Where does the theater live? A concert film about JRT’s historical building has its premiere / Article

The composer Jēkabs Nīmanis is the author of the music for the new concert film directed by Gat Šmitas. The film uses the soundtracks of JRT shows and also melodies of other authors, but the intonations of Nīmanis’ music form the “backbone” of the film. He says: “This music resonates with me very much, because it is all related to my growth, I have established myself as a composer here. Ready to work there was more to this film than work – it was also a look back at yourself, looking for what you want to remember and show. A lot has happened to me here, and I’m glad that this feeling was also important to Gat in the film.”

Director Gatis Šmits, on the other hand, remembers that the idea for the film was born when it became clear that the theater building must be repaired and modernized. But also its past, with the imprints of the Fine Arts Theater led by Eduards Smilģas and then the Youth Theater of Ādolfs Shapiro, and, finally, with the beginnings of the success story of the New Riga Theater – is so valuable that we wanted to leave some testimony to future generations.

“During the entire hundred-year history of this building, there is very little photo and video material – literally a few photos of performances, television interviews in the wardrobe.

But the material in which you could get an idea of ​​what that house was like, what the famous pipe shop, backstage, make-up shops, hairdressers with a hundred-year-old patina…

This house had not been seriously repaired since the fire in 1931,” says the director.

In 2016, he decided to prepare a small newsreel for the future: “For a few days, we filmed behind-the-scenes, everyday life and portraits, we tried to make the most important rooms reveal themselves through actors or something like that.”

The material turned out to be so interesting that we managed to get the support of the National Cinema Center for further work.

“We were able to create a stereoscopic virtual reality recording of the entire house in parallel – every staircase, door, lights. Eventually it will be a virtual reality tour,” reveals Schmidt.

Some virtual reality footage is also included in the new film. Gatis Šmits says that the 1-hour 20-minute long film is aesthetically very variegated – historical documentary material, time-lapse photographs, hidden cameras, various video effects, and fragments of performances are used. Now he can safely say that “Vecā Daile”, as it was popularly called, has become the most documented house on Lāčplēša street. In addition, something quite mystical was also filmed, the director abandons the intrigue:

“Some kind of spirit of Smilģas, an indescribable quality. There are a couple of miraculous shots in that material, one or two very strange phenomena.”

Not the ghost of Smiļģa, but the spirit of Smiļģa? The director continues: “For almost half a year, several of those robotic birdcages photographed “timelapses”. One camera stood for a while in the Great Hall. And then it turns out that some kind of miracle happens early in the morning, which was captured – [tukšā zālē] on stage.”

All three screenings of the film scheduled for this week are already sold out, but the director promises to find other viewing opportunities due to the great interest.