Agris Birzulis

An affirmative film about the price of risk and patriotism that is possible only for adventurists. Ivars Beitāns and his team do the impossible – in spite of obstacles they build a Latvian pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai, switch on the vertical wind tunnels and fly in sight of the whole world. But what is the price of the flight? What should one do to not let his whole life “pass by”?

Four Latvian legionnaires are sentenced to death for deserting the German army. A Latvian girl heads to the German headquarters to try to free her beloved. In the few hours remaining before the execution a love triangle plays out between the girl, a German officer and the prisoner.

A portrait of female prisoners and their guards in Afghanistan, showing parallel lives - the lives of the female prisoners, the life of the warden of the women’s prison, as well as the foreign advisors. The film shows the interplay of various levels of imprisonment. One level is the women themselves, the other is the strict and repressive rules for Afghan women, and yet another is the security threat of the outside world perceived by the advisors.

A portrait of Lars Vilks, the State Secretary of his own micro-nation Ladonia, a sculptor and a scandal-maker (as an art form), and professor of art theory. He is the only Swede, and also the only Latvian (by ancestry), with a price of $150 000 on his head. But perhaps he has been under-valued. A look at Ladonia, and at the nemesis of Swedish officialdom.

The story of Aivars Ritenieks, a father and a coach, brings together a passion for sports and a passion for family. He is determined to raise his sons to be Olympic athletes. Boxing is their life. They must fight many fights with the corruption in sports, bureaucracy, envy and ill wishes, the demons of their past and themselves. He’s a fighter who stands up against all odds and refuses to give up his principles... What is the price of victory?

After the lives of several people are tied into a intriguing knot upon meeting police officer Krasts one hot summer day, they’re all brought together again on a full moon winter night. Intrigue develops among a couple of lovers, Gints and Elga, three adventure-race participants with one woman, Renate, on their team, three generations of a family whose father, Karlis, died in a tragic hunting accident, Karlis’s daughter Aija, his former lover Livija, and a young girl hardened by life, who lives at a Christian home for expectant mothers. A detective twist is added by a bit of poison, which one of them will get.

Chechen boy Mansur, who was born and grew up during war in Chechnya, thanks to his mother Sacita’s persistence and his own talent, garners awards in dance contests all over the world, reminding people of his nation’s culture and valour.

For the post-war generation in Latvia, the dream of the “good old days” became a significant part of the process of regaining independence. The dream of restoring the countryside to the way it was during the first independence is only now seen by most as naïve and unreal. Six episodes that reflect the historical development in the nation parallel to the fate of the director’s mother are used to explore the effects of political order on everyday lives. Though she is now leaving the countryside, the process of moving her life provides a visual stimulus for memories.

The fading romance of the era of train travel is portrayed in the faces of railway workers, at lonely stations where trains no longer stop, on empty tracks where trains no longer run.

In the ice-free months of the year Father Gennady captains a barge transformed into a floating Orthodox Church on a mission trip along the Volga-Don Canal to the remote Russian villages. At each port of call Father Gennady leads church services, distributes holy sacraments and hears confessions. But some unexpected circumstances cause the mission to suddenly take a rather different turn.

Inese (41) and Karlis (62) occupy an illegally built hut in the suburbs of Riga in Latvia. After the collapse of socialism, they have found themselves at the bottom of the social ladder, doomed to fighting for mere existence. They live on a single retiring allowance and other people’s leftovers. They are neither alcoholics nor criminals, they are les misérables of today. They are growing scraggy vegetables, picking mushrooms, gathering windfallen branches for fuel, and breeding earthworms for anglers. Everything they put their hands to falls through… After fifteen years of living together, Karlis and Inese are expecting their first baby.

Members of a class of the 1980s hold an annual gathering. All together spend one night remembering the passions and hopes of youth and realising what has been achieved or missed.

It's Latvia on the 20th of September, 2003 - the day of the referendum about joining the European Union. On the day of the referendum, twelve Latvian film directors of different generations portray twelve different characters across the country. Their life stories and environments affect their decision of voting “for” or “against”.

What draws thousands of people to leave everything behind and venture out into Siberian taiga, following Visarion, an ex-agent of the Soviet police who proclaims to be Jesus? The film tries to answer this question, showing the construction of the New Jerusalem, a resettlement «destined» to become the birthplace of a new civilization after the imminent apocalypse takes place.

“As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have formed during the last few years such close relationships with this best and truest friend of mankind that death's image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling” - thus said Mozart about death. Mozart died in 1791 and was buried in a mass grave, as standard at the time in Vienna for a person of his social and financial situation. In 2000, 452 of Riga’s deceased — people without relatives, the homeless and the unidentified — were buried at the Jaunciems cemetery. But this film is not about death: it's about Mozart, The Magic Flute, Riga, and love. A short commissioned for the Latvian exhibition at Venice Biennale.

An omnibus film consisting of ten parts, each directed by a different young director from the Latvian Academy of Culture. The unifying element of the ten shorts is the place where they take place - the airport. A lot can happen there - including a strike by a comet, a malicious attempt to break havoc by passengers, or an exploration of the old airport guard's house where not a lot has changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The film consists of the following parts: A Mishap (Nediena) by Arta Biseniece, Blurp (Šļurp) by Aija Bley, Alien Sky (Svešās debesis) by Viesturs Kairišs, 5 Versions (5 versijas) by Dzintars Krūmiņš, Comet (Komēta) by Māra Liniņa, Cleptomania (Kleptomānija) by Andis Mizišs, Alfredo's Poetry (Alfredo dzeja) by Igors Varenieks, Little Hand (Mazā roka) by Ilze Vidauska, Comet 2 (Komēta 2) by Anna Viduleja, and Life No. 2 (Dzīve nr.2) by Kristīne Želve.