There's a good chance that filmmaker Signe Baumane isn't on your radar yet, but with her first feature film, Rocks in My Pockets, being declared Latvia's submission for the Academy Awards this year, she should be. It's not just because of her Oscar submission that folks should be looking out for her though. It's because she and her style of animated filmmaking have something important to say, and it all comes from a very honest and personal place.
"Life and reality is so much more interesting than fiction," Baumane says, discussing how important the experience of living is to her art. "My life is more interesting than anything I could invent. And when you learn certain things through events, it's kind of good to share that knowledge."
See also: Review and showtimes for Rocks in My Pocket