Elīna Bandēna

Documentary feature about the famous Latvian poet and translator Uldis Bērziņš. The film tells about the everyday life of the poet, his work, his imprisoned son, his family and his best friend, a KGB agent. Includes excerpts of the newest poetry book of the poet, “Idylls“.

In two monumental symbols of the national awareness sculptor Kārlis Zāle has immortalized his vision about the state of Latvia. Freedom Monument is the statement of the sculptor’s love for his native country. Kārlis Zāle with his characteristic monumental touch sees life in large and powerful lines; the same way he perceives also sculpture that requires much vital force and daring. The full-length documentary “The Wounded Rider” is based on facts from the life of the sculptor Kārlis Zāle and documents on the construction of the Freedom Monument, providing insight in the political and social scene of the age and presenting outstanding figures in the culture and art together with the ideals of that time.

This is the story of the USSR all-star basketball team – European, Olympic and world champions. What does it mean to be at the zenith of fame, at the high-point of their athletic careers, while representing the interests of a totalitarian state? And from today’s point of view, was there a sacrificing of conscience in the name of athletic glory?

The creative documentary Piano Player is a story about the piano player and musician Oscar Strock, who was a well known tango music composer in 1920s Europe. Nobody knew him – only his music was well known. The life of Strock is like a side-show of everlasting debts, long voyages and wild and unlucky love affairs that find their best interpretation through his tango music. The piano player is a man, who barely arranges his life according to the political and economic circumstances in the world. To earn money, he plays for pubs and cinema theatres in Riga, Berlin and Paris, and for lovers, he writes the most romantic tango music.

A film about Vera Mukhina (1889-1953) based on the diaries of the outstanding Riga-born sculptress who studied in Paris with Rodin’s pupil Bourdelle, the master of European sculpture. At the 1937 Paris World Exposition, Mukhina presents her monumental sculptural ensemble Worker and Peasant Woman. Weighing 75 tons and 53metres high, it becomes a sensation. Mukhina truly believes in human ideas, and this is successfully used by the USSR propaganda machine.

Veteran actors from the 3 Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - gather at a castle in Latvia to receive awards for their roles as Nazi villains in propagandist Soviet war films. They reminisce about the films that made them famous throughout the USSR, but also stigmatized the Baltic countries as Nazi sympathizers in the eyes of many Russians - a misconception that is nowadays exploited by the Russian media, desperate to label the Baltic countries as a fascist haven.

From midnight until early morning you can travel to any suburb of Riga on a streetcar named Help, whose interior becomes a stage for life’s dramas, human exhaustion and hope. The streetcar is a democratic place where anyone can spend some time.