- Occupation
Producer, Director - Country
Latvia
Geka Dzintra
John Dored’s Island
This film is based on the life story of the distinguished Latvian cameraman John Dored and his wife, the painter Elisabeth Dored. The producers of the film have had access to John and Elisabeth's letters and other documents. This is a film about profession and destiny,love, life and death. Dored spent the last years of his life in Norway, which was his wife's native country. They lived on the shore of a lake near the small town of Halden. Local residents named a nearby island - John Dored Island. "I've always felt limited by scripts and staging, I always yearned for freedom. I became a film reporter to shoot footage of those things for which our Father in Heaven writes the screenplay," Dored wrote in his memoirs.
Signe and...
This is a film about creativity, sex and immortality, about the accidentally fateful people who were encountered by the Latvian animation film director Signe Baumane in Latvia and the United States. The images in the film as signs, and someone who is waiting…
Siberian Diaries
Agapitova and the Rescued
This is a film about the return of an individual to the Far North and to the past. Agapitova, Igarka – the vast lands of Siberia to which Ilmārs Knaģis and 4,000 other children from Latvia were deported in 1941. In the autumn of 1942, 700 mothers and children of different nationalities were sent to the death island of Agapitova. Only 60 survived, and among them were six Latvian children – Biruta Kazaka, Pāvels Kliesbergs, Venta Grāvīte, Ilmārs Grāvītis, Pēteris Bērziņš and Valentīna Voiciša. Their memories are bitter and even unbelievable.
Gvido Zvaigzne
In January 2011, Latvia commemorated the 20th anniversary of the tragic events of January 1991, also a time when the cameraman Gvido Zvaigzne got fatally injured and died two weeks later. The cinematographer of Juris Podnieks’ documentary Soviets (1989), the portrait of the collapse of the Soviet Empire, was a young man whose talent had not yet fully flourished. His story, however, contains elements which make it possible to demonstrate not only his personal tragedy, but also the problematic existence of a young and creative person during an era in which everything was crumbling around him. The film about him is also a film about his generation.
This film is based on the life story of the distinguished Latvian cameraman John Dored and his wife, the painter Elisabeth Dored. The producers of the film have had access to John and Elisabeth's letters and other documents. This is a film about profession and destiny,love, life and death. Dored spent the last years of his life in Norway, which was his wife's native country. They lived on the shore of a lake near the small town of Halden. Local residents named a nearby island - John Dored Island. "I've always felt limited by scripts and staging, I always yearned for freedom. I became a film reporter to shoot footage of those things for which our Father in Heaven writes the screenplay," Dored wrote in his memoirs.
Signe and...
This is a film about creativity, sex and immortality, about the accidentally fateful people who were encountered by the Latvian animation film director Signe Baumane in Latvia and the United States. The images in the film as signs, and someone who is waiting…
Siberian Diaries
Agapitova and the Rescued
This is a film about the return of an individual to the Far North and to the past. Agapitova, Igarka – the vast lands of Siberia to which Ilmārs Knaģis and 4,000 other children from Latvia were deported in 1941. In the autumn of 1942, 700 mothers and children of different nationalities were sent to the death island of Agapitova. Only 60 survived, and among them were six Latvian children – Biruta Kazaka, Pāvels Kliesbergs, Venta Grāvīte, Ilmārs Grāvītis, Pēteris Bērziņš and Valentīna Voiciša. Their memories are bitter and even unbelievable.
Gvido Zvaigzne
In January 2011, Latvia commemorated the 20th anniversary of the tragic events of January 1991, also a time when the cameraman Gvido Zvaigzne got fatally injured and died two weeks later. The cinematographer of Juris Podnieks’ documentary Soviets (1989), the portrait of the collapse of the Soviet Empire, was a young man whose talent had not yet fully flourished. His story, however, contains elements which make it possible to demonstrate not only his personal tragedy, but also the problematic existence of a young and creative person during an era in which everything was crumbling around him. The film about him is also a film about his generation.
