About festival

Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS 2021 will take place for the 25th time and as usual offers original, innovative, challenging, socially active short films and medium-length films to viewers. 2ANNAS exists in a context in which the short-film format is not only a step to the first full-scale work but also a deliberate, consistent choice resulting in high-quality art. Similarly, the festival is known as crazy parties in unaccustomed places, a free atmosphere, and creative manifestations, not only in the form of cinema.

2ANNAS offers four tender programs each year: the International Short Film Competition, the Baltic Short Film Competition, the International Small Film Contest, and the competition for films for children and young people.

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021 the festival will take place online.

Since 2013, the festival has also developed thematic out-of-competition programs. Including 3-year cycles of focus programs aimed at encouraging public discussion on selected focus topics. The 2020-2022 focus cycle selects COSMOS, EARTH, and MAN. In recent decades, our lifestyle has changed to unrecognizable. The rapid development of technology has affected both planet Earth and human life, and astronomical findings have raised more and more questions about the existence of out-of-earth civilizations and the possibility of people traveling in time and space. 2ANNAS will feature short films that play these topical issues in innovative but at the same time easily discernible and original short-film stories.

Alongside the festival, “2ANNAS” also holds open discussions between film viewers and creators, participates in a variety of cultural events, such as “Positivus”, the international music festival “Laba Daba, democracy talk festival LAMP, modern culture forum “White Night”, etc., and go on tour every year, showing the most vivid works in different places of Latvia from programs of previous years of the festival.