My Favorite War / Mans milakais karš (Latvia, Norway 2020)

animated documentary, 80 min, en subtitles, 7+. Directed by Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen. written by Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen.

What was it like to grow up in the 1970s and 80s in Soviet-controlled Latvia? It all begins when little Ilze digs up bones of a German soldier in her sandpit. She sets off on a voyage of discovery and starts finding other stories buried beneath the official Soviet propaganda that surrounds her and the lies that she is taught at school. Based on the childhood memories of director Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen and told primarily through animation, alongside interviews and archived propaganda footage from the era, My Favorite War is an interestingly constructed, splendidly dark docu-memoir, an intimate reflection on Latvia´s history, as well as something of a personal and national coming-of-age story. 

Awards: Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2020 (Contrechamp Award), Bucheon International Animation Film Festival 2020 (Jury Prize), Latvian National Film Festival 2020, New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival 2020 (Grand Prize)