Maruta Z. Vitols Cinematic Weapons: Subversion and Resistance in Juris Podnieks’ Newsreels and Short Documentaries

INTRODUCTION continuing the tradition of innovative and mov- ing films. Among them, Juris Podnieks (1950– In recent decades, and particularly since the 1992) and his films hold a privileged place in collapse of the Soviet Union, cinema scholars Latvian culture and history. His breakthrough have devoted a considerable amount of attention feature, Is It Easy to Be Young? (Vai viegli bюt to East European films and filmmakers.1 While jaunam?, 1986), heralded the advent of a new much work remains to be done, a solid body of era for Latvian and Soviet documentary film- critical and historical scholarship exists on such making, accompanying the implementation of national cinemas as those found in Poland and Gorbachev’s glasnost plan in the Soviet Union. Hungary. Furthermore, outstanding East Euro- While censorship was not abolished, Podnieks pean filmmakers, such as Krzysztof Kieślowski, took full advantage of the new policy of open- Andrzej Wajda and Dušan Makavejev, continue ness and employed Is It Easy to Be Young? as to receive well-deserved academic attention. a vehicle for exploring the state of youth culture As the works of these artists become more ac- under a non-democratic regime, thus offering a cessible to the West, a new awareness of the powerful critique of the ruling Communist Party. complexity and depth of East European cinema It is precisely the high level of frankness of this appears to be emerging. documentary that shocked spectators across the Yet, the rich film traditions of the Bal- Soviet Union and made Is It Easy to Be Young? tic States, among them the thriving Latvian an unparalleled sensation in Soviet cinema national cinema, remain foreign to Western history. The contemporary Russian journalist cinema scholars. One finds a void in academia Alexander Kiselev claimed at the time: ‘Since its in this subject area, although the rapidly grow- completion, the film has created a stir compa- ing economies and the increase in the politi- rable to the panic a terrorist act in the heart of cal currency of the Baltic States has sparked a Moscow could cause.’ (Kiselev 1994: 65.) Simi- new awareness of this geographic area. A fresh larly, film scholar Ian Christie describes how the interest in Latvian filmmakers as the voices of screening of Is It Easy to Be Young? signaled a their society is emerging, stemming from the massive cinematic and social shift in the Soviet country’s rich cinema history. Since the Lu- Union. He writes: mière brothers screened their films in Riga, the capital of Latvia, at the end of the 19th century, In 1986, Yuris Podnieks’ documentary Is It the country’s fascination with the medium has Easy to Be Young? provided a public plat- flourished. From the very beginning of Latvia’s form for mounting concern about the gen- independence in 1918, documentary films have eration that had borne the brunt of the Af- played a key role in nurturing and solidifying ghan war. [---] the demand for Podnieks’ national identity. film was overwhelming. And in one of the Latvian documentary filmmaking blos- key symbolic gestures of the glasnost peri- somed during the post-World War II period, od, the huge flagship cinema in Moscow’s surpassing the accomplishments of fiction Pushkin Square switched Boris Godunov film in the country. By the 1960s and 1970s, with Is It Easy to Be Young? ... giving filmmakers such as Hertz Frank (aka Hercs Podnieks’ urgent exploration of malaise Franks), Ivars Seleckis and Uldis Brauns were among Soviet youth a prestige forum. In producing documentaries that encouraged met- aphorical readings, earning this group of artists 1 A current debate in cinema studies involves the ques- popular recognition as members of the ‘Riga tion of whether one can employ the term ‘East European School of Poetic Documentary’. Many of the cinema’ without perpetuating a Cold War inspired binary opposition between ‘East’ and ‘West’, dictatorship and members of the Riga School continued to work democracy, in an area featuring different cultures and diverse histories. I adopt film scholar Anikó Imre’s position within through the 1980s and 1990s, slowly gaining this discussion. She maintains: ‘In order to consider the international recognition. cinematic developments of the region in their spatial and temporal continuity, it is necessary to keep the designation A new generation of documentary Eastern Europe’, even if one must do so ‘conditionally and filmmakers came of age during the 1980s, contingently’ (Imre 2005: xvii).

59 that moment, a cinema’s programming studied one or two of Podnieks’ documentaries decision reflected ... a seismic swing in (usually Is It Easy to Be Young?) and solely the national psyche. The issues were com- within the context of glasnost cinema, specifical- ing out into the open, and cinemas full of ly, and Soviet cinema history in general. While emotional people were very different from these approaches offer valuable insight into scattered dissidents. (Christie 1995: 42.) how Podnieks’ most famous work(s) influenced Soviet audiences and filmmakers and reflected Clearly, Podnieks’ film caused a sensation, and contemporary public discourse in the Soviet he would continue to make documentaries that Union, they neglect to address Podnieks’ ear- openly criticized Communism, such as Home- lier films or how these documentaries may have land (Krustceзл, 1990) and End of the Empire been interpreted by a specifically Latvian audi- (Impьr²as gals, 1991), until his death in 1992. ence. Disregarding the ways Podnieks may have Yet, Podnieks’ fusion of politics and po- shaped his films to address Latvian spectators etry, creating what film scholars Andrew Horton in favor of solely considering his work within a and Michael Brashinsky call ‘expressionistic general Soviet context generates an incomplete cinema verité’ (Horton, Brashinsky 1992: 75), assessment of Podnieks’ oeuvre. For example, did not suddenly appear in his documentaries one would not consider an evaluation of Michael upon the introduction of glasnost. Instead, one Moore’s controversial documentary Fahrenheit may see the nationalistic viewpoints and sharp 9/11 (2004) comprehensive if researchers only criticism of Communism present in his mature examined how the film was received in Europe work (i.e., beginning with 1986’s Is It Easy to or the Middle East, while dismissing the ways Be Young?) already taking shape in his earlier Moore addressed his film to Americans. This films, albeit in a more subtle manner. Through study’s purpose is to complement the few exist- an examination of Podnieks’ earlier works (three ing critical analyses of Podnieks’ documentaries film magazines/newsreels and four short docu- by expanding the academic assessment of the mentaries), this study aims to reveal the possi- filmmaker’s work to include his earlier films, and bility of reading a subversive subtext in his filmic by urging that more scholarly attention be given texts, a subtext that some Latvian spectators to how Podnieks may have addressed specifically may recognize as containing both nationalistic Latvian audiences (i.e., examining Podnieks’ overtones and harsh critiques of Communism. importance in a Latvian context as opposed to Significantly, despite Podnieks importance a Soviet framework). It does not aspire to offer a in European and documentary cinema history, definitive evaluation of Podnieks’ complex work, relatively few scholars in Western academia or nor does it assert an authoritative ‘decoding’ within Latvia have examined his oeuvre. No one of Podnieks’ filmmaking intentions. Instead, it has yet written a book-length work analyzing submits a possible interpretation of these early Podnieks’ documentaries, and in Latvian, one works, and invites further exploration and dis- most often locates written material primarily in- cussion of the significance of Podnieks’ films in tended for a popular audience. Meanwhile, many documentary history. of the articles on Podnieks in English, French, German, Hungarian, Swedish, and Czech that TACTICAL APPROACHES: one finds are obituaries. However, an occasional PODNIEKS, interview, a short film review, or a note on Pod- DE CERTEAU, AND BENNETT nieks in a larger article focused on a broader top- ic, e.g. a film festival, appears in journals such as Film scholars Yuri Tsivian and Anita Uzulniece Positif, La revue du Cinéma, merz. medien + have both written extensively, in periodical pub- erziehung, Cineforum, Cineaste, Wide Angle, lications and in the book Soviet Latvia’s Cin- Sight and Sound, and Film Comment. Further- ema (Padomju Latv²as kinomЯksla, 1989), on more, those scholars who have analyzed some of how the filmmakers who made up the so-called Podnieks’ films, such as Ian Christie, Michael Riga School of Poetic Documentary relied on Brashinsky, and Andrew Horton, have only images to communicate their ideas, with the

