Matīss Kaža (1995) is an Academy Award-winning Latvian producer, director and writer. He is best known for co-writing and producing the animated feature film FLOW (2024) by Gints Zilbalodis, which won the first ever Golden Globe and Oscar for an independent animated feature. Recent producing credits include Sisters (2022, Warsaw Film Festival 1+2 Competition Winner) by Linda Olte, Drowning Dry (2024, two awards in the Locarno Main Competition) by Laurynas Bareiša.

Matīss has directed and written for live action, documentary and the theatre, including Neon Spring (2022, Edinburgh Intl. Film Festival) and critically acclaimed performances at the Latvian National Theatre, like Soft Power (2023) and The National Network (2025).

He teaches film directing at the Latvian Academy of Culture

Nikola Ozola (2001) is an emerging film producer with a BA in Production of Audiovisual and Performance Arts from the Latvian Academy of Culture. An alumna of the Locarno Film Festival’s “Match Me!” programme, she has worked as a Showcase Coordinator for RIGA IFF and has produced numerous short films. In addition to supporting the studio’s feature projects, Nikola oversees Trickster Pictures’ short-film slate.

Elza Marta Ruža is a playwright and dramaturg from Riga, Latvia. She graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture in 2022 and has since continued to develop her creative voice, working with theatres and festivals such as the Latvian National Theatre, The New Riga
Theatre, the Valmiera Summer Theatre Festival, and Dirty Deal Teatro. Her recent projects include Valley of Astonishment (dir. Matīss Kaža), King Ubu and Other Monsters (dir. Vladislav Troitsky), Neighbour from the Yellow House (dir. Elza Marta Ruža and Max
Fernandes), and most notably Maigā vara (dir. Matīss Kaža), which was nominated for the Latvian National Theatre Prize for Best New Playwriting and was invited to be performed a the Czech National Theatre in Prague. Passionate about storytelling in all its forms, Elza has now joined Trickster Pictures as script consultant, expanding her work into cinema.