The series Soviet Jeans (Padomju džinsi), which has been nominated for 12 national film awards Lielais Kristaps and included in the Berlin International Film Festival program "Berlin Series Market Selection 2024," has released its teaser. The series is scheduled to premiere on February 26 and will be available to viewers in early March.
The series Soviet Jeans is a tragicomic story about free thinkers and conformists, about relationships and choices, about borders and the opening up of the world. And about the pants that changed the world! The directors of the series, Staņislavs Tokalovs and Juris Kursietis, take viewers to the end of the 1970s, a time when fierce propaganda against Western culture was widespread throughout the USSR, and an illegal and successful underground jeans factory was operating in a Latvian psychiatric hospital.
Renārs (Kārlis Arnolds Avots) loves rock 'n' roll and deals in contraband goods to earn a little money. Then he meets the love of his life, Tina (Aamu Milonoff). A conflict with the KGB lands Renārs in a psychiatric hospital, where he starts an underground business producing knock-off Western jeans. The hospital director makes a good profit from this and promises Renārs his freedom in return. The jeans become popular among Latvian youth, and Renārs becomes an anonymous underground legend, sought after by the KGB throughout the country. The conflict between Renārs and the KGB agent (Igors Šelegovskis) goes beyond jeans and criminal cases — it becomes a clash of life philosophies and ideologies. Step by step, Renārs becomes a true rebel; jeans are no longer a tool for gaining freedom, but a form of protest and a higher goal.
The series Soviet Jeans is based on three true stories, which have been developed into eight episodes by three screenwriters – Staņislavs Tokalovs, Teodora Markova, and Waldemar Kalinowski. "The first story is about psychiatric hospitals in the Soviet Union, where patients were used to produce illegal goods to be sold on the black market. The second is about a young man in the Baltics, which unfortunately ended in tragedy in real life, and the third is about a fisherman who secretly built a boat to escape to Sweden," reveals Staņislavs Tokalovs, the film's director and screenwriter.
The events of the film take place in 1979. "This is the time before the awakening. We associate the 1980s with the idea of freedom, but the 1970s were still a time of stagnation, and only the most courageous began to think about standing up against the authoritarian state. I think that one of the most important messages of Soviet Jeans is the human desire for freedom. This creates cracks in any authoritarian regime. It is impossible to keep people caged in for their entire lives. Of course, we are seeing this happening right now in our neighboring country, but we cannot lose hope that an awakening will also take place there. The driving force of a wise person is the exploration of the world, and this will be the biggest stumbling block for any dictator. Sooner or later. For young viewers, watching this multi-part film may even be more interesting than for witnesses of history, because they will see how their parents lived in their youth. The story itself and the way it is told are also youthful. It is a story about interesting, courageous, and reckless people. Such people are always interesting to watch," says the series' director Juris Kursietis.
Staņislavs Tokalovs adds: “This is a story about a young man who, as he grows older, realizes that freedom is possible. This story has no expiration date; it is just as relevant now as it was in 1979.”
The series has received 12 nominations for the national film award “Lielais Kristaps” and has been selected for the Berlin International Film Festival’s program “Berlin Series Market Selection 2024,” which offers an exclusive preview of series from around the world.
Starring Kārlis Arnolds Avots, Aamu Milonoff, and Igors Šelegovskis.
Cast: Andris Keišs, Gints Grāvelis, Dainis Gaidelis, Ivars Krasts, Gundars Āboliņš, Jevgēnijs Isajevs, Jānis Jarāns, Nikolajs Šestaks, Valentīns Novopoļskisj, Gatis Gāga, Indra Briķe, Juris Bartkēvičs, Matīss Ozols, Jānis Skutelis, Jurijs Djakonovs, Baiba Broka, and others.
The author of the series idea is Staņislavs Tokalovs; the screenplay authors are Staņislavs Tokalovs, Teodora Markova, Waldemar Kalinowski; the directors are Staņislavs Tokalovs, Juris Kursietis; cinematographer Valdis Celmiņš; artists Laura Dišlere and Zanda Landrāte-Bedrīte; costume designer Liene Bite; make-up artist Maija Gundare; composer Kārlis Auzāns; sound director Ernests Ansons and editing director Oskars Morozs. Producer Aija Bērziņa, studio Tasse Film.
The series Soviet Jeans was created with the support of the European Regional Development Fund and the National Film Centre. The series is co-financed by Go3 and TV3. The general sponsor of the series is the DEPO chain of stores. International distributor: Beta Film.
The studio Tasse Film was founded in 2011 and is currently run by the experienced producer Aija Bērziņa. Tasse Film is engaged in the production of high-quality art films in collaboration with experienced directors, as well as the search for new talent and their promotion on the international film market. The studio has produced the films Mellow Mud (Es esmu šeit) (dir. Renārs Vimba, 2016), Foam on the Lips (Ar putām uz lūpām) (dir. Jānis Nords, 2017), Paradise 89 (Paradīze 89) (dir. Madara Dišlere, 2018), Oleg (Oļegs) (dir. Juris Kursietis, 2019), Lovable (Mīlulis) (dir. Staņislavs Tokalovs, 2022) and My freedom (Mana brīvība) (dir. Ilze Kunga-Melgaile, 2023).
Information prepared by:
Inga Zālīte
Media representative for the series Soviet Jeans
Mobile: +371 28687743
E-mail: izalite@gmail.com
(Translated with the help of DeepL Translate)