60 audio track serving a secondary, supportive role soon as a subject with will and power (a (Civjans, Uzulniece 1989). Podnieks’ evoca- business, an army, a city, a scientific in- tion of the Riga School of Poetic Documentary stitution) can be isolated. It postulates through his preference for visually conveying a place that can be delimited as its own meaning is crucial for the understanding of the and serve as the base from which relations subversive subtext of his documentaries. Mem- with an exteriority composed of targets or bers of the Riga School recognized that they threats ... can be managed. (De Certeau needed to find a way to be able to both express 1984: 35–36.) themselves in their films and to have these films seen by the popular audience, the latter requir- Strategies thus demarcate the boundaries be- ing the approval of Soviet censors. Their solution tween those with authority and those without, to this conundrum came in their emphasis on and situate the categories of ‘us’ and ‘them’. the visual over the audio track. They exploited They also place a great deal of significance on framing and editing to generate images that places, spaces which they create, invest with could be read in multiple ways by the audience. specific meaning, and impose on others. Since In this manner, they created works that resisted power is associated with its visibility, strategies Soviet hegemony, while simultaneously gaining also involve a ‘mastery of places through sight’ acceptance from the Communist authorities. (de Certeau 1984: 36). In his own work, Podnieks embraces the A tactic, on the other hand, forms the strategies developed by his cinematic predeces- binary opposite of a strategy, in de Certeau’s sors, the director’s pre-glasnost oeuvre having theoretical framework. The powerless within so- already featured critiques of Communism and ciety, those without a specific place, employ tac- Soviet oppression. He also injects pro-Latvian, tics in order to ‘make do’, that is, to temporarily nationalistic sentiments in his films, cinemati- disrupt the dominant order. In de Certeau’s cally capturing the ‘tactical’ eruptions of the words, a tactic is Latvian cultural heritage under the dominant Soviet system. In The Practice of Everyday a calculated action determined by the ab- Life, theorist Michel de Certeau examines the sence of a proper locus. No delimitation ways in which consumption can be exploited in of an exteriority, then, provides it with the order to subversively counter dominant ideo- condition necessary for autonomy. The logical institutions. Taking a Marxist approach space of a tactic is the space of the other. to cultural production, de Certeau investigates Thus, it must play on and with a terrain the ‘“contexts of use”’ (de Certeau 1984: 33), imposed on it and organized by the law of exploring how ‘power relationships define the a foreign power. (De Certeau 1984: 37.) networks in which they are inscribed and delimit the circumstances from which they can profit. Tactics rely on a resourceful utilization of time, [---] We are concerned with battles or games instead of a definition of place, in order to coun- between the strong and the weak, and with the ter authority. Tactics exploit the fissures in the “actions” which remain possible for the latter.’ ruling system so as to disrupt hegemony, thus (De Certeau 1984: 34.) De Certeau identifies making a tactic ‘an art of the weak’ (de Certeau two approaches to power relationships in a soci- 1984: 37). ety: strategies and tactics. To illustrate the function of tactics, de De Certeau defines strategies as tech- Certeau compares this practice of everyday life niques employed by the governing authorities to poaching. Denoting an illicit activity, the or dominant ideologies to assert, affirm, and term poaching assigns a predatory nature to the maintain their power. De Certeau describes a subordinate in society. De Certeau describes strategy as this use of tactics: ‘[A tactic] must vigilantly make use of the cracks that particular conjunc- the calculation (or manipulation) of power tions open in the surveillance of the proprietary relationships that becomes possible as powers. It poaches them. It creates surprises in

