Focus on Baltic Film (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) 2003 / Cilveka berns / Latvia 1991
A film of both comic and tragic situations about a country boy who falls for a girl much his senior. As a joke, she starts to call him her “young bridegroom,” promising him love and fidelity. She has no idea how much the kid has taken her at her word, nor of the pain he experiences when he finds out that she is to be married.
Based on the novel of the same name by Janis Klidzejs, the story centres on Bonifacijs, a teenage kid who falls in love with an older girl. As a joke, she starts calling him her “young bridegroom,” promising him love and fidelity. The young country boy soon gets used to the happy role, but the comic situation takes a tragic turn: the girl marries her actual fiancé. The plot unfolds in pre-war Latgale, an unusual natural location. The people of the region are firm believers who hold tradition and their songs in high regard. The movie was awarded a number of domestic and festival prizes.
95 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Janis Streičs
/ Screenplay Janis Streičs podle románu Janise Klidzejse "Cilveka berns" / based on the novel "The Child of Man" by Janis Klidzejs
/ Dir. of Photography Harijs Kukels
/ Editor Marija Indersone
/ Producer Rolands Kalnins
/ Production Film Studio Tris
/ Cast Andris Rudzinskis, Signe Dundure, Akvelina Livmane, Janis Paukstello, Bolislavs Ruzs
/ Contact National Film Centre of Latvia
Jan Streičs (b. 1936), screenwriter, director and actor, graduated in education (1955) then worked as a high school teacher. He studied direction at the Latvian State Academy (1963), subsequently working at a film studio in Riga. Selected filmography: Shoot Instead of Me (1970), My Friend-Unserious Man (1975), The Master (1976), The Unfinished Dinner (1979), Limousine in the Colour of White Night (1981), The Strange Passions (1983), Rendez-vous on the Milky Way (1985), The Child of Man (Cilveka berns, 1991), The Mills of Fate (1997), Mystery on the Ruins of the Municipal Administration (Vecas pagastmajas misterijas, 2000).
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