|
|
|
|
|
The Crossroad Street
a widescreen colour documentary film, 35mm, 85 min, 1988
|
|
|
|
|
Awards
1988. IFF St. Petersburg. Silver Kentaur + 2 awards.
1988. Latvian Filmmaker Festival. Riga. “Lielais Kristaps” and prize of the critic “Rolands”.
1989. Parnu Visual Antropology Festival. Parnu. Grand Prix.
International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam. Grand Prix.
1989. Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. The Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize (The Grand Prize) YAMAGATA FESTIVAL
All - Union Documentary Film Festival USSR. Voronez. Special Prize.
1989. Nike. Moscow. Best film of the USSR.
1990. European Film Awards. Glasgow. European Documentary Film of the Year "Felix", the prestigious prize of the European Film Academy
|
Screenplay
|
|
|
Director
|
|
|
Director of Photography
|
|
|
Music
|
Ivars Vigners
|
|
Sound Director
|
Gunars Racenajs
|
|
Editor
|
Maija Selecka
|
|
Producer
|
Leonids Berzins
|
|
Distributor
|
|
|
|
|
There is a small sidestreet in the suburbs of Riga, the capital of Latvia. It is no more than 800 metres long. In the town centre at the monument of freedom the supporters of Gorbachov’s policy are having a heated argument with the sympathisers of yesterday’s reality. In front of the procurator’s office and government buildings pickets are protesting against the injustice and malpractice that has been committed. They demand immediate adaptation of new human laws. The people living in this street do not seem to be involved in political life, yet, is it really so? “We thought that in this street an attentive and unpatient observer who is not too uppish to look into the lives of the seemingly common people without declarations and mass rallies would see something of the contradictory and dramatic fate of the Latvian people” -
|
|
|
 |
This is what the script writer says about the characters of his documentary. He has spent his childhood in this street.
Defining the genre of the film the authors suggest the term “cinematographic novel”. They tell us about happy and tragic lives. There are about ten main characters in the film and we bet to know them quite well because they trust us, they are not keeping back anything concerning their understanding of history or personal problems. There is an old woman who is happy with what she has and thanks Got for it, a stone cutter and horse - radish seller devote all their energy to have comfortable living conditions. There is a young man who is seriously ill and has not received timely medical treatment. There is the orphan Daiga who is not allowed to live in her grandfather’s house. There are depressing, tragic episodes in the film as well as optimistic and humorous moments accompanied even by songs because the song has always helped the Latvian people endure and survive.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
www.latfilma.lv - Home
|
|
Filmmakers
|
|
Organisations
|
|
Films
|
|
News!
|
Materials published in this web site are subjects to copyright. No copying or
publishing permitted without written authorisation from authors of this material.
Information provider: GILDE. Information provider is responsible for the contents of published materials.
Design and sequence © Gilde film studio, 1998
|
|
|