61 them. It can be where it is least expected.’ (De Bennett remarks that de Certeau thus deprives Certeau 1984: 37.) De Certeau’s utilization of ‘the weak’ of any realistic capability of resis- the word poaching thus highlights the transitory tance, since subordinate groups, by definition, quality of tactics, underlining the tactical em- cannot produce any truly effective ways of op- phasis on temporality. posing hegemony. They are only allowed brief Although effective in its call to analyze moments of disrupting the system, and are consumption practices, de Certeau’s formula- forced to rely on opportune instances to produce tion of strategies and tactics proves problematic, a fleeting reorganization of dominant spaces. as such cultural theorists as Tony Bennett point Bennett states: out. Bennett proposes that de Certeau’s theori- zation of resistance in terms of a binary system de Certeau’s account of tactics constitutes of power relations constructs a dichotomy be- less an exception to the bipolar logic of tween the dominant and the subordinate, thus resistance than the extreme case of that eliminating the possibility of the plurality of logic, one in which it is carried to excess positions within a spectrum of power. In doing in the magnification of one pole of power so, de Certeau does not recognize the potential to the point where it becomes all-encom- for varying degrees of agency within a society. passing and the diminution of the other to Bennett observes: the point where it disappears entirely, be- comes a zero power. (Bennett 1998: 177.) We need a fuller and richer cartography of the spaces between total compliance and Finally, de Certeau neglects to offer any con- resistance, one which, in preventing these crete, historical account of how tactics are from functioning as bipolar opposites, deployed against society. Instead, he character- will allow ... a ‘thicker’ description of the izes tactics as abstract and ephemeral, their complex flows of culture which result from transient nature constantly eluding description its inscription in differentiated and uneven and analysis. Bennett criticizes de Certeau, relations of power... (Bennett 1998: 169.) writing: ‘What de Certeau’s account of everyday practices most lacks ... is anything approaching By creating such binaries, one may also add that an adequate sociological or historical descrip- de Certeau negates the complexity of cultural tion of those practices that would be capable of products, denying the frequently ambivalent locating them within, and accounting for them and even contradictory meanings that a single in terms of, specific social milieu.’ (Bennett text may possess. For de Certeau, a cultural text 1998: 174.) By doing so, one may claim that must either be read strategically or tactically— de Certeau undermines the political aim of his it does not lend itself to both. Moreover, de work, destroying the collective power of subor- Certeau asserts that the holding of power is an dinate groups by describing the struggle of the absolute condition, claiming that a ‘tactic is weak as separate individuals fighting a spectral determined by the absence of power just as a battle. strategy is organized by the postulation of pow- While Bennett’s critiques may appear er.’ (De Certeau 1984: 38.) He also maintains: rather harsh and themselves extreme in their as- ‘[A tactic] takes advantages of “opportunities” sessment, he raises important concerns regard- and depends on them, being without any base ing de Certeau’s theorization on strategies and where it could stockpile its winnings, build up tactics. De Certeau’s concepts require modifi- its own position, and plan raids. What it wins cation: the elimination of a binary system, the it cannot keep.’ (De Certeau 1984: 37.) In this granting of more agency to subordinate groups, manner, de Certeau’s theorization participates the identification and contextualization of tacti- in a strategic mobilization of dominant ideologi- cal practices, and the recognition of the ambigu- cal binary oppositions—it participates in the ity of texts—that is, the possibility that cultural system it implicitly seeks to subvert. texts or practices contain multiple, often con- tradictory, meanings. By finding a compromise

62 between Bennett and de Certeau with these re- interviews with various authorities (an econo- visions, de Certeau’s theories may offer one pos- mist-demographer, a gynecologist, a pediatri- sible approach towards understanding cultural cian), all of whom frame the problem of the low texts such as Podnieks’ pre-glasnost oeuvre. birthrate as a threat to the Latvian people, not One may see Podnieks’ cinema as func- to a strong, international Communist society. tioning in two ways: firstly, as depicting on The demographer-economist reminds specta- celluloid the tactics employed by Latvians to tors that childrearing is not only in the interests disrupt Soviet control; and secondly, as offer- of the family but also in the interests of the soci- ing its own tactical moments to challenge the ety as a whole. The gynecologist warns women authoritarian ideology. Furthermore, Podnieks, who have abortions to consider that their actions like his cinematic fathers, hides all of these may be contributing to the extinction of the (im- transgressive messages in the subtexts of his plicitly Latvian) people. The pediatrician blames film, superficially producing films that prove the low birth rate on contemporary society’s agreeable to the Soviet censors.2 Yet, despite view of woman as a worker and not as a mother. Party approval, Podnieks’ subversive subtext Furthermore, Podnieks creates a binary remained accessible to Latvian spectators. One opposition between the Latvian and the Soviet should note that, while this study focuses on repeatedly throughout the documentary. He interpreting the tactical approaches of Pod- aligns ‘the Latvian’ with traditional lullabies, nieks’ cinema within a de Certeau framework, customary beliefs, folk symbols such as the his films could also easily be read as expressing stork, old grandmothers as emblems of the old strategic support for Communism through their Latvian farm culture, and with fertility. Pod- depiction of the social consciousness, responsi- nieks associates a stable birthrate with a pre- bility, health and athleticism, and artistic abili- Communist era in Latvia. Meanwhile, Podnieks ties of Soviet citizens. chooses to visually symbolize ‘the Soviet’ by identifying it with the modern, the industrial, POLITICAL RESISTANCE winter, and bareness. Podnieks shapes his film THROUGH CINEMA: so that ‘the Latvian’ always appears in a posi- PODNIEKS’ EARLY FILMS tive light, as something that is under threat and THE CRADLE (БЛPULIS) 1977 must be saved. Podnieks shows ‘the Soviet’, on the other hand, as detrimental to the existence Two years after graduating from the All- of Latvians. Perhaps the best visualization of Union State Institute of Cinematography Podnieks’ beliefs appears in the image of the (Всесоюзный государственный институт snow-covered wagon wheel. One may interpret кинематографии, VGIK), Podnieks directed the wheel as a symbol of the old Latvian culture his first film, an issue for the film magazine engulfed by the modern Soviet regime. By jux- Soviet Latvia (Padomju Latv²a). Soviet Lat- taposing images of modern life in Soviet Latvia via’s 1977 issue no. 3, nicknamed The Cradle with the interviews of the various aforemen- (Бюpulis), addresses the demographic problems tioned experts on the low birthrate, Podnieks plaguing Latvia at the end of the 1970s. Dur- questions why such a purportedly beneficial ing this period, Latvia experienced one of the and technologically progressive Soviet culture highest death rates and one of the lowest birth (i.e., the image of the Soviet Union furthered by rates in the world, and the short film seeks to contemporary Communist propaganda) can not understand why so few children are being born produce average proletariat couples who have in this country. the basic resources and desire to raise enough Podnieks’ documentary tactically ex- children to stabilize the birth rate. presses a politically transgressive viewpoint. Podnieks chooses to cast the low Latvian birth- rate in subtle nationalistic terms, generating a 2 While beyond the scope of this study, the complex relationship between Podnieks’ filmmaking practice and subversive critique of Communism. Throughout the Soviet censorship system (within Latvia and in the rest the short documentary, Podnieks includes of the Soviet Union) merits further exploration.