God's Lost Sparrows
Toward the end of World War II, when it became clear that the Soviet military was once again going to be occupying Latvia, some 150,000 people became refugees and moved to Germany. They used cars, trains, horse-drawn wagons, ships or any other form of transport. The refugees were people from various professions – farmers, businesspeople, former politicians, statesmen, members of the creative intelligentsia, as well as labourers who had already experienced the terrible period known as the “year of horror.” After the way, nearly one million people from Eastern Europe who were fleeing the Soviet regime found themselves in Germany. They all required housing and food, as well as medical care. In the American, British and French zones of occupation, displaced person (DP) camps were established so as to house and care for refugees. This system was overseen by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and, later, the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). People were usually grouped by nationality in the camps. This allowed people to maintain their own nationality by organising various cultural activities. Latvians in the camps called themselves “dee-pees” (displaced persons), “God’s lost sparrows” (Dieva putniņi), or “stepchildren of God”, and they tried to organise their living space so that it would be as Latvian as possible, no matter where they were. This became known as “little Latvia”.
Toward the end of World War II, when it became clear that the Soviet military was once again going to be occupying Latvia, some 150,000 people became refugees and moved to Germany. They used cars, trains, horse-drawn wagons, ships or any other form of transport. The refugees were people from various professions – farmers, businesspeople, former politicians, statesmen, members of the creative intelligentsia, as well as labourers who had already experienced the terrible period known as the “year of horror.” After the way, nearly one million people from Eastern Europe who were fleeing the Soviet regime found themselves in Germany. They all required housing and food, as well as medical care. In the American, British and French zones of occupation, displaced person (DP) camps were established so as to house and care for refugees. This system was overseen by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and, later, the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). People were usually grouped by nationality in the camps. This allowed people to maintain their own nationality by organising various cultural activities. Latvians in the camps called themselves “dee-pees” (displaced persons), “God’s lost sparrows” (Dieva putniņi), or “stepchildren of God”, and they tried to organise their living space so that it would be as Latvian as possible, no matter where they were. This became known as “little Latvia”.
1979 – graduated from the State Theatre, Music and Film Institute in St. Petersburg as director of motion picture and TV production. 1970 – 1980 Assistent director and editor in Riga National Film Board of Latvia. 1980 – 1992 Director in Telefilma Film Studio. Since 1992, director for various movie production companies. Since 1995, member of the Latvian Guild of Directors. Since 2000, member of The Latvian Guild of Cameramans. Since 2001, president of the Siberian Children's Fund. Filmography: Olga Pirag’s Singing (1982); A Play with the Wind (1984); The Light in Your Window (1986); Voldemars and Leontine (1987); Brothers under the Sun (1988); A House on the Main Road (1989); Pits Andersons (1989); I Was Born with a Song on My Lips (1990); Gunars Janovskis (1991); Aleksandrs Pelecis (1992); The Return of the Light (1993); The Cakstes Family Tree (1994); Captain Krulle (1997); Poikans (1998); The Children of Siberia (2001); Siberian Diaries I - IV (2002-2003); Greetings from Siberia (2004).
1982 „Olga Pirag’s Singing” 1984 „A Play With the Wind” 1986 „The light in your window” 1987 „Voldemars and Leontine” 1988 „Brothers Under the Sun” 1989 „A House on the Main Road” 1989 „Pits Andersons” 1990 „I was born with a song on my lips” 1991 „Gunars Janovskis” 1991 „...And we” 1992 „Aleksandrs Pelecis” 1993 „The Return of the Light” 1994 „The Cakstes Family Tree” 1997 „Captain Krulle” 1998 „Poikans” 1998 „Eizensteins Eden” 1998 „Latvia-80” 1999 „Cinema century in Latvia” 10 parts 1999 „Latvia radio – 75” 2001 „The Children of Siberia” 2001 „Ocupation of Latvia” part 1, 2, 3 2002 „Siberian Diaries”part 1-2 2003 „Siberian Diaries”part 3-4 2003 „Signe and...” 2004 „Greetings from Siberia” 2004 „Job Nr.1:The President” 2005 „Once There was Siberia” 2006 „Remember or Forget” 2007 „John Dored's Island” 2007 „600 stories...they must tell thier story” 2008 „...and Igarka, Hope and Butterfly” 2009 „Agapitova and the Rescued” 2010 „Remember Siberia” 2011 „The Train Station Latvians 1937” 2011 „Balance Sheet of Siberia” 2011 „Gvido Zvaigzne” 2011 „Konstantin”