March 15, 2021
The information was prepared by Pēteris Rezņikovs, D eep W hite Project Assistant.
Viesturs Kairiss’s upcoming feature film “January” will be a story about eighteen-year-olds who are drawn to the political events of January 1991 in Riga. The heroes of the film are infinitely far from any political life, but the circumstances put them at the crossroads of politics and history.
The film “January” is produced as a co-production of Latvia (Mistrus Media), Lithuania (Artbox) and Poland (Staron Film). More than 50 film professionals from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland took part in the filming, as well as almost 1,000 mass viewers. Filming was organized in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Culture “On Ensuring Social Distinction in the Filming Process”, in addition to performing regular SARS-CoV-2 antigen and PCR tests for the filming team and actors throughout the filming period. Filming took place in Riga, Rēzekne region, Ķegums, Jūrmala and Vilnius.
At the beginning of March, a reconstruction of the January 1991 barricades was carried out at the Saeima building under the direction of the artist and director Ieva Jurjāne and the artist Kārlis Utināls according to the similarity of the material filmed in 1991 by the cameraman and director Zigurds Vidiņš.
“The people’s struggle was an extremely meaningful thing at the time. Cinema suddenly became a matter of life and death at the time – two cameramen were killed. At the time, I was a nihilist, without a great sense of statehood, a radical young man against the current and on a personal level, thinking about future, it was often such hopelessness, “the director Viesturs Kairišs remembers the time reconstructed in the film.
“Period dramas or films about history, including the history of the 90s, have a strong place in the offer of European cinema in recent years, both in festivals and cinema repertoire and on television.” January “is a generation story that we could only film in certain climatic conditions. “Filming coincided with the 30th anniversary of 1991, which helped the film team psychologically. Filming in the conditions of a global pandemic required both additional resources and huge energy for the entire film crew,” says Inese Boka-Grūbe, the film’s producer.
The film team includes director Viesturs Kairišs, cameraman Vojcehs Starons, artist Ieva Jurjāne, costume designer Rūta Lečaite, make-up artist Ilze Trumpe, producers Inese Boka-Grūbe and Gints Grūbe, executive producers Mārtiņš Eihe and Agate Prozorovič.
Young actors Kārlis Arnolds Avots, Alise Danovska and Sandis Runge, as well as actors already experienced in the field of cinema Baiba Broka, Artūrs Skrastiņš, Imants Strads, Lauris Dzlezītis, Kaspars Dumburs, Estonian actor Juhans Ulfsaks and Lithuanian actors took part in the film together with non-professional actors.
The film studio “Mistrus Media” expresses its gratitude to all those who helped and supported filming in these difficult conditions – “Saules aptiek” and its manager Anita Pozna personally, Juris Podnieks studio and Antras Cilinskas, Zigurds Vidiņš, Viesturs Graždanovičs, Minister of the Saeima , bakery “Lielezers”, bakery “Dona”, SIA “Rimi Latvia”, SIA “Dimdiņi”, “Skrīveru saldumi”, Skrīveru kombināts, SIA “Ezerkauliņi”, bakery “Flora”, SIA “Krauss”, SIA “Pata Timber” , JSC “Latvian State Forests”, which helped in the reconstruction of the barricade reconstruction scenes.
The film is supported by the Latvian National Film Center, the Lithuanian National Film Center, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the Polish Film Institute, Latvian Television, the Latvian Foundation, as well as the Council of Europe Film Foundation Eurimages.
The movie “January” could be released in early 2022.
Film studio “Mistrus Media” has previously made director Viesturs Kairiss’s feature film “Chronicle of Melania”, the studio has made such historical dramas as Dāvis Sīmanis ‘”Father’s Night”, director Sharun Bart’s co-produced film “Twilight” and director Deneš Naagas’ premiered in the competition program of the Berlin International Festival and received one of the main prizes of the festival – “Silver Bear”.
Additional information:
Peter Reznikov,
D e e p W h i t e
Project assistant
M: +371 27703177
W: www.deepwhite.lv
–