63 Podnieks answers the question posed at Significantly, Podnieks frames the documentary the beginning of the documentary by placing with Jāzeps Vītols’ famous 1899 choral work the blame for the low Latvian birthrate on the Castle of Light (Gaismas pils), using the be- Communist regime. The film demonstrates ginning of the ballad to open the film and the how many women living in a Soviet country end of the ballad to conclude this film maga- would rather terminate their pregnancies (risk- zine issue. His decision to employ Castle of ing their own personal health) or leave their Light to structure the film is noteworthy, given offspring to die than to raise them in the current the cultural and political context of this choral Communist society by including an extended work. Vītols set his music to the poem Castle sequence where a nurse graphically relates her of Light, which was written by Auseklis (a.k.a. experience of finding an abandoned infant in the Miķelis Krogzemis, 1850–1879), an impor- snow. Through his editing choices and decisions tant Latvian poet, writer, and political activist. to include interviews with specific authorities Auseklis was a key figure in the Latvian Nation- and with everyday people who voice dissatisfac- al Awakening movement in the 19th century, his tion with their standard of living, Podnieks uses work helping to disseminate the contemporary his documentary to argue that Soviet attitudes radical idea that Latvians possessed a culture towards gender roles and the undesirable eco- worthy of preservation and celebration—a cul- nomic conditions of life under Communism ture that could and should form the basis of an dissuade Latvian women from having more independent Latvian nation.5 Including a cho- children. Foreshadowing his future evaluation ral work using the words of Auseklis indicates of the Soviet system during the glasnost era, Podnieks’ desire to remind Latvian spectators Podnieks’ first film may be interpreted as a criti- of their forefathers’ struggle for sovereignty, as cal view of Communism’s detrimental effects on well as the director’s wish to activate in contem- Latvian society. porary Latvian viewers that same determination The contemporary Latvian critical recep- to resist the dominant Communist ideology. tion of the film recognized Podnieks’ political The text of Castle of Light, accentuated project. Podnieks’ Riga Film Studio (Rīgas by Vītols’ score, relates Auseklis’ invented kinostudija) colleague Juris Nogins main- fable of a Castle of Light, the people’s castle, tained: ‘There is only the artist’s deeply painful which existed in ancient times when the Lat- thought about the nation’s [tautas] destinies, vian tribes were free. Foreign forces invaded about the nation’s [tautas] future.’ (Nogins the land, killed Latvian heroes, and forced the 1979: 169.)3 Nogins’ comments subtly identify Latvian people into slavery, with the Castle of Podnieks’ address of the nationalistic Latvian Light consequently sinking into an abyss (in audience through the use of the Latvian word certain respects, similar to the Brigadoon leg- tauta (‘nation’).4 The term connotes strong end) and the Latvian cultural heritage pushed nationalism, since it refers to a group of people into dormancy. The poem continues by explain- who form a country or an ethnicity. Thus, ing that, if someone guessed the magic word Nogins’ use of the word tauta twice in his or name, the castle would rise up again into its description of The Cradle reflects Podnieks’ former glory as the people’s castle. The climac- efforts to rally the Latvians into action, urging tic conclusion of the poem and of the choral them to raise more children in order to resist work entails Latvian sons surmising this sacred Soviet hegemony. word, the men calling out for the light, and the light and the castle being resurrected. This text CONSERVATORIO 1979 contains strong nationalistic overtones and functions as a call for the Latvian people to cast Podnieks film magazine issue Soviet Latvia, off the chains of their oppression and reclaim no. 23 (1979), with the alternative title Con- their sovereign state.6 Podnieks’ deployment of servatorio, offers spectators a portrait of the this specific choral work by Vītols as the fram- Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music on the ing device for the documentary situates his occasion of the institution’s 60th anniversary. film within a patriotic and subversive discourse

64 recognizable by any Latvian spectator versed in SPORTS OVERVIEW their cultural tradition and history. (SPORTA APSKATS)1981 Inevitably, one wonders how this docu- mentary could have cleared the Soviet censors, Podnieks created his next film magazine issue given its inclusion of such a nationalistic cho- in 1981. Sports Overview (Sporta apskats), ral work. The answer lies in the theme of the no. 1/2, serves as a reflection on the 1980 poem being adapted by another Latvian writer Olympic games held in Moscow, offering both and politician, Rainis (a.k.a. Jānis Pliekšāns). color footage from the competition and black He used this fable of the Castle of Light in his and white interviews with participating athletes, famous play Fire and Night (Uguns un nakts, conducted during the winter of early 1981. In- 1905), adding specific characters and creating stead of offering a straightforward chronicling more dramatic tension. While Rainis is one of of the sporting events in Moscow, Podnieks Latvia’s greatest writers and devoted his life to chose to create a documentary which functions establishing an independent Latvian state, his as a meditation on self-discipline, sacrifice, the Marxist political leanings made it easy for the passage of time, missed opportunities, and on Soviet establishment to appropriate him as an achieving goals while also subtly criticizing the emblem of Communism. Thus, Podnieks would Soviet Union. have pointed to the associations of Castle of Podnieks elects to treat the summer Light with Rainis, reassuring Soviet censors Olympic games in Moscow not from a journal- and allowing his work to be publicly screened. istic perspective but rather in an expressionistic Podnieks’ transgressive subtext also ap- style. The most obvious technique that Pod- pears in the way the director portrays the con- nieks utilizes is the specific employment of color servatory faculty and students during the 60th and black and white film. Typically, in docu- anniversary year. Podnieks’ editing pattern of mentaries the ‘present’ appears in color footage showing the seasoned professors instructing while black and white footage usually denotes their young students, followed by photographs the ‘past’. Yet, the opposite is true in Sports of the teachers in their own youth and another Overview. The action, excitement, and mean- shot of the faculty members currently, reminds ing—in other words, the real life—exist only in spectators that Vītols founded the Academy the colorful memory, in the past, at the special during Latvia’s status as an independent nation event called the Summer Olympics. The ‘now’ and that many of the current Academy profes- pales in comparison to the dreams and hopes sors were students during this era of political invested in the games, the current reality of daily sovereignty. Furthermore, by likening the past life occurring in a monochrome image. Podnieks (the professors’ photographs from their youth) further underlines this visual dichotomy by film- with the future (the current Academy students), ing the majority of the current black and white Podnieks offers a subtle, hopeful gesture that footage outdoors in the winter landscape, align- the contemporary pupils will carry on the legacy ing the present with death or dormancy and the of the Latvian cultural heritage (in this case, past with a multi-colored summer. in the form of music) imparted to them at the conservatory. The personal careers of the Acad- 3 My translation. All of the translations in the remainder emy’s students assume a greater significance of the text are mine, unless otherwise noted. in the context of the anti-Communist, national- 4 The word tauta in Latvian has a similar meaning to istic message that the Latvian audience would volk in German, and implies a group on people who form appreciate. Also, this emphasis on the continu- their own nation. For more information on the concept of ation of Latvian musical excellence throughout tauta, see Plakans 1995: 77, 84, 90–92, 101. the generations testifies to the resilience of Lat- 5 For more on the Latvian National Awakening move- vians maintaining their art in the face of Soviet ment, see Plakans 1995: 89–100. hegemony. 6 Given this context, it is not coincidental that Castle of Light is traditionally one of the last songs performed at the Latvian Song Festivals. For more information on the Song Festivals, see below.

