Davis Simanis’s period drama Marijas Klusums (Maria’s Silence) centers on a real-life silent movie star in Soviet-era Russia, Maria Leiko, who thought she was untouchable when tricked into moving to Moscow in 1937, only to be murdered a year later by Stalin’s secret police.
And the Latvian film director — who is no stranger to actors — sees parallels between Leiko in Stalin’s Russia and Hollywood and foreign celebrities who became high-profile friends in more recent times with Vladimir Putin, until some of them broke with the Russian leader after he invaded Ukraine two years ago.
“They know how to pretend, they know how to play characters. So if a regime gives you a role, that role sometimes becomes you in a way,” Simanis says of buddies of Putin, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other autocrats around the world for whom make-believe comes easy as entertainers.
And the Latvian film director — who is no stranger to actors — sees parallels between Leiko in Stalin’s Russia and Hollywood and foreign celebrities who became high-profile friends in more recent times with Vladimir Putin, until some of them broke with the Russian leader after he invaded Ukraine two years ago.
“They know how to pretend, they know how to play characters. So if a regime gives you a role, that role sometimes becomes you in a way,” Simanis says of buddies of Putin, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other autocrats around the world for whom make-believe comes easy as entertainers.
- 2/16/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Latvia’s Official entry for the Academy Awards Gulf Stream Under The Iceberg will have its North American premiere this month at the Scandinavian Film Festival of Los Angeles - www.Ssfla.net.
The Sffla is leading the industry by extending its program to include its Baltic neighbors from Latvia and Lithuania. Ahead of the curve, the 14 year old festival has carved out a loyal and dedicated audience during the last lobbying weeks of a busy award season over the two weekends in January 12&13 and 19&20 at the Writer’s Guild in Beverly Hills.
“Northern European countries have often taken to the seas with a cargo of culture, commerce and collaboration,” says festival founder/director James Koenig. “We have an exciting program that follows old routes to new worlds and now we are journeying around to our Baltic neighborhood where cultural cross-currents have been a reality since even before Hanseatic ‘happenings’!”
This year the program will begin with Yevgeny Pashkevich’s mythical fairy tale Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg, a kaleidoscopic and hypnotic affair inspired by the works of Anatole France and influenced by Talmud and the medieval books of Cabala. It is the self-absorbing story about Adam´s first wife, Lilith – how humanity tries to run away from Eden and strives to become sinless, yet ultimately ends up trapped in its own unconsciousness.A
Written & Directed by Yevgeny Pahskevich, Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg is produced by Yevgeny Pashkevich, Natalia Ivanova and stars Olga Shepitskaya, Ville Haapasalo, Danila Kozlovsky, Liubomiras Lauciavicius, and Yuriy Tsurilo. Executive producers are Kristians Luhaers, Antra Cilinska and Maria Ksinopulo. Wide Management is handling worldwide sales.
Sffla 2013 will continue its strong line-up of showcasing Scandinavian films - premiering features, documentaries, shorts from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and which will include this year’s Academy’s short-list of Foreign Language films from Iceland Baltasar Kormakur’s The Deep, and Norway’s Golden Globe nominee Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg’s Kon-tiki; with Sweden’s Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair closing the festival. Other Academy submissions include Finland’s entry Antti Joinen’s Purge, Latvia’s Yevgeny Pashkevich’s Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg and Lithuania’s Loss from Maris Martinsons.
The shorts program will also include two Academy short-listed films: Anders Walter’s 9 Meter (Denmark) and Goran Kapetanovic’s Kiruna-Kigali (Sweden)
Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg Premieres Saturday, January 12 at 11am
WGA
135 S. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills - www.nidafilma.lv
Ticket sales: www.Sffla.net
Sales enquiries: www.widemanagement.com...
The Sffla is leading the industry by extending its program to include its Baltic neighbors from Latvia and Lithuania. Ahead of the curve, the 14 year old festival has carved out a loyal and dedicated audience during the last lobbying weeks of a busy award season over the two weekends in January 12&13 and 19&20 at the Writer’s Guild in Beverly Hills.
“Northern European countries have often taken to the seas with a cargo of culture, commerce and collaboration,” says festival founder/director James Koenig. “We have an exciting program that follows old routes to new worlds and now we are journeying around to our Baltic neighborhood where cultural cross-currents have been a reality since even before Hanseatic ‘happenings’!”
This year the program will begin with Yevgeny Pashkevich’s mythical fairy tale Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg, a kaleidoscopic and hypnotic affair inspired by the works of Anatole France and influenced by Talmud and the medieval books of Cabala. It is the self-absorbing story about Adam´s first wife, Lilith – how humanity tries to run away from Eden and strives to become sinless, yet ultimately ends up trapped in its own unconsciousness.A
Written & Directed by Yevgeny Pahskevich, Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg is produced by Yevgeny Pashkevich, Natalia Ivanova and stars Olga Shepitskaya, Ville Haapasalo, Danila Kozlovsky, Liubomiras Lauciavicius, and Yuriy Tsurilo. Executive producers are Kristians Luhaers, Antra Cilinska and Maria Ksinopulo. Wide Management is handling worldwide sales.
Sffla 2013 will continue its strong line-up of showcasing Scandinavian films - premiering features, documentaries, shorts from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and which will include this year’s Academy’s short-list of Foreign Language films from Iceland Baltasar Kormakur’s The Deep, and Norway’s Golden Globe nominee Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg’s Kon-tiki; with Sweden’s Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair closing the festival. Other Academy submissions include Finland’s entry Antti Joinen’s Purge, Latvia’s Yevgeny Pashkevich’s Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg and Lithuania’s Loss from Maris Martinsons.
The shorts program will also include two Academy short-listed films: Anders Walter’s 9 Meter (Denmark) and Goran Kapetanovic’s Kiruna-Kigali (Sweden)
Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg Premieres Saturday, January 12 at 11am
WGA
135 S. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills - www.nidafilma.lv
Ticket sales: www.Sffla.net
Sales enquiries: www.widemanagement.com...
- 1/6/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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