Aleksis Valdis Siksnis

The Moment Before

Walking through the streets of Riga, you meet all kinds of people, some may support Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Depending on where and when you are, these people could be on every corner in the city center. But you also come across those who are ready to resist a possible invasion. Some are more hesitant, others more confident. Do we all - friends, acquaintances, strangers - share the same values? Or are we sometimes interacting with people driven by hatred or completely different beliefs to ours? A passionate defender of Ukraine might find love in Riga, but her thoughts are still consumed by the war she escaped. She’s caught between fighting the enemy and struggling with her own emotions. How can you love someone who might be your enemy?

Women Without Men

The five heroines of "Women without men" are ordinary Ukrainian women - mothers, daughters, wives who have fled because of the war. Women from all corners of Ukraine. They probably would have never met in their lives if fate hadn't brought these women together in Latvia. How they decided to go to a foreign land, how they got out of the territories occupied and bombed by Russia, how they were greeted in their new lives, how to find a place in this new reality, how to be alone in charge of everything, to find a place to live, a job. How to deal with your internal crisis, how not to go crazy longing for your home. What to say to your own children, what it means to hear from a husband once a day at a certain agreed time and what happens if he doesn't call. How to find the strength to continue... They seek answers to these questions as they try to learn to learn to live anew.