65 Podnieks’ expressionistic style in Sports interviews Olympic athletes from both ethnic Overview also encompasses an awareness of Russian and ethnic Latvian backgrounds. While the film as a construct. The opening credit se- no overt differentiation between these two eth- quence, featuring shots of Podnieks, Seleckis, nicities appears in the film, given that it was Slapins, and others members of the creative film made during the Soviet era when Russia and team engaged in their occupations, displays a Russian were considered superior to all other self-reflexivity. By beginning the film with these ethnicities and languages spoken in the Union, visual introductions of the film crew, intercut one may still identify which athlete belongs with scenes from the opening ceremony at the to which ethnicity through the language they Moscow Olympics, Podnieks emphasizes how choose to speak during their interviews. The both his film and the spectacle of the games Russian athletes express themselves in Russian in Moscow are carefully orchestrated produc- and the Latvian athletes communicate in Lat- tions. In other words, Podnieks insinuates here vian, with spectators being able to detect a no- that the picture that the world saw of Moscow, ticeable difference in the way Podnieks presents specifically, and of the Soviet Union in general these two ethnicities in the documentary. All during the Olympics is not necessarily the real- of the Russian athletes who are interviewed— ity of the Soviet existence. Moreover, boom mi- Miskarov, Kuzmin, Jackevics, and Avdeyev— crophones may be seen within the frame during articulate great disappointment in themselves countless interviews with the Olympic athletes and bitterness about not winning gold medals and trainers, serving as another reminder to in their respective sports at the Olympics. spectators that they are witnessing a construct- Meanwhile, the two Latvian athletes featured ed work (and not a spontaneous or ‘natural’ in the film—Pāvels Seļivanovs and Dainis event). Podnieks was far too experienced a cine- Kūla—express happiness and optimism, having matographer at this point in his early directorial both won gold medals at the games. By portray- career to allow for such ‘accidents’, suggesting ing the Russian athletes as acrimonious and that the visual presence of film equipment in his the Latvian sportsmen as modest, content, and films possesses a more self-reflexive intention. more successful than their Slavic colleagues, Beyond this critical reflexivity lies a more Podnieks conveys the subversive message that transgressive subtext, one that passes a sharp Latvians are capable of accomplishing greater judgment on the Soviet Union. During the se- achievements than their Russian counterparts. quence that shows the interview with Olympic Podnieks concludes the film with the rower Avdeyev, the camera zooms back from a sequence on Kūla and his Ventspils training close up of the rower’s face to reveal Avdeyev center, where tomorrow’s athletes are being standing in the snow next to his dilapidated trained today. The smiling faces of the Latvian automobile, complete with a broken headlight, children playing on the icy ramp with Kūla end dented hood, and shattered window. Podnieks the documentary on a hopeful note, suggesting presents a dismal image of one of the star ath- that the strength and resolve of Latvian athletes letes in the Soviet Union, whose government (and, consequently, of the Latvian people) will cannot provide him with a respectable or even only grow in the future as Latvian teamwork functional vehicle. The shot becomes even more nurtures the next generation. Podnieks in- pathetic as Avdeyev talks about being happy creases the optimism of this passage by show- with his life overall. As Podnieks’ camera zooms ing Avdeyev complaining resentfully about his into a close up of one of the smashed head- teammates immediately before the sequence in lights, one cannot help but wonder about the Ventspils. In other words, Podnieks shows that difficult life of the average citizen in the Soviet the Russian athletes, as symbols of the Soviet Union, if this is how a sports celebrity is forced Union, fail and are divided, while the Latvians, to live under Communism. despite being oppressed, work together and Furthermore, one may perceive a subtle ultimately triumph. Once again, Podnieks Latvian nationalistic viewpoint in this news- demonstrates how the individual lives of the reel. Throughout Sports Overview, Podnieks athletes assume a public significance, with

66 each competitor representing the traits of their and by implication, film. The theme of politi- respective ethnicity. cal resistance through music will resurface in Podnieks’ later oeuvre, notably in Is It Easy to THE BROTHERS KOKARI Be Young?, Hello, Do You Hear Us? (Mьs?, (BRВМI KOKARI) 1978 1989), and Homeland. Focusing on the great Podnieks made his first non-film-magazine, achievements of two Latvian artists also acts as non-commercial documentary in 1978, re- a reminder that the Latvian people are capable ceiving considerable critical recognition. of significant cultural achievements, similar The Brothers Kokari (BrЯзi Kokari), which to the way in which Podnieks emphasized the chronicles two of Latvia’s most famous conduc- success of the Latvian Olympic athletes in the tors, Imants and Gido Kokars, was screened in newsreel Sports Overview in 1981. Again, such distant locations as Toronto, New York, Podnieks illustrates how the personal ac- and Kiev, where it won the Jury Diploma at the complishments of two conductors embody the Soviet Union New Filmmakers Screening and greater, public triumph of the Latvian people. received the Ukraine Ministry of Education Award. The film follows the twin brothers as BOYS, ON HORSES! they conduct their Latvian choir Ave Sol, inter- (PUIKAS, ZIRGOS!) 1979 spersing photographs from their impoverished childhood with footage of rehearsals and per- Podnieks made two short documentary films formances. This approximately twenty minute in 1979, Boys, on Horses! (Puikas, zirgos!) work offers viewers a portrait of two successful and White Ave Sol (Baltais Ave Sol). Boys, and driven artists, whose relentless work ethic on Horses! examines a training facility where and desire to succeed have enabled them to boys are groomed for competition in pentath- raise Latvian choral performance to a new level. lons. The young men are shown learning how One may also detect a pro-Latvian to fence, swim, box, ride horses, and shoot nationalism in the subtext of The Brothers guns, while the young men, former pentathlon Kokari. As fellow documentary filmmaker athletes, and the trainers at the facility share Armīns Lejiņš wrote in 1981, Podnieks knew their thoughts about the value of such experi- ‘that it is not enough to film an etude about ences. Through his choices in editing and fram- choral conducting, that one needs to say some- ing, Podnieks creates a portrayal of young boys thing more.’ (Lejiņš 1981: 15.) Along with struggling to become men, serving as an ex- internationally known choral works, the choir ample of one of Podnieks’ more developed films featured in the documentary performs arrange- from his early period. ments of traditional Latvian folk songs, and The subversive nationalistic subtext pres- participates in the Latvian Song Festivals; both ent in most of his early documentaries does not brothers are filmed walking in the customary appear as sharp in Boys, on Horses! One may festival procession, and the close ups of men note, however, that Podnieks includes a subtle and women in the parade are probably of choir cutting comment at one of the products of the members. Historian Andrejs Plakans notes that dominant Soviet culture—the sense of resigna- the Latvian Song Festivals are characterized by tion to a life where fighting to achieve something ‘deep nationalistic overtones’, and that the first is not a worthwhile endeavor. Podnieks critiques several song festivals in the late 19th century this attitude by showing brief interviews with were closely connected to the Latvian National three young former pentathlon athletes who all Awakening movement (Plakans 1995: 97). By quit the training program—and they all speak including footage of the festival procession, as in Russian, suggesting that they are ethnic well as scenes of Gido rehearsing a folk song Russians. Meanwhile, all of the young boys with the choir, Podnieks impels Latvian spec- interviewed about their aspirations at the end tators to recall their past and recognize that of the film speak in Latvian, suggesting that the resistance to the dominant, repressive order Latvians are true fighters in every sense of the is possible through art, in the form of song, word. This valorization of the Latvians over the

