The National Film Centre (NFC) has published online recordings from the presentation „4 seriāli + 5 filmas. Ko gaidīt?” - this is an opportunity to get acquainted with nine upcoming films that will be released on screens starting January next year. Four multi-series films, one feature-length documentary and four feature-length feature films are being made with the support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
In the film presentations, directors, producers, actors and other representatives of the creative teams of upcoming films talk about their works, offering an insight into the story and visual material of each film. All film projects included in the presentation have received production support in a separate NFC competition (2022), which, thanks to the funding attracted by the Ministry of Culture from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) financial instrument REACT-EU, is part of the ERDF project “Growth of Latvian film industry companies, promoting their professional capacity (project No. 13.1.4.0/22/I/001)”. The aim of the project is to provide support to Latvian film producers, reducing the effects of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and preserving job opportunities in the cultural and creative sectors.
During the project presentation, media representatives, film industry professionals, film distributors, employees of streaming platforms and cinemas were introduced to nine projects being developed by eight Latvian film studios. Each project will be presented for approximately 15 minutes, including a demonstration of visual material; the project presentation will be led by Dita Rietuma, Director of the National Film Centre, and Kristīne Matīsa, Film Industry Information Specialist at the National Film Centre.
Links to presentations of individual projects and a recording of the entire event (in Latvian)
As early as January 2024, the multi-part film Pansion at the Mansion (Pansija pilī), based on the popular novel by Anšlavs Eglītis, produced by the Mistrus Media film studio, will be released to audiences both in cinemas and online. This project is presented by producer Gints Grūbe, screenwriter Ivo Briedis and director Marta Elīna Martinsone (directors Andis Mizīšs and Dāvis Sīmanis also work on the series, but Gints Grūbe will create the final documentary series – following the tradition that the studio started with the series Emīlija. Latvian Press Queen, 2021). The authors of the project promise the audience an entertaining and comic adventure with brilliant and unexpected acting – at the center of the story is the writer Viktors Eglītis (Gundars Āboliņš), to whom the Latvian government has granted ownership of the Inciems Mansion for his merits, his sons Anšlavs and Vidvuds (played by Rihards Zelezņevs and Kristians Teterovskis) and a whole galaxy of the mansion's residents and guests of Riga – in supporting roles Kaspars Znotiņš, Juris Strenga, Lāsma Kugrēna, Dace Everss, Guna Zariņa, Vilis Daudziņš, Ivars Kalniņš, Olga Dreģe and many others.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
Director Andrejs Ēķis, together with screenwriter Ivo Briedis and lead actor Dainis Grūbe, tells the story of the Cinevilla Films multi-part film The Mutiny (Dumpis), which is based on historical events – in 1975, an attempted uprising takes place on a Soviet warship, initiated by the ship’s political leader, the naive idealist Sablin (played by Dainis Grūbe). The multi-part film shows the bleakest stagnation of the Brezhnev era, the everyday life of a communal apartment in Riga, the permissiveness of the Soviet nomenclature both in the military system and outside it, and in contrast – a passionately quixotic fight for human rights and freedoms. Also starring are Gatis Gāga, Inga Tropa, Elīna Hanzena, Lauris Dzelzītis, Andris Keišs, Egons Dombrovskis, Agnese Budovska, Kaspars Zāle, Jēkabs Reinis, Ritvars Logins and others.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
Early next year, the eight-part film Soviet Jeans (Padomju džinsi) will also be released, directed by Staņislavs Tokalovs and Juris Kursietis at the Tasse Films studio, starring Kārlis Arnolds Avots. “Rock and roll and jeans are stronger than the entire Red Army,” says the film’s theme, and the action of this tragicomedy takes place in 1979, offering an intriguingly dramatic and even unbelievable story that happened in real life – patients of a psychiatric hospital organize an illegal underground business, a jeans factory, which the security authorities try to uncover and liquidate for a long time and unsuccessfully. Part of the film also takes place at the Daile Theatre, with Finnish actresses Amu Milonofa and Igors Šelegovskis playing important roles in the film, and the ensemble of actors also includes Ivars Krasts, Jānis Jarāns, Gints Grāvelis, Valentīns Novopoļskis, Andris Keišs and many others.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
