Lithuania followed much later. The main legal and financing principles in Lithuania were adopted from our system. I often joke that we serve as a model for state film management.

The Latvian Film Centre recognized Gints Zilbalodis’ talent and trusted his vision—and he succeeded. Could you share how one can identify the talent among many who is truly deserving of trust and financing, or was this a fortunate coincidence?

This is a difficult question, especially for funding administrators. Everything is strictly regulated, and the processes are bureaucratic. When Gints Zilbalodis came forward with his project, he was only 25, and his producer, Matiss Kaza, was 24. These were very young creators, so yes, we took a risk. However, we allocated funding in stages over five years—around 200,000 euros per year. This financing scheme helped manage the risk. Moreover, even five years ago, Gints Zilbalodis had already won prestigious festival awards with his low-budget film Away. This was a sign that he had international recognition and deserved to move forward. The huge success of his next project, Flow, was also thanks to his producer, Matiss Kaza—he managed to attract a major French production company, funding from television networks, and other platforms, while keeping the majority of the production and main rights of the film in Latvia. Today, we have four feature-length animation projects in production—a significant number for a small country like Latvia. We often hear statements that animation is expensive—yes, it is—but that’s why we fund it in phases. Our producers are used to working with small budgets, as larger opportunities simply do not exist. We cannot allocate millions to a single film and leave others without funding—we strive to distribute the budget among as many projects as possible. Gints Zilbalodis is the most famous now, but he is not the only talented Latvian animation creator.

During an interview, Gints Zilbalodis believed that Baltic cinema is interesting to an international audience. What do you think?

Every country is unique, but the challenge lies in how to present that uniqueness to the world. Gints’ story – the film Flow – was universal and accessible to an international audience. But it’s not just Gints who is interesting—Lithuanian cinema also boasts strong directors like Marija Kavtaradzė, Laurynas Bareiša and Saulė Bliuvaitė. Their films stand out with compelling scripts and distinctive storytelling. This is a strong generation of directors who can tell contemporary stories in a truly original way. I was particularly impressed by Laurynas Bareiša’s Drowning Dry, with its enigmatic structure—it’s a masterpiece, filled with unique moments. Similarly, Toxic by Saulė Bliuvaitė offers a fascinating perspective. Initially, I wasn’t a big fan, but over time, I became deeply engaged with the director’s vision. I believe that, when it comes to this new generation of filmmakers for live action films, Lithuanians are the strongest players among the Baltic countries. Since last year’s Locarno Festival, where Toxic and Drowning Dry (which is Lithuanian and Latvian a co-production) gained significant recognition, Baltic cinema has been increasingly noticed. We need to seize this momentum: to stay active internationally, to communicate, to continuously remind ourselves—and the world—about our talents and our films, both classic and contemporary, and to support one another in this effort.

It seems we have many strong directors and film professionals. However, discussions often arise about streaming platforms or large international companies filming here due to lower costs. These companies take advantage of our film professionals and infrastructure, but they collect the laurels and profits for themselves without allocating a share to national film production.

I fully support the arrival of as many such companies as possible because it benefits our economy. For example, you have very good tax incentives to attract foreign companies. The only issue I see is that the large budgets of international companies increase competition for national film producers by driving up the costs of film production services to levels that our local filmmakers, with much smaller budgets, simply cannot afford. In such a competitive environment, it becomes difficult to attract talented yet highly paid film industry professionals. Our producers work with limited budgets, as we usually do not have the means to finance everything at the levels being requested.

Yet, despite having the smallest budgets, we achieve the greatest success. The example of Gints Zilbalodis has proven that money is not the only decisive factor. What do you think matters most—an idea, the director’s personality, a relevant story, or simply being in the right place at the right time?

Probably everything you mentioned and more. Of course, luck is important, but so is having a story that is understandable and relatable to many people. For example, a theme about animals and a cat trying to survive a flood resonates widely because it is universally
understood, regardless of nationality. Additionally, the film has no language barrier, which is also significant. The plot, theme, and idea being relatable to many people likely contributed to its success—not only in terms of recognition within the film community and by audiences but also commercially.

And in reality—does animation fit into the framework of arthouse cinema?
In this case, it was artistic, art-house animation that was also commercially successful. Forty million euros in profit from cinema ticket sales alone—these are record-breaking figures not just for us but for all the Baltic countries. That’s why we are so happy that Flow became a success both artistically, academically and commercially.

Article is part of Cultural field research partly funded by Media support fund of Lithuania.