67 Russians recalls the pessimism of the Russian French, the Chinese, and the Japanese battled athletes and the optimism of the Latvian Olym- with the Spanish for control over Philippine pic competitors in Sports Overview. territory. At the end of the nineteenth century, On the soundtrack, Podnieks’ choices after the Spanish ceded the region to the United of music generate a new understanding of the States during the Spanish-American War, the visual track. An example of this may be seen in Philippine-American War began and lasted un- the first piece of music in the film, an excerpt til 1913. The country remained a colony of the from a musical work by V. Kaminskis, entitled United States until it officially became the Com- The Homeland’s Guards Grow Up (Aug monwealth of the Philippines in 1935, but Ja- Dzimtenes sargi). This music may be heard on pan’s invasion and occupation of the Philippines the soundtrack as the audience sees the series during World War II disrupted the country’s of close ups showing boy after boy struggling sovereignty. The Philippines finally achieved to complete as many chin ups as possible. independence in 1946, and its subsequent po- By juxtaposing this music with these images, litical life has proved to be somewhat unstable. Podnieks suggests that the boys on screen are At the time Podnieks filmed White Ave Sol, developing into the future protectors of their Ferdinand Marcos had been the dictator of the country, learning to fight in order to achieve Philippines for almost seven years. The footage their goals. This association also conveys na- of the Philippines and its turbulent colonial his- tionalistic undertones, implying that the young tory and war-torn past, evoked by the archival men who survive the pentathlon training will footage of bombings and casualties, may be have the skills to strive to gain independence for seen by contemporary Latvian spectators as their homeland one day. representing the tragedy and injustice of the kind of imperialism that has caused a great deal WHITE AVE SOL of bloodshed and political unrest in Latvia. (BALTAIS AVE SOL) 1979 THE COMMANDER Podnieks’ other short film from 1979 is White (KOMANDIERIS) 1984 Ave Sol (Baltais Ave Sol), an approximately twenty minute documentary that follows the The Commander (Komandieris, 1984) offers Latvian chorus Ave Sol as they travel to and viewers a portrait of Vilis Samsons, a com- perform in Spain and in the Philippines. Pod- mander of the Latvian Partisan Brigade No. 1, nieks portrays in color footage the chorus and a division of the Soviet Latvian militia during their famous conductor Imants Kokars, both World War II. He led his fellow Communist on and off stage, relying on extended montage partisans in the fight against two groups: the sequences set to the vocal music of Ave Sol to Latvian national partisans, who battled to re- depict the choral group and to allow their music gain sovereignty for Latvia, and the German to compliment the images. Podnieks’ docu- Nazi army, who had occupied Latvia in 1941. mentary serves as an example of the director’s Screened at both the Latvian Documentary early exploration of the relationship between the Conference in Dubulti (which occurs every visual and the aural, demonstrating Podnieks’ other year) in 1985 and at the Fourth Annual initial experimentation with developing his ex- Soviet Union New Filmmakers Screening in pressionistic style. Tbilisi, where it won the jury’s prize for best One may again see a subversive political documentary, the film focuses on Samsons’ subtext in White Ave Sol. Podnieks devotes memories of his wartime experiences, rely- more than half of the film to Ave Sol’s time in ing on archival footage and photographs from the Philippines, a country with a history almost World War II. However, the work also intercuts as tumultuous as that of Latvia. Colonized by the past with the present, showing Samsons in the Spanish in the 16th century, the Philip- his daily life in the early 1980s, while he hunts, pine people endured hundreds of years of war, writes, and meets with his contemporary aca- as the English, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the demic colleagues.

