Andrejs Verhoustinskis

Lidija

Andrejs Verhoustinskis

A person’s face and eyes preserve experience better than any document or recorded memoir. Particularly if a person has experienced as much as the well-known dissident Lidija Lasmane-Doroņina. Actually, she does not even think of herself as a dissident. She received her three terms in prisons and labour camps – fourteen years in all – as punishment not for underground struggle but for daring to remain true to her principles, convictions and faith. The ideals Lidija obtained as a child – the idyllic image of Latvia as an independent country, strong family values and faith in God as a moral measuring stick for any action. Her eyes are bright even today, at the age of 91, and they look at this world full of life.

Delle

Andrejs Verhoustinskis

Biruta Delle

The full-length documentary is a story about painter Biruta Delle, who is of the so-called “Uncensored” generation in Latvian art. It is a story of loneliness and nonconformism, and great talent that dramatically eats up everything else in a her life... but Biruta Delle continues to paint, becoming increasingly isolated from society.

Viktors un nakts

Andrejs Verhoustinskis

The protagonist of the film, Viktors, after losing his eyesight not only gets over depression and sense of estrangement but goes on living a full-fledged life – he forms a relationship, finds strength and motivation for mental development. Aware of his difference from the ones who can see, Viktors does not feel unworthy and loses no hope. Instead, he perceives the inconveniences, caused by the elusive or illogical attitude of the society and lawmakers, with humor, as if they were curiosities.

Īvāns

Andrejs Verhoustinskis

Dainis Īvāns

The documentary about Dainis Īvāns, leader of the National Awakening movement between late 1980s and early 1990s, a human symbol of the recent history of Latvia who embodies all hope, idealism, disappointment, choices, compromises, wins and losses. Eventually, he finds strength within himself to return to his roots, rather than let grindstones of history crush him, to be more than just an accidental figure in the big plan of destiny.

Mūžīgais dzinējs. Raimonds Pauls

Andrejs Verhoustinskis

Raimonds Pauls, Lana Paula

Raimonds Pauls is almost 85 years old, rehearses almost every day and performs at least once a week. What drives him? Not only he is the most popular composer in Latvia: his songs are sung all over the world. "Dāvāja Māriņa" is so popular in Japan that Paul received the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun. In concerts, he collaborates with world stars of Latvian origin - soprano Elīna Garanča, organist Iveta Apkalna, conductor Mariss Jansons. The Latvian Television film crew follows him during the pandemic, realizing that the restrictions and threats of Covid-19 hardly stop the Maestro in the course of his eternal engine. How does he cope with the challenges that time imposes on a person's physical form and the loneliness when most friends have passed away? What is the source of his inexhaustible lifestyle and creative spirit?

2018

Inese Kļava, Ivars Zviedris

During Latvia’s centennial year, 15 filmmakers created each his own film portrait of a person living in Latvia on the background of centenary events. Documentary 2018 combines these stories into a unique poetic vision based on analogy with the documentary 235 000 000, a classic of the Riga school of poetic documentary cinema. This film is an attempt to make sure whether the codes of the poetic cinema are still relevant and accessible today.