.:.: The 15th ifva festival

Taking it one creative step at a time, ifva is now in its 15th year. In addition to showcasing the most outstanding local and Asian works as in the past, this year's ifva will also connect with the best and brightest international film, video and new media talents to bring you inspiring and stirring works from all over the world. Our opening film this year is Tales from the Golden Age, written and co-directed by Cristian MUNGIU (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) together with four other emerging directors from Romania. The film uses black humour to recreate urban legends from the Communist era in that country, and offers a chance to re-examine that unique period, albeit from a slightly off-kilter perspective. In recent years the world of animation had produced some of the most innovative works in any audio-visual medium, and this edition of ifva features a host of outstanding animations from Latvia, Korea and Japan. The Latvian animation programme is especially geared towards children, allowing people of different ages to become part of ifva. Golan LEVIN, Zachary LIEBERMAN and Julien MAIRE are three artists at the forefront of visual art from the US and France who combine early cinematic works with modern audio-visual elements to create live performances that bring together the old and the new while stretching the boundaries of multimedia art. The 15th ifva not only looks ahead into the future but also casts a glance to its past with a retrospective of award-winning and excellent works in the Youth Category of the past years, and it is interesting to see that many of the young auteurs of yesterday have now become prominent members of the local film industry. Also looking backwards, we will feature some of the most notable short films from the French New Wave as well as Polish shorts from the 1970s that helped ushered a new era in film and video art. Last but not least, there will be a screening of works from the master class led by Mary STEPHEN, Éric ROHMER's long-time editor. These programmes probe the depth and breadth of the audio-visual medium in all its vibrancy and inventiveness, so please join ifva in building up a creative community filled with independent spirit and creativity. See you at the Festival!