68 The Commander is arguably the most most effective strategy for killing. The sequence problematic of Podnieks’ documentaries. How ends with a long shot of the men walking should one understand the place of a film de- through a field, with superimposed titles intro- voted to a militia leader who fought for a Com- ducing Samsons as: ‘The Soviet Union’s Hero, munist Latvia within the context of Podnieks’ an academic, and Latvian Partisan Brigade No. nationalistically oriented oeuvre? Superficially, 1 Commander.’ The Commander might appear to be a pro- This introduction suggests a possible sub- Communist work, one that would please Soviet versive message of the film: the cruelty of Com- censors. The journalist I. Plotke’s views reflect munists. Surely, the Nazi officers deserved se- the Soviet reception of the film: ‘[Vilis Sam- vere punishment for their terrible crimes. How- sons’] stories and thoughts of the Soviet peo- ever, the extremely violent and public manner of ple’s fight for their freedom have given the film’s their executions was carefully choreographed for autho[r] the opportunity ... to dynamically show maximum propagandistic effect by the ruling So- how the victory over fascism proved inescap- viet authorities. For Soviet spectators, the film’s able.’ (Plotke 1985.) Yet, a closer examination introduction reads as the story of a Communist of this documentary reveals a motion picture in hero who helped to punish the Nazis. Yet, by which a subtle, subversive subtext undermines following the brutal archival footage of the ex- the celebration of the heroism of Communists. ecutions with contemporary images of Samsons Podnieks undercuts this glorification in hunting in the woods, Podnieks, through his multiple ways, beginning with the film’s open- editing choices, encourages the Latvian viewers ing passages. The documentary starts with to see a commonality between the Communists’ archival footage showing the public execution idea of ‘justice’ staged as a public spectacle in of Nazi leaders Friedrich Jeckeln, Siegfried 1946 and the continued violence practiced by Ruff, Albrecht Digone von Monteton, Friedrich this regime thirty-eight years later. Moreover, Werther, Bruno Pawel, and Alexander Becking contemporary audiences were well-versed in on February 3, 1946.7 The film features a con- their Soviet history, and would have known that siderable amount of archival footage focusing on Communist partisans fought their battles in General Jeckeln, ‘the most senior commander the woods. Thus, Podnieks links Samsons in of Nazi Germany’s SS and police forces in the the present hunting animals in the woods with occupied Eastern district (Ostland) and North- Samsons in the past hunting people in similar ern Russia’ (Žvinklis 1999: 106). Viewers see forests. For men like him, killing is a sport. the Nazi officers arrive in Riga’s Victory Square The utilization of archival footage in the (Uzvaras laukums) in military vehicles, and opening of the film also signals Podnieks’ ex- witness the prisoners being led to the make- tensive deployment of documentary footage and shift gallows erected in the square and hung. A photographs from World War II. Of the approxi- superimposed title gives the date and location mately 142 shots that comprise the film, 96 of the action, and identifies the scene as: ‘The consist of archival footage or photographs. Pod- people punish the Nazis.’ Meanwhile, the non- nieks uses these archival films and photographs diegetic male voice of the film’s narrator, actor to remind viewers of the atrocities committed Eduards Pāvuls, declares: ‘You killed our chil- during World War II, which continue to inform dren, fathers, men. You filled all of Latvia ... with contemporary decisions and actions. The archi- their blood. You owe us that precious blood. And val footage depicts so much violence that one we will not forgive this debt.’ must consider the extent of the devastation that Immediately following this archival foot- Latvia has suffered from a physical perspective age, Podnieks offers spectators a contemporary as well as from a psychological standpoint— sequence, comprised primarily of close ups and medium shots, showing Vilis Samsons and his 7 The archival footage is an excerpt from the newsreel friends hunting in the snow-filled woods. The Soviet Latvia, no. 8, February 1946, Special Issue. It may men walk through the woods with their guns, be found at the Latvia State Archive of Audiovisual Docu- ments (Latvijas Valsts kinofotofonodokumentu arhīvs, no. as Samsons instructs his fellow hunters on the 179).

69 damage that persists to this day. Podnieks adds Podnieks visually and aurally communicates further emphasis on the archival footage by how Samsons’ words in the narration of the showing several of these sequences in slow mo- soundtrack are not his own, literally and meta- tion, extending the time that viewers contem- phorically. Samsons’ words are literally medi- plate the horror of the war scenes on screen. ated by Pāvuls’ voice, while in another sense This idea of the past coloring the pres- his thoughts and opinions are colored by the ent becomes more explicit when one considers Soviet regime, since Samsons’ propagandistic the frequent use of double exposures in The narration of World War II communicates the Commander. Repeatedly, Podnieks offers audi- Soviet party line, rendering Samsons a Com- ences two superimposed shots, with one of the munist mouthpiece. images frequently belonging to ‘the past’ (i.e., All of these editing, framing, and sound- either literally, such as a photograph or foot- track choices function to convey one of Pod- age from World War II, or more associatively, nieks’ central themes in The Commander: such as the image of a foggy forest where the the primacy of the image over the soundtrack. partisans most likely fought during the war), Podnieks’ perpetual privileging of the visual while the other image is from the present. Near over the verbal in his work assumes an even the beginning of the film, a medium shot shows greater importance in The Commander. In Samsons sitting at his desk, looking down at order to express a subtly subversive subtext his work. As the camera zooms in to a close up critical of Communism that the Latvian audi- of him, the image of Samsons becomes almost ence would recognize, Podnieks aligns the transparent, while a medium tracking shot of verbal with the dominant Soviet power. The misty woods slowly materializes. Podnieks also omnipresent narration—Samsons’ words read employs superimposition as an editing tech- by Pāvuls—may relate the official, public Com- nique, frequently extending the dissolve from munist perspective on history and World War II one shot to the next. In the case of the previous in a very black and white dichotomy, but Pod- example, Podnieks introduces the image of the nieks’ visually complex images undermine that woods and then shifts focus at one point, so authority, demonstrating that history, war, and that the shot of the forest becomes sharper as moral decisions are complicated, multi-faceted, Samsons’ image slowly fades out. By employing and difficult. The simple and straightforward superimposition throughout The Commander, messages communicated by the soundtrack Podnieks continues to communicate his idea begin to lose their credibility when compared that the past metaphorically and literally colors to the intricate visual register, where spectators contemporary action. often must work at deciphering what is being The soundtrack of this film stands out seen. For example, Podnieks includes many in Podnieks’ oeuvre because the director uses double-exposed images that simultaneously only a non-diegetic voice-over narration and show Samsons at his desk and shots of woods music for the audio for almost the entire film. and a puddle of water. What is initially seen The words the audience hears belong to Sam- here is not obvious, and viewers require some sons, but the actor Eduards Pāvuls is speak- time to identify that Podnieks is showing in one ing the sentences. Very rarely do spectators frame two different images that were filmed in see (and hear) Samsons speaking in sync on separate locations. screen, and these episodes are brief and banal Podnieks’ challenging of Communist au- (in the first instance, Samsons instructs his thority appears again in a brief but notable mo- fellow hunters on their strategy; next, Podnieks ment in The Commander. Embedded, almost shows Samsons answering a phone call and hidden, towards the end of the film, one se- speaking with several colleagues in his office; quence features a long shot of a dark and foggy finally, Samsons appears near the end of the forest, followed by a medium shot of a man film, once again talking on the telephone). By wearing the uniform of the Latvian Legion (the restricting the occasions that Samsons speaks army formed by a forcibly imposed draft during on screen and by having those words be trivial, the Nazi occupation), double-exposed with

70 a close up of a body of water. On the sound- magazines and short documentaries function track, music plays, as well as the quiet male as rich texts that can be read in multiple ways, voice of the Legionnaire stating: giving Latvian viewers in the 1970s and early 1980s the opportunity to interpret politically Don’t forget us, Commander—those 43 subversive subtexts. Podnieks employed these Latvian boys. We were coming home from early films as creative experiments in how to the swamps of Volhova, from that hell subtly communicate those political views that and shit where we got to taste the trouble he would later overtly express during the glas- stirred up by the Fritzs... When we were nost era in his mature films, such as Homeland surrounded [by Communist partisans—M. and Hello, Do You Hear Us?—films that would Z. V.], we tried to get away even though we receive critical and popular attention in the should have stayed in our bunkers, but we Soviet Union and abroad. From the very begin- couldn’t stand the idea of wading through ning, Podnieks’ film camera was his weapon. the swamp with the partisans. That’s why we tried to escape from you.