The fourth multi-part film The Assistant (Asistene) will be released in the fall of 2024. It is directed by Liene Linde and Alise Zariņa, and the project is presented by producer Guntis Trekteris (Ego Media studio). The film's story centers on a young woman, Laila, nicknamed Lulū (played by Elizabete Skrastiņa), who, out of an idealistic desire to save the world, becomes a social worker and in each episode encounters a typical problem or vulnerable group of society - a defrauded pensioner and payday loans, an asylum seeker and a victim of violence, a former prisoner, a child in a wheelchair, and others. Laila is ready to help anyone, and the director deals with the course of events with bright humanity and humor, anticipating a wide target audience for the series, as it features characters from different generations – including Laila's energetic mother (played by Baiba Broka) and ironic grandmother (Silvija Bitere), father (Kaspars Gods) with his new family, Laila's friends and other characters.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
The series of nine projects includes one feature-length documentary – To Be Continued. Teenhood (Turpinājums. Pieaugšana) – presented by the film’s directors Ivars Seleckis and Armands Začs, and Mistrus Media studio producers Gints Grūbe and Elīna Gediņa-Ducena. The film follows the lives of five children who started school in the documentary classic Ivars Seleckis’ centennial film Continuation (2018); now Zane, Kārlis, Anete, Anastasija and Gļebs are already eighth-graders in different regions of Latvia, and the film’s premiere will celebrate the director’s 90th anniversary next year.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
The feature film BOOM! (BUM!), which is being made at the Picture House studio by two directors, childhood friends and classmates – Marta Selecka and Andra Doršs, also features producers Uģis Riekstiņš and Elīna Jozauska, and two young actors – Dāvis Ozols and Lūkass Pāvils Kalniņš, is also about school-age children. This summer, a fantasy story about two friends was filmed in Liepāja and elsewhere in Latvia. Tomas and Hugo, who are starting their 7th grade studies and want to surprise their classmates with their skating skills, but after a sudden accident, Hugo gains superpowers, which becomes a serious test for the boys' friendship. The film will be released in early autumn next year, as the events of the story begin to unfold exactly on September 1.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
Director Armands Začs is shooting the feature film Forever Young (Mūžīgi jauni) at the White Picture studio, and the presentation of the project will also be attended by producer Alise Ģelze and two of the film's cast – Jana Herbsta and Emīls Ralfs Zagorskis. Experienced editing director Začs's debut feature film stars seven young actors – including Sabīne Tīkmane, Elza Gauja, Antons Barons, Rihards Sniegs and Kārlis Zahovskis – according to the film's plot, it is a group of best friends who are stuck in their youth and quite self-destructively refuse to grow up and take responsibility for life.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
The historical feature film Escape Net (Lācis un Cālis. TTT leģendas dzimšana) is the next major project of director Dzintars Dreibergs and the creative team of the film Blizard of Souls (2019), together with the director, cinematographer Valdis Celmiņš, composer Lolita Ritmanis and others continue to work, as well as producer Inga Praņevska, who presents the new film. The story centers on a real historical figure – the first captain of the legendary women's basketball team TTT, Dzidra Uztupe-Karamiševa, the action takes place in the 1950s and the film is not only a sports drama, but also a story driven by a strong female character and the political background of the Cold War.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
The project presentation concludes with the film Dog of God (Dieva suns), created in an unusual form and technique, which its directors, brothers Raitis and Lauris Ābeles, call "animation with real acting" - a story about 17th-century Latvia created using the rotoscope technique, based on the trial that took place in Zaube in 1692 and the legends about the Livonian werewolves. The project presentation will also feature the author of the script Ivo Briedis, the film's artist Harijs Gruntmanis, who gave a two-dimensional animation form to the action played by real actors, and one of the film's actors - politician Einars Repše. The "fairy tale for adults" created using an experimental technique has already earned the attention of genre specialists in the wider world during its creation stage.
Project presentation recording (in Latvian)
Films supported by the program will reach audiences in cinemas, on streaming platforms and later on television; premieres are expected to begin in January 2024.
For contacts:
Liene Liekna,
NFC ERDF Project Manager,
+371 29225875
liene.liekna@nkc.gov.lv
Prepared by:
Kristīne Matīsa,
NFC Film Industry Information Specialist,
+371 26129954,
kristine.matisa@nkc.gov.lv
(Translated with the help of DeepL Translate)
