Latvia: Umami

"At Umami, we offer comprehensive production services across the Baltics, leveraging a strong and extensive network within the industry. Whether it's commercial production or a photo shoot, we're dedicated to assisting producers, agencies, and marketing professionals in search of reliable and enthusiastic partners. With producers boasting backgrounds in television, advertising, and film, we're equipped to tailor our services to suit your project's needs.

Choosing our production services in the Baltics can benefit your budget, as our region typically demands 20-30% lower costs compared to much of Europe, all while maintaining high quality standards. You'll have access to a diverse range of locations, modern camera and lighting equipment, and internationally renowned crews. Additionally, the advantages of operating in a smaller market include minimized travel time and convenient accessibility, with everything just a phone call away.

In addition to production services, we also offer casting direction and audio recordings in Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, and Russian for companies operating at a Baltic scale."

Latvia: Umami

"We’re female led production company based in Riga, Latvia, and it’s an honor to be in this International Woman’s Day issue among other talented and bright female professionals. We are lucky to work in the region that has evolved greatly and that we as company have been able to commit to inclusive hiring and let everyone express their authenticity, women including.

Our main focus is end-to-end video production and servicing; however, our services aren’t limited - operating in a relatively small market of Baltics we cover also photo shoots, animation, adaptations, voice recording as well as casting directing.

Personal approach and ability to provide creative solutions for any form of brief, having producers with television, advertising and film background on board, as well as strong work ethics and flexibility is what make our clients return.

Stills featuring all the beautiful female actresses from our productions."

Latvia: Umami

"I’m Marika, producer at Umami. Let’s go for a quick journey, because nothing makes things more memorable than a personal experience.

Now imagine: you just got that production brief, photo or video, it doesn’t matter. The idea is great, but despite the fact that budget is a bit too tight for your market, you really want to make it work and you've heard that Baltics are great for that. Or your current partner is busy and you need someone new; and you are sitting at your computer, wondering where could you possibly look for a service production partner that is highly professional to fulfill your desires. Google no more! If you happen to find yourself in this position, feel absolutely free to drop me an email.

If that’s not your story, you can just say “hi” in case that pays off in the future, or enjoy a few stills from our latest journeys of this summer in this Spotlight, or via our Instagram profile."

Latvia: Umami

"We are a female lead production team operating in the market of the Baltics. Our main focus is end-to-end video and photo production; however, our services are in constant expansion - we cover also animation, adaptations, casting and voice recordings, working with advertising agencies as well as companies and brands directly, offering video services from creative idea to final audiovisual deliverable.

Over the course of the last decade we've had the greatest opportunities to work both with locally acknowledged brands as well as names that doesn’t need to be explained including IKEA, McDonald's, Lidl, Zalando.

The advantage of producing in our relatively small region is getting anything our clients need in one hassle-free place, done by the best freelance professionals, fast. How come? Cause everything is either one handshake or a comfortable ride away. Cause we always have a highly professional and keen-to-work creative team on board. All English speaking with exceptional work ethic and with international experience.

We strive on trust and believe in teamwork where both clients and our crew play an equal role to make things happen, no matter what we are all hooked to, and we do it not only in time and according to the brief, but with taste, fun and attitude."

London: Al Lapkovsky

Al Lapkovsky is an award-winning photographer and creative retoucher who is currently based in London. He works in most diverse areas, blurring the boundaries between commercial imagery and fine art photography.

In his stylistic approach, Al combines the eye for reality as well as his intuitive feeling for situations and people, bringing a unique vision to his images. His portfolio embraces narrative qualities which show cutting-edge authenticity, boundless instinct for moods and preference for the dramatic gesture - invaluable qualities which have contributed to him gathering a multitude of international awards including first place in this year's International Photography Awards (IPA) / Professional Advertising / Self-Promotion category.

With an in-house post-production department he also takes care of all aspects of retouching personally, so the whole process of creating images is taken care of by the same team.

With his attention to detail and personal observations of everyday life as well as his love for art, Al takes pride in his work and will strive to provide an outstanding result and to realize full potential for your ideas.

Riga [Latvia]: Martins Grauds

In collaboration with fashion designer Keta Gutmane, Latvian film director and producer Martins Grauds has aimed to define the fashion short genre. Last year, his film ‘Lust Lust’ was included in a selection of the 10 best fashion short films at the Parisian film festival ‘A Shaded View of Fashion Film’ and will subsequently travel the world. 

Martins' current projects involve Kapusvetki, a selection of photographs on the subject of Latvian cemetery festivals and an accompanying book. The personalities depicted in the faces on cemetery benches and the fashion masterpieces found at these unique festivals are Martins' inspiration.

Other projects include music videos, cinematography and commercial work. He has worked with brands such as Nescafé, Tele2, Omnitel, Bite, Svyturys and Utenos.