(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
After Latvia regained its independence in the early 1990s, Latvian film faced new challenges and changes. The local film industry, which since the end of World War II was part of Soviet film production and screenings with predictable production volumes, was subjected to major changes. There were radical cuts in financing, and the well-known Soviet market disappeared. It became necessary to make a U-turn to the West. In addition, Riga Film Studio lost its position as the largest studio in the Baltics, where for many years at least ten feature films were made annually and dozens of documentaries and historical films as well as animated films. In the 1990s, Riga Film became one of many film production companies, and had to compete for funding. The 1990s became a very complicated period for Latvian film, and only a negligible number of films were produced. The film plots reflected the chaos and neuroses that characterized this dramatic period. In 1993, four feature films reached the screens. Just one of them, Christmas Huddle, was a traditional family movie. The Courage to Kill (by Aigars Grauba and Ivo Linga) and Investigation of Related Events (by Janis Putninš) were young directors' attempts to experiment with the film language. In 1996, a unique collaborative project was carried out, when Norwegian filmmaker Emil Stang Lund recorded Virgins of Riga (1996) in Riga with Latvian actors as participants. The film presents an observer's view of the early 1990s in Latvia, when capitalism raged wildly. Unfortunately, the film did not achieve the success it deserved in Latvia, and stands as far as the only fruit of Norwegian-Latvian film collaboration in 20 years. Even later, after the 1990s, Latvian film has had some cooperation with Scandinavian partners, although there have been examples of successful Baltic collaboration – several co-productions of the Estonian film director Peeter Simms, who Good Hands (2001) and Lonely Island (2012). About the middle of the 1990s came a movie that marks a milestone throughout the decade - Mill of Destiny (1997) by the famous Latvian director Janis Streics. Although the film did not manage to be praised by contemporary film critics, it shows important features of the period – major social changes and rapid social stratification that drew a line between dynamic capitalists, the so-called new rich, and the poor on the fringes of society. The main part of the film's plot is set in a mill that sly mafia bosses drool after. The turning points emphasize both the glaring capitalism of the new age and the Latvian mentality, which is characterized by pettiness and greed in the struggle for one's own material well-being. Similar elements combined with a strong metaphorical language, fictional film footage and even Christian symbols were used by Janis Streics also in his next film, The Mystery of the Old Parish House (2000). In the latter half of the 1990s also came Laila Pakalninas The Shoe (1998), which was her first full-length feature film. Artistically, it was one of the most remarkable films of the entire decade, it also won wide international recognition. It was a metaphorically rich story about the Latvian city of Liepaja in the 1950s and '60s – a time when it was a well-guarded Soviet border town. Footprints on the beach discovered by the border guards start a fierce hunt for the unauthorized person, which continues throughout the film. The story provided rich opportunities for visual play, complicated camera movements and a kind of metaphysical search for this lost time, carried out with the help of a modernist narrative language and cunning irony. At the same time, the all-night format was also discovered by Viesturs Kairiss in his film Leaving by the Way (2001). Both this and his next film, The Dark Deer (2006), presents a form of Nordic dramatic behavior. They explore family relationships and the dramatic potential of a single family, and use a metaphorical narrative style. Despite their artistic potential, none of these films still won any further international recognition or deserved appreciation from the home audience. In 2014, after a long break, Viesturs Kairiss returned to the feature film with Chronicles of Melanie, a drama based on the Latvian story of mass deportations during the Soviet occupation. Latvian film has also made attempts to use the Danish manifesto Dogme 95 by introducing improvisation, handheld camera and documentary elements, as was done in contemporary dramas Maximum Altitude (2005, by Una Celma) and Monotony (2007, by Juris Poskus). Juris Poskus constantly cultivates his interest in marginal social groups that seem neglected by society. Monotony tells the story of a girl from the province who comes to Riga, and her next destination will probably be the Latvian immigrant paradise Ireland. Another of Juris Polkus' films, Kolka Cool (2001), captures an existence where time and meaning seem to have ceased in the Latvian provincial town of Kolka. The film led to heated discussions, even among local politicians (who declared, some of them, that the film portrayed reality as too "black"), but it was well received at international film festivals. In 2007, four young directors released their joint venture, a film called outlaw. The film presents a metaphorical picture of the main character's life in the four stages of childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. The film was well received internationally at various film festivals, and kickstarted the film career of Gatis Smits, a young Latvian film director educated in New York. His next film, The Return of Sergeant Lapins (2010), was one of the first to break the long-standing ice front between Latvian film and the domestic film audience. The film is an interpretation of contemporary reality, in the form of observational comedy. In 2000 came a film by director Aigars Grauba, Dangerous Summer - a historical drama depicting the last days of an independent Latvia before the Soviet occupation. Also in his next films, Aigars Grauba uses historical themes, and makes a kind of mythologisation of Latvian history. Both Defenders of Riga (2007) and Dream team 1935 (2012) develop the theme of national identity using historical material. There are stories that revolve around heroic decisions and actions at crucial moments in Latvia's history. Due to their mass appeal and traditional cinematic language, these films are Latvia's biggest box office successes to date. Some directors with names written in the history books of Latvian film, and who made their greatest contributions in the years from 1960 to 1990, still have to work in the 21st century. Janis Streics joined Rudolf's Gold (2010), which borrows material from classical Latvian literature and paints the picture of a strict patriarch. Rolands Kalnins, another prominent director, who had many of his films banned by Soviet censorship in the 1960s, created the contemporary melodrama Bitter Wine (2007). But none of the films mentioned above can compare with the directors' previous masterpieces, such as Oven (1972) by Rolands Kalnins, or A Limousine the Color of Midsummer's Eve (1981) by Janis Streics. For many years, the biggest problem for the Latvian film industry was lack of funding and modest production – only one or two feature films a year, each made over a period of three to four years. The financing situation did not improve significantly until 2008, when it reached 4,6 million euros. Unfortunately, there were cuts again due to the financial crisis, so that the sum was down to 1 million euros in 2010. Then came 2014 with a new positive trend – film financing has now reached 2,7 million euros, which is still below the level from before crisis. The hitherto scarce resources available to the Latvian film industry have created major problems, as well as a kind of artificial distinction between "film as art" and "film for the people", ie films that follow the principles of European film language and auteur film on the one hand, and films in Hollywood style on the other. The funding has not been sufficient to ensure a good balance between entertainment film and film with artistic potential. Latvian film still seeks some fair balance between the aforementioned contradictions. Mother, i love you (2013) by the young director Janis Nords has not only managed to dampen the alleged contradiction between high-end and folk art, but has also received dozens of awards at international festivals, including the Berlin Film Festival. Nords' film became popular not only with Latvian audiences, the same thing happened at international festivals, and shows that the antagonism between "film for the people" and "film for the elite" is artificial. It can be overcome with both artistic talent and adequate funding, which will be able to ensure a sufficient production volume. In relation to the complex conditions for feature films, the development of documentaries has been far more harmonious in recent decades, partly because documentaries do not require such large investments. There are skilled documentary filmmakers in Latvia who use the so-called true cinemamethod and creates sharp, strong portraits of society – for example The Worm (by Andis Miziss, 2005), Family Instinct (by Andris Gauja, 2010), and more. Laila Pakalnina shows a compelling auteur style in her documentaries Dreamland (2004) Theodore (2006) and Three Men and a Fish Pond (2008). Another director who should be mentioned is Ivars Seleckis, who is associated with the golden decades of Latvian documentary, namely the poetic documentary school in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2013, Ivars made Seleckis Capitalism at Crossroad Street, the third film in Crossroad Streethis trilogy. The first part, which was simply called Crossroad Street (1989), won a European Film Academy Award. This documentary trilogy explores a microcosm by following the residents of a street on the outskirts of Riga for a period of twenty years. Latvian documentaries also have strong ties to director Herz Frank, who spent his last years in Israel. In 2002, he completed Flashback, one of the most generous and personal films made by this great Latvian documentary master. Rietuma is a film critic and PhD in film studies.
