From 25 to 29 September, the Latvian Academy of Culture (LAC) hosted the ACE²-EU European Universities Alliance short-cycle international learning programme “A Journey into Poetic Documentary Heritage”, bringing together students from universities in Latvia, Portugal, and Spain.
The aim of the programme was to draw inspiration from the Latvian tradition of poetic documentary cinema and Aivars Freimanis’ 1966 film “Kuldīga Frescoes”, the perspectives of Latvian documentary photographers, the leading works of Spanish poetic photography, and trends in Portuguese documentary film to create a contemporary vision of Kuldīga and inspire a new generation of “Kuldīga Frescoes”.
The opening day offered theoretical lectures providing an insight into the development of Latvian poetic documentary cinema and its stylistic features, including an in-depth analysis of Freimanis’ “Kuldīga Frescoes”. Students were introduced to the works of three Latvian documentary photographers – Egons Spuris, Andrejs Grants, and Inta Ruka – as well as to current trends in Portuguese poetic documentary cinema and the works of leading Spanish documentary photographers.
Viesturs Koziols, Chairman of the Board of VienaDiena.lv, presented the upcoming photo campaign “One Day in Liepāja” planned for 2027, giving a historical overview of this initiative. He also reflected on the outcomes of the international photography conference “Vision & Voices 2025: Photography for a Connected World”, held in late August, and its workshops, in which students of the LAC National Film School also participated. V.Koziols praised the enthusiasm, dedication, and quality of the students’ work, noting that their contributions had inspired international authors. On this occasion, the LAC National Film School received a gift – a photograph by the renowned American photographer David Burnett.
Following the lecture block, participants were divided into creative teams and received both individual photography tasks and a group filmmaking challenge: to create a 1–3 minute contemporary version of “Kuldīga Frescoes” inspired by the tradition of poetic documentary cinema. Creative consultations were provided by programme mentors Daiga Livčāne, Andrejs Verhovstinskis, Uldis Jancis, João Carlos da Fonseca Cabral (Portugal), and Manuel Casal (Spain).