Behind every take-off at Riga Airport lies a hidden world where humans and wildlife share the same runway.

Acclaimed Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalniņa takes us behind the scenes of Riga International Airport to uncover a world few travellers ever notice. Beneath the roar of jet engines and the rush of passengers, an unassuming team of “runway rangers” wages a constant, high-stakes and sometimes comical battle with nature itself. Armed with flare guns, nets, and sheer determination, they spend long hours honking horns and chasing rabbits and birds across the runways, even contending with the occasional lost worm.

Filmed across four seasons, Pakalniņa’s patient lens reveals the extraordinary in the everyday, capturing a cinematic world where giant airbuses glide past elegant storks and the routines of aviation collide with the unpredictability of wildlife. It is a space both complex and quietly dramatic – where progress and nature remain locked in a delicate struggle.

Mike Arnott