Live Riga Series Receives International Award
Latvian children were once told that if they wanted to see Rīga, they had to stick their tongue to a frozen metal tube. Today, equally tempting and shocking is the atypical tourism campaign that has been organised by Live Riga in partnership with DDB Latvia. Calling on people to learn about the "real Rīga," the campaign has just received an award at the international Tourfilm Riga tourism film festival.
DDB Latvia created a series of short films, "Insider's Guide to Rīga," and it received top honours in the category "Latvian Tourism Product." At the time when the festival took place, two more short films had been added to the series, which has won great popularity in one month's time, with more than two million views in all.
Tourists are tired of postcard routes and want to find "real experiences," and Live Riga offers stories to reveal the diversity and authenticity of Rīga - culture, nightlife, shopping, architecture, events for families and children, the restaurant culture, etc.
The stories have been produced by the distinguished film director Jānis Nords. "Insider's Guide to Rīga" offers a different look at the city, allowing tourists to view it through the eyes of the city's residents. This means finding things that will not be in traditional guidebooks. The series features five colourful characters - a highly cultured taxi driver who is a great fan of Richard Wagner; a modern clergyman who delivers sermons at a wine bar and scales high towers; a crazy women's lifestyle blogger who rides through Rīga on horseback; a strict physics teacher who, after work, teaches people how to relax at nightclubs; and a free-thinking senior citizen who breaks into opening parties at galleries. Each of these characters offers a different look at Rīga.
Each story is accompanied by an online map of the real locations that are seen in the short film, with a list of related destinations for each topic (culture, nightlife, shopping, etc.) so that users can choose options that are best for themselves.
The international "Tourfilm Riga" festival celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. More than 700 projects from 45 countries were submitted to the festival for consideration this year.
