The Fifth Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America returns in 2022 as a hybrid festival with both in-person and virtual screenings on November 2-13! From November 2 through 6, in-person screenings and events will take place at Scandinavia House in New York, presented in accordance with new COVID-19 safety guidance and protocols. Following the success of last year’s festival, the online version will once again be available to viewers all across the U.S. via the Elevent streaming platform November 4-13.
On November 3, see Homo Sovieticus (dir. Ivo Briedis, Latvia/Lithuania/Czechia, 2021, Documentary). Three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the symbols and strong-man rhetoric of totalitarianism have now come crashing back into global politics. Could this rise be subconsciously aided by remnants of servility that persisted in peoples’ minds even as the Soviet Union crumbled? Homo Sovieticus takes its name from a term that was used pejoratively to describe the average conformist person in the Soviet Union and other countries of the former Eastern Bloc.
The film’s director Ivo Briedis and screenwriter, journalist Rita Ruduša — both born in the USSR — take a highly personal journey to explore the phenomenon of “Homo Sovieticus,” investigating whether they can define this mindset within themselves.
Meeting with their contemporaries in various Eastern European countries, they also explore whether people who possess the totalitarian mindset belong to a specific geographical space: After all, the Ninth of May Victory Day demonstrations to commemorate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 are held annually as far and wide as Berlin, Australia, and even New York.
Tickets to this event must be purchased in advance online at the link above; film screenings will take place in Victor Borge Hall.
Virtual screenings of this film will take place from November 4-13. To read more and purchase virtual passes, please click here.
About the Director
Ivo Briedis is a professional cinema and theater script writer and director. His film The Film (2012) was awarded the best non-feature length film in Latvia. He has written and co – written the scripts for two TV series, The Red Forest (2019) and the drama series Emily. Queen of Press (2021). In 2021, his documentary Homo Sovieticus premiered at the One World International Human Rights Documentary FF in Prague.
About the NYBFF
Established in 2018, the New York Baltic Film Festival is presented and organized by Scandinavia House in collaboration with the Consulate General of Estonia, Consulate General of Lithuania, and Daris Delins, former Honorary Consul for Latvia in New York and founder of the festival.
Financial support for the festival comes from the Estonian Film Institute, National Film Center of Latvia, Lithuanian Film Center, and the Edhard Corporation with additional sponsorship by the Estonian American National Council, Lithuanian Culture Institute, Lithuanian Foundation, Consulate General of Estonia in New York, Embassy of Latvia in Washington D.C., Permanent Mission of Latvia to the U.N. in New York, Consulate General of Lithuania in New York, American Latvian Association, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, the PBLA Culture Fund, and Sondra Litvaitytė.
Organizers & Sponsors