The camera then cuts to a medium shot of Sam- sons sitting at his desk, double-exposed with a close up of water, as the Legionnaires voice echoes on the soundtrack: ‘For that, three of us received a bullet. Now a Latvian takes the life of a Latvian. For what? Why?’ Pāvuls’ voice responds with Samsons’ words, explaining how the war was not yet over, and that there was no middle ground. Everyone had to pick a side and he could not risk having these soldiers tell the Nazis where the partisans were located. Although momentary, this important se- quence disrupts the Communist narration of history in the documentary. The image of the Legionnaire emerges from the murky depths of the forest and swampy water, while the sol- dier’s words draw attention to the moral tragedy of World War II—Latvians killing their fellow countrymen. The soldier’s questions ‘For what? Why?’ shape the Legionnaire and this complex moral problem into a return of the repressed. Audiences wonder why Samsons committed such an atrocity, leading viewers to ponder what other terrible acts he and his fellow partisans 8 perpetrated. Samsons’ justifications of the 8 Samsons and his partisan troupe were responsible murders ring hollow, since the visceral power of for the destruction of over one hundred German trains in Latvia and for the killing of scores of soldiers fighting for an the Legionnaire’s image and voice encourage independent Latvia, as well as of German officers battling Latvian audiences to perceive the Commander on the side of the Nazi army. Samsons’ successful record of annihilation of property and human life earned him a great and his partisan troops as the actual traitors to deal of praise from the Communist regime and status as a their country in this scenario. great Soviet war hero. One may read Samsons’ own descrip- tion of his bravery during World War II in his memoirs The Rustling of Kurzeme’s Forests (Kurzemes meхi лalc, see Podnieks’ early films display many of the char- Samsons 1974). One may find personal accounts of the war acteristics of glasnost cinema years before Gor- crimes committed by Samsons and other partisans, such as the execution of a woman bringing food to her ill sister in the bachev implemented his reforms. Both his film countryside, in Aļķis 1997.

71 FILMS H o r t o n, Andrew; B r a s h i n s k y, Michael 1992. The Zero Hour: Boys, on Horses! (Puikas, zirgos!), Glasnost and Soviet Cinema in dir. Juris Podnieks. Latvia, 1979 Transition. Princeton, Oxford: The Brothers Kokari (BrЯзi Kokari), Princeton University Press dir. Juris Podnieks. Latvia, 1978 I m r e, Anikó 2005. Introduction: The Commander (Komandieris), East European cinemas in new dir. Juris Podnieks. Latvia, 1984 perspectives.—East European Cinemas. Ed. Anikó Imre. New York, Conservatorio (Soviet Latvia London: Routledge, pp. xii–xxvi (Padomju Latv²a), no. 23), dir. Juris Podnieks. Latvia, 1979 K i s e l e v, Alexander 1994. Deafening voids.—Russian Critics on the Cinema The Cradle (Бюpulis; Soviet Latvia of Glasnost. Eds. Michael Brashinsky, (Padomju Latv²a), no. 3), dir. Juris Andrew Horton. Cambridge: Podnieks. Latvia, 1977 Cambridge University Press, pp. 65–67 End of the Empire (Impьr²as gals), dir. Juris Podnieks. Latvia, 1991 Lejiņ š, Armīns 1981. Mans draugs— nopietns cilvēks.—Kino, no. 1, p. 15 Fahrenheit 9/11, dir. Michael Moore. USA, 2004 N o g i n s, Juris 1979. Kas mēs esam? Kur mēs ejam?—RunЯ Hello, Do You Hear Us? (UK) / Soviets kinematogrЯfisti. Ed. Zigfrīds Kravalis. (US) (Mьs?), dir. Juris Podnieks. Rīga: Liesma, pp. 162–171 Latvia, 1989 P l a k a n s, Andrejs 1995. The Homeland (UK) / A Baltic Requiem Latvians: A Short History. Stanford, (US) (Krustceзл), dir. Juris Podnieks. California: Stanford University Press, Latvia, 1990 Hoover Institution Press Is It Easy to Be Young? (Vai viegli bюt P l o t k e, I. 1985. Latvijas jaunam?), dir. Juris Podnieks. Latvia, dokumentālais kino 1984. gadā.— 1986 RШgas Balss, January 22 Soviet Latvia (Padomju Latvia), S a m s o n s, Vilis 1974. Kurzemes meхi no. 8, February 1946, Special Issue лalc—partizЯiju un izlюku cШija kara Sports Overview (Sporta apskats), pьdьjЯ gadЯ Kurzemь: 1944–1945. no. 1/2, dir. Juris Podnieks. Latvia, Rīga: Liesma 1981 Žv i n k l i s, Arturs 1999. SaglabЯt White Ave Sol (Baltais Ave Sol), SudrabЯ. Latv²a OtrЯ pasaules dir. Juris Podnieks. Latvia, 1979 kara laikЯ. Trans. Kārlis Freibergs. Rīga: Jumava, Latvijas Valsts kinofotofonodokumentu arhīvs REFERENCES Aļķi s, Ivars (Ed.) 1997. PretestШbas kustШba okupЯc²as varЯm Latv²Я. AtmiijЯs un dokumentos no 1941. lШdz 1956. gadam. Rīga: Sol Vita B e n n e t t, Tony. 1998. Culture: A Reformer’s Science. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin D e C e r t e a u, Michel 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Trans. Steven Rendall. Berkeley, London: University of California Press C h r i s t i e, Ian 1995. Glasnost cinema.—Film Comment, Vol. 31 (2), pp. 41–44 C i v j a n s, Juris; U z u l n i e c e, Anita 1989. Dokumentālā kino attīstība.— Padomju Latv²as kinomЯksla. Ed. Lilija Dzene. Rīga: Liesma, pp. 103–132

72