Documentary portrait “The Potter about the Potter. Witness of Time” can be viewed on the RIGA IFF online platform – Culture, art

From May 8, the documentary film “Podnieks par Podnieku. Laika liecinieks” (2024) about the outstanding Latvian documentary film director and cameraman Juri Podniekus (1950–1992) is available on the online rental platform of the Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF). The documentarian’s story about his life, which was made based on the director’s diaries, interviews and archive materials, reveals the twists and turns in the life of the prominent cinema personality and the most important stops in his creative career.

The film “Potnieks about Potniek”. Laika liecinieks” is available for rent throughout the territory of Latvia at online.rigaiff.lv.

“Potniek about Potniek. Time witness” is the story of the legendary director’s life revealed through the montage of archive materials and Podnieks’s own diary entries, which is permeated by the sources of his mental and physical strength, as well as emotionally rich visual and audio symbols. By collaborating with a number of the most skilled Latvian cinema professionals – cinematographer Ginta Bērzīn, sound director Anrija Krenberg, editing director Sandra Alksni and others – film directors Anna Viduleja and Antra Cilinska tried to reveal Podnieka and his multifaceted nature on a personal level. Establishing the most accurate portrait of the director in the framework of documentary cinema and giving voice to the director’s notes, works and filming, the first-person narrative reveals Podnieks’ ability to perceive the world with almost exposed nerve endings and to speak clearly about society, era, nation and individual.

A witness of his time, Juris Podnieks was one of the most brilliant Latvian documentarians, whose films, a mirror of the collapse of the Soviet empire and power, moved viewers all over the world. Balancing between, in Podnieks’ own words, “documentary publicism and sensual imagery”, in his short but glorious creative career, the filmmaker sought to find answers to complex questions about life and the history and future of his people. During his creative career as a director and cinematographer, working on more than 30 cinematographic works, Podnieka’s best-known and most internationally recognized film became the 1986 directed “Is it easy to be young?” – a view of the world of that time through the eyes of young people, filled with the breath of imminent change and strong portrayals of youth. “Is it easy to be young?” 28 million viewers watched the film in the year of its premiere, but in later years it was shown in more than 80 countries, achieving unprecedented success for Latvian documentary cinema at that time, both in the local and international cinema space.

The RIGA IFF Collection is a special selection of cinematographic works, which gathers artistically high-quality European and world films from the programs of the previous seasons of the festival, as well as notable and important Latvian cinematographic works. Having won the appreciation of the audience, film critics and festival juries, these films continue their way to the audience in other screening formats. The films are collected on the RIGA IFF Collections online platform online.rigaiff.lv, allowing viewers throughout Latvia to enjoy high-quality and daring cinema at a time and place convenient for them, without leaving their homes.

Riga International Film Festival