DISCUSSION: JURIS PODNIEKS AND THE CONSTELLATIONS OF TIMES

Abstract

The discussion Juris Podnieks and the Constellations of Times took place on 4 December 2020, in the framework of the research conference Culture Crossroads. Every year special thematic section of the conference focuses on cinema, and this time it was dedicated to Juris Podnieks (1950–1992), one of the most important documentary filmmakers of Latvian cinema who would have turned 70 on 5 December 2020. Juris Podnieks began working at the Riga Film Studio at the second half of the 1960s. In 1969, he entered the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography to become a documentary cinematographer. His graduation film was Herz Frank’s full-length documentary “Restricted Area” (Aizliegtā zona, 1975), which he filmed (together with another cinematographer, Sergejs Nikolajevs) at the youth delinquents’ colony in the town of Cēsis. Soon after, in 1977 he made his directorial debut with the newsreel Padomju Latvija/ “Soviet Latvia” (No. 3, 1977, entitled “The Cradle”/ Šūpulis). Since the beginning of the 1980s, Podnieks directed fulllength documentary films, and each of those became a notable artistic achievement and resonated in society. His first full-length film “Constellation of Riflemen” (Strēlnieku zvaigznājs, 1982) told the story of the Latvian riflemen who fought for their country under different regimes in the early 20th century. At the beginning of the film, Podnieks introduces himself and presents the film’s premise. It is still rarely used approach in Latvian documentary at the time, with the filmmaker participating and involving himself actively in the film. It was Podnieks’ subsequent full-length film “Is It Easy to Be Young?”(Vai viegli būt jaunam?, 1986), which made his name known both in the Soviet Union and internationally, and paved the way for international assignments (covered also in the discussion below). This was an unusually honest testimony of young people of the Soviet Latvia, who dared to speak frankly and express their inner feelings and thoughts about the system they lived in. In the film history of the 1980s, this is one of the most important films coming out of the region referenced as signifiers of Gorbachev’s perestroika.1 The strong voice of the filmmaker manifested in “Is It Easy to Be Young?” was the reason for receiving the commission from Central Independent Television that turned into the grand portrait of the falling Soviet Union – a five-part series “Hello, Do You Hear Us?” (Mēs, 1989, title in the USA – “Soviets”). The changing political landscape, fighting for freedom became the theme of Podnieks’ last films – “Homeland” (Krustceļš, 1990), “Post Scriptum” (Pēcvārds, 1991, which includes episodes of Barricades in Riga in January 1991, when his cameraman Gvido Zvaigzne was wounded (and later passed away in the hospital), but Andris Slapiņš killed on the spot in the attack), “The End of Empire” (Impērijas gals, 1991), and the last short film “The Moment of Silence” (Klusuma stunda, 1992, dedicated to Zvaigzne and Slapiņš). He died tragically in 1992. Almost thirty years after Podnieks’ passing, at this discussion we aim to examine his working methods, approach to documentary, specific films, and other issues paying tribute to him and his legacy that remains.