LAIKU ATÅ ALKAS: Å½URNÄ€LISTIKA, KINO, POLITIKA - Academia

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LAIKU ATŠALKAS: ŽURNĀLISTIKA, KINO, POLITIKAOlga ProskurovaDoctoral student, University of Latvia, Department of Communications StudiesA FILM WITH A BIOGRAPHY, A GIRL WITHOUT A BIOGRA-PHY, AND A SINGLE WHITE HORSEOn the only feature film of director Uldis Brauns, “Summer of Motorcycles”Keywords: Uldis Brauns, debut of documentary director in feature films, Inese Jansone, Rīga FilmStudio, Editorial Council of Screenplays, Council of the ArtsThis paper is focused on the first and last feature film to be produced by the documentarydirector Uldis Brauns. The film, which was produced in 1975, was considered several times bythe Soviet Latvian Editorial Council of Screenplays and the Soviet Latvian Council of the Arts.This is seen in the minutes of their meetings, in the memories of those who worked on the film,and in press publications from that time. There was a great deal of criticism about “Summer ofMotorcycles” and other films by people debuting in the field of feature films, and this focusedvery much on the motivations of the main heroes in the films and the fact that their “biographies”were unclear. “From where are our young people coming, and where are they going?”, askedone critic. 1 “We are unaware of their biographies,” complained another. 2Still another critic had this to say: “One of the possible answers is that these characters representHim and Her in the present age.” 3 This paper represents an attempt to understand whatkind of a biography a girl whose dream was to see “100 white horses” in the 1970s might havebeen, also asking about the biography of a film which was destined to become the only featurefilm to be produced by a documentary filmmaker.1See Mundeciema, L. “Īstenības adekvāta meklējumi kino režisoru daiļradē” (Seeking Adequate Reality in theWork of Cinema Directors), Literatūra un Māksla, 28 June 1978, p. 12.2See Riekstiņš, E. “Mūžīgais un pārejošais” (The Eternal and the Transient), Literatūra un Māksla, 28 June1978, p. 12.3See Kļockins, Ā. “Freimaņa ‘Ābols’ un kinoteorija’ (Freimanis’ ‘Apple’ and Film Theory), Literatūra unMāksla, 21 June 1975, p. 12.225
LAIKU ATŠALKAS: ŽURNĀLISTIKA, KINO, POLITIKAMarija KrilovaDoctoral student, “Language and Culture in Europe” programme, University of Linköping,Sweden“APPLE IN THE RIVER”: AN EXPLANATION OF THE FILMKeywords: Documentary cinema, feature films, film reviews, the 1970s, the USSRThe feature film “Apple in the River,” which was produced in the 1970s, has become knownas a masterpiece in the canon of Latvian culture. True, judgments about the film are not unambiguous,not least because it does not fit into the traditional frameworks of classification andgenres in the cinema. The film “Apple in the River” is a combination of a documentary anda feature film, which means that it offers a look at the truth and, therefore, demands a specialmodality of perception.Discussions about the film at the Council of the Arts at the Rīga Film Studio and in the pressafter it was released led to an extensive discussion of it in the seminal book about the history ofLatvian cinema, “The Cinematic Arts of Soviet Latvia.” All of this facilitated the perception ofthe film in the context of how it was created, and it also inspired reflections about Latvian cinema.This paper discusses and explains the many voices which changed perceptions of “Applein the River.”Analysis shows that there was a gap between the film and discussions about its essence. In the1970s, the Soviet Union was a place in which official life and private lives were kept apart. Theapplication for the film’s production spoke of a specifically formulated story – the way in whichthe era of industrialisation affected patriarchal lifestyles. This gap appears in a narrative storyabout the building of the bridge which destroyed the lifestyles of people who lived on ZaķusalaIsland in Rīga. It speaks to the gap between patriarchal life on the one hand and industrialisationon the other, as occurring at the same time and in the same space. The relationship between thetwo main characters in the film, Janka and Anna, also illustrates the conflict between a patriarchalsystem and the changes which occurred in terms of concepts about the independence andmotherliness of women. This created a powerful cinematic image. A broken doll represents aprecise characterisation of the physiological process and emotional consequences of abortion. 1There is another gap in the history of how the film was produced. It was initially intended to bea documentary, but then it turned into a feature film. In other words, this was a cinematic experiment.Discussions at the Rīga Film Studio during the film’s production lay bare the mechanismsof bureaucracy and censorship. The fact is that after censors banned the film “Seaside Climate”in 1974, “Apple in the River” took its place the same year. The bureaucratic mechanism, thus,hid the gap between ideological instruction and the free expression of the artist.“Apple in the River” embodies the Zeitgeist of the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The gap betweenthe state and private lives at that time cannot be perceived by contemporary viewers, but it isvery visible in the film. Only an informed viewer who understands the language of documentarycinema will spot it.1Pērkone, I. Es varu tikai mīlēt: Sievietes tēls Latvijas filmās (I Can Only Love: The Image of Women inLatvian Films). Rīga: Neputns (2008).226
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LAIKU ATÅ ALKAS: Å½URNÄ€LISTIKA, KINO, POLITIKA - Academia

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