Stories of Latvian movie making are often more interesting than the pictures themselves. We love our actors just the way they are, we forgive their trespasses and absolve them of their sins. Cinema-wise it's all very European in this country: our critics are very critical once a film has been completed, but the common folk love our cinema like parents tend to love their lastborn ― just the way it is.

When director Aleksandrs Rusteiķis made the silent movie Lāčplēsis in 1930 nobody seemed to notice that our national epos was shot using sharp tonal contrasts and deep shadows, the actors employed exaggerated expressions, all the bad guys were easily recognisable by their ghastly screwed-up faces etc. ― nobody knew to call it German Expressionism! Since then Latvians seem to have always felt an urge to speak in symbols. In The Fisherman's Son (1939, director Vilis Lapenieks) we recognise ourselves, the timid Latvians. What we see on the screen is fascinating to this day;  life in the small Latvian fishing villages captured as if to the very smells: the sea, the white dunes and the sand, the offshore wind blowing about the drying nets, the tiny shacks so much admired by painters, boats...

Even the films made after World War II, under Soviet directors, bring nostalgic tears to a modern Latvian's eyes ― that's because the actors starring in the pictures are the ones who have dominated the scene for several generations. During the 1960s “Thaw” there was quite a variety within our cinema, at least genre- and theme-wise ― more so than elsewhere in the Soviet Union. Numerous screen versions of Latvian classics ― prose pieces by Rūdolfs Blaumanis, Pāvils Rozītis and other authors ― were made.

In the 1970s censorship prevented a number of  new films from appearing on the screen. That was the fate of two pictures by Rolands Kalniņš: I Remember Everything, Richard (1966) and Take a Deep Breath... (1967). By the time the 1980s arrived, filmmakers had already perfected the mastery of steering clear of dangerous rocks. During these Soviet decades, in fact, all our best feature films, the treasures of the national cinema were made: The Devil's Servants by Aleksandrs Leimanis, Sprīdītis and Maija and Paija by Gunārs Piesis, Limo the Colour of Midsummer, Theatre (a screen version of a novella by Sommerset Maugham) and The Son of Man by Jānis Streičs, The Long Way through the Dunes and The Zītari Clan by Aloizs Brenčs, Emil's Mischief, Aija, The Lake Sonata by Varis Brasla, to name just a few... After Perestroika was launched Soviet funding for the Latvian cinema industry dried up. Latvia gained independence in filmmaking as well.

Quite a few made-for-TV movies are being made these days, for example, The Sweet Taste of Poison directed by Inta Gorodecka, The Pioneers of Fate by Virdžīnija Lejiņa. The Guardsmen of Riga directed by Aigars Grauba was filmed in a custom-built cinema town in Slampe (in the Tukums region).

The Shoe (directed by Laila Pakalniņa) is for the time being the only Latvian movie ever included into the programme of the Cannes Film Festival; her Python was screened at the Venice Film Festival. The co-produced Right Hands won the Manfred Salzgeber Award in the Berlin Film Festival in 2002.

Our young, and provocative filmmakers Ināra Kolmane, Anna Viduleja, Gatis Šmits, Jānis Putniņš and Viesturs Kairišs tend to be busy making several pictures simultaneously. The independent film studios AVE, Deviņi, the Juris Podnieks Studio, Ģilde, Kaupo Filma, Scilla are busy looking for joint production opportunities with European studios.

The direction and strategy of development in Latvian cinema are marked out by the Latvian National Cinematography Centre state agency, the organiser of the Lielais Kristaps National Film Festival. In 2005 Grand Prix went to Waterbomb for the Fat Cat directed by Varis Brasla.