The film was shot in Riga and Jūrmala, most of the scenes were filmed at Lielupe Secondary School, where the most authentic environment for the events of the late 1990s and early 2000s was located. The most complicated filming has turned out at Laima’s clock and in the “pit” of the Riga Dome, which no longer looks like 20 years ago, when the most stylish young people in Riga had fun there. The room of the main character – the teenager Sarmīte – has been built especially for the needs of the film in the cinema pavilion. The filming took place for two days at the Latvian National Theater, where a visit to the theater of Sarmīte and her schoolmates was recorded. It was a great challenge and at the same time a pleasure to work with animals, which included not only two cats and eight dogs, but even a peacock. The filming team is very grateful to the volunteers, who have received a huge response – in total, more than 1,000 applications were received and 470 people took part in filming the mass scenes. To cover the different seasons and close the filming, a couple of filming days are also planned for this autumn.
“Each day of filming offered its own challenges, but at the same time it was the funniest summer of my life. It was an opportunity to immerse myself in the memories of the turn of the millennium and remember how intense the emotions were during my teens. For me, this film is about friendship, self-acceptance and courage. We play different genres, whaling the imagination and at times stepping away from reality, because adolescence is most related to fantasy – the desire to escape from everyday life, dreaming about what life will be like next. I try not to lose this dreaming and fantasy in adulthood, because it is an endless and unparalleled source of inspiration or inspiration, “reveals the film ‘s director and screenwriter Marta Elīna Martinsone.
The main roles in the film will be played by non-professional actors, for whom this will be his debut on the cinema screen – Asnāte Sofija Rožkalne, Katrīna Dambeniece, Ludmila Karpova, Mārtiņš Aigars Ziedonis, Mārtiņš Zeps, Kristaps Tutāns, Gerda Embure, Terēze Anna Pogiņa, Elizabete Liepa. Actors already known in Latvia such as Guna Zariņa, Imants Strads, Daiga Kažociņa, Ģirts Krūmiņš, Marija Linarte, Mārtiņš Kalita, Inga Siliņa and others will also take part in the film. Legendary groups have also played roles in the film Jumprava musician and director Aigars Graubs and youth supergroups Singapore satin musician Jānis Krīvēns.
video Kneel produced by the studio Ego Media. The cinematographer-director of the film is Aigars Sērmukšs, the film artist Aivars Žukovskis, the costume designer Jūlija Volkinšteine, the make-up artists Zane Žilinska and Tamara Koubova, the actor selection director Gunita Groša, the producer Guntis Trekteris and the executive producer – Inga This is the first feature film for director Marta Elīna Martinsone. A short film by Marta Elīna Martinsone Viesturs Kairišs comes out of the forest (2018) won the award Kristaps the Great in category Lboth student films, in 2019, she received together with Alice Zariņš The Great Kristaps award for best screenplay for a feature film Next to (2019).
Already reported that movies Kneel The activity takes place in 1999, when three 9th grade students – Sarmīte, Sveta and Katrīna – decided to put an end to their teenage lives and become the school’s most popular girls. Filming started already in January this year, but was temporarily suspended due to the state of emergency in the country. It is planned that the film will be shown in Latvian cinemas next spring.
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