Elm Media

“Inga Can Hear” is a story about the 15-year old Inga, a girl caught between two worlds. Being the only hearing member of a deaf family residing in the remote Latvian countryside, Inga has been the family’s interpreter in the hearing world since the age of seven. Her role in the family has forced her to grow up very quickly and her personality fluctuates between a responsible young woman and a moody teenager. Inga is about to graduate from middle school and has to make a decision on what to do next. Inga’s head is full of questions. To pursue a career as an actress? To become a firefighter? What will happen to the family, for whom she has sometimes been the only link to the outside world?

In 2006, seven confused Somalian refugees found themselves in the middle of a park in Riga, a modern capital in a member state of the European Union. As they had overstayed their time limit at the national centre for illegal immigrants, the authorities had no strategy for how to deal with them, so the seven refugees were simply let go. They had no identity documents and no money. They didn’t speak the language. They didn’t even have a legal option for leaving Latvia. Two of them were underage. The seven Somalians found help and a place to stay in Latvia, but not through official channels. The Somalian protagonists in this film ended up choosing separate paths. Some of them have left Latvia and moved to a more welcoming country. Some have chosen to stay – they have learned the language and enjoy living in Latvia. The case of the seven Somalians is an extreme example of how unprepared Latvian society is for the upcoming increase in multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, and migration.

For two months, the third-grade students at Cēsis’ New Primary School have been plan-ning and organizing their own graduation ceremony. Throughout this process, the teach-ers are only there to help, trusting in the children’s wisdom, responsibility and ability to organize themselves, make decisions and follow through. Preparations for the celebration involve all the school subjects, turning the school into a place of exciting discovery, where children learn by doing things that are important to them. They enthusiastically live life in the here and now, in all its difficulties and joy.

A portrait of a post-Soviet country in Eastern Europe whose society is torn apart by the struggle to accept the Gay Pride Parade tradition. The unearthing of Pride in Riga from 2005 to 2010 shows the different perceptions of the concept of democracy in the 21st century.