Animated Film “The Iron Boy” | RIGA IFF 2026

From October 15 to 25, for the 13th time, Latvia’s biggest film event will take place: the Riga International Film Festival, or RIGA IFF. In cooperation with RIGA IFF, at the Sigulda DEVONS culture center on October 25 at 12:00, we invite you to watch the festival animation film “The Iron Boy.”

Encouraging viewers to take a step into the unfamiliar, the wide program of the Riga International Film Festival, created with care for cinema and its audience, serves as a reliable guide beyond the usual film offering and invites you to discover unique stories, vivid emotions, and the highlights of contemporary cinema.

Lyrical, nuanced, and brilliant, that is how Clichy’s debut feature, which reflects on the fate of a young boy in provincial France, was described after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. With the main character constantly caught between opposites and discovering the world’s duality, one of this year’s most moving major films flickers on screen.

Ten-year-old Christoph spends his days on his father’s farm. He is the middle child, gifted with a fiery temper and a vivid imagination. Unexpectedly, Christoph begins to lean to one side and collapse, almost causing a tractor accident. This is followed by incidents at school and at the dinner table. The doctor finds a solution: due to his spine, Christoph must wear an iron corset. Forced to change his life, Christoph discovers a new passion for music, falls deeply in love, and gains a new friendship with the local organist. But will the boy manage to find balance in his life in a world that has gone askew?

Shown in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard competition, at Annecy, and elsewhere, this hand-drawn 2D animation is a film event of the year. Unexpectedly, French director Clichy’s animated feature follows the motifs of Edward Scissorhands (1990) - a young boy who becomes different from his peers because of health reasons and learns life anew. Playing with the film’s symbol, the corrective corset, the director asks about the future of rural children not only in France, but elsewhere in the world: is their future just as secure and full of equal opportunities as that of city children? This deeply personal story, in which the director’s own son voices the lead role, gives ample space to philosophical questions, emotionally full moments, and the ability to feel for someone so closely that you come to know the other completely.

Curator’s words of guidance: When the whole world seems to have fallen apart and adults are busy with their own worries, it turns out that salvation can be found in the power of music and friendship.

| Le Corset | Directed by: Luī Clišī | FR/BE, 2026, 89 min, subtitled in Latvian

*Recommended for ages 7 